Elysium
Rated R (Violence)
Written and Directed by Neill Blomkamp
*** out of ****
Let's get this out of the way first of all: Conservatives are going to HATE this movie.
Well, maybe not all of it, but, good chunks of it.
I don't want to get all political in what should ostensibly be an entertaining review of light entertainment, but, dangit, Blomkamp opened up that door, and I'm going through.
I may have said it before, and I'm sure I will say it again, but, science fiction is rarely about the future. It's more about the present, in a round-about (and sometimes, not-so-round-about) way. "Farenheit 451" was (regardless of what every single person who ever read it thinks) not about the government censoring literature in the future, but rather television taking the place of books. "1984" wasn't about a dystopian future with unlimited government control, but rather it was about 1948 London. "2001: A Space Odyssey" was... well, it was about EVERYTHING.
Let's get another thing out of the way: Space stations are supposed to be round, with a docking bay in the center, with PanAm flights in and out daily, and with a Hilton Hotel and video phones.
"Elysium" got the round space station completely correct. Perhaps at a lower orbit than the one in "2001", but still, nice and round. The reason for the Elysium torus was because rich people didn't want to be around poor, stinky, dirty, sick people on Earth. So, they took their toys and, I don't know, went Galt, I guess. Conservatives are going to HATE the fact that the super-rich are, at least in the case of Sec. Delacourt (Jodie Foster), bad guys. Like, boo-hiss bad guys.
Down on Earth, in Los Angeles (which looks a lot like the slums around Johannesburg, South Africa), Max (Matt Damon) is a laborer in a plant that makes robots. Fully-articulated humanoid robots that provide security, medical care, etc. Due to an accident at work, he needs to get to Elysium, which has all of the high-tech medical equipment, and they don't share with non-citizens (Boo! Hiss!). To get a black market ticket, he has to go back to an old partner-in-crime and do One. Last. Job.
This job attracts the attention of Delacourt, who calls in some serious Black Ops (Boo?) named Kruger (Sharlto Copely), who also helps deal with the illegal immigrant problems for the torus (Yay!).
Blomkamp is a fine director. "District 9" was a really good sci-fi flick that was basically about Apartheid. "Elysium" is a really good sci-fi flick that is about... lots of things.
I don't want to say that he spread himself too thin with the themes he was working with. They are presented, not so much in a political way, but, much like "Black Hawk Down", simply as how things are. However, much like there is no such thing as a "neutral" documentary, you can see what Blomkamp feels about certain issues.
And, hoo boy, are there issues. Illegal immigration, Libertarian philosophy, drone strikes, government surveillance, Christian philosophy, unregulated capitalism, and mercenaries just off of the top of my head. These things are presented, and, while not thoroughly explored, the shorthand for how he wants you to feel is right there.
Is this the best movie I've seen this summer? Nope. That's still "Pacific Rim". However, the special effects in this movie are by far the best I've seen. Copely could, someday, give Christoph Waltz a run for his money in the bad guy department. The story is fine, there are some good moments of tension, and there were some really cool camera tricks in the fight scenes that I hadn't seen done before.
I think, however, that, if there is one lesson that we can all learn from "Elysium", it's that mercenaries are terrible, terrible people.
