****Elysium Fails To Deliver****
The best science
fiction films typically hold a questioning mirror to our society, and director
Neil Blomkamp’s “Elysium” tries to be a politically-charged allegory with the
intention of showing the disparaging differences in social classes, healthcare,
immigration and government corruption but only intelligently touches on them as
briefly as this sentence before becoming watered down into brainless nonsense.
The first half hour
of “Elysium” is deceptively great. Blomkamp introduces the dual contrasting
locations: the gritty, poisoned earth, home to the underprivileged and working
class and, like the Greek concept, Elysium: the man-made utopia orbiting the
planet, home to Earth’s richest and most “cultured” individuals. Blomkamp not
only separates the two locations by their striking visual contrasts but also by
language. The poor speak Spanish while the aristocratic Elysians speak French,
and are nary without their wine or elegant properties. The Elysians are
governed by an elite branch of politicians and the Earthlings are ruled by a
robotic police state. This dichotomy between social-political realms is
fascinating and within these first twenty minutes it appears Blomkamp has
surpassed his brilliant feature film debut “District 9” with a new milestone in
contemporary science fiction film.
But… and there’s a
strong but here… the floor drops and with it all that excellent exposition and
potential to be something special. Blomkamp quickly forfeits the intelligence,
politics and the fascinating schism between the two worlds and rests solely on Matt
Damon running, shooting and evading capture on Earth from an insane bounty
hunter, played by the heavily accented, but incredibly engaging Sharlto Copley.
Copley’s performance, though, is a real shot of adrenaline; His manic, often
funny, and sadistic assassin is surprisingly the only character with any pulse.
----Watch Complete Trailer Of ELYSIUM----
What does work in
“Elysium” is Blomkamp’s indelible real-world visual style. Like “District 9,”
one could almost touch and taste the dirt, grit and grime of our planet. Add to
that the seemingly natural blend of robotics and CGI spaceships which creates a
striking yet identifiable world. Between this and “District 9,” Blomkamp has
proven he is a technical master when it comes to science fiction filmmaking.
Visually, he goes for realism to lure the audience, but unfortunately that
doesn’t extend to the writing.
Matt Damon is Max, a
character as nondescript as they come. What little is known of him really has
no impact on the overall film, nor does his character have much of an arc. He’s
just a guy who tries to make the best of a very bad situation. Besides being an ex-car thief-turned-assembly
line worker, all we learn about him is that as a young boy he and his little
girlfriend Frey would dreamily look to Elysium and promise to go there one day.
When, as an adult, Max is exposed to lethal doses of radiation, he becomes
hellbent on getting to Elysium with his now-distant friend Frey (Alice Braga)
and her dying daughter to use the Elysians’ personal medical pods, which cure
any and all ailments (even death). Since poor Earthlings are executed or
deported upon entering Elysium, this makes for a tricky situation. Damon does
the best he can with the role, shaving his head and implanting some kind of
robotics into his head which make him stronger than normal.
Then there’s Jodie
Foster. Foster plays Delacourt, Elysium’s power-hungry, pantsuit-clad Secretary
of Defense, who concocts a plan to override Elysium’s computer systems allowing
her to throw a coup and take command of the city. Unfortunately for her, the
override code becomes implanted in Max, causing her to go a little insane
trying to stop him, thus heaping chaos upon Elysium. By definition this should
be such a fun character for Foster, or any actress to play, but Ms. Foster
single-handedly gives one of the worst performances of the year. She tries to
sound “evil” by using some stilted accent which comes across as the greatest
effort on her part. Each line is delivered so awkwardly and poorly it is
laughably distracting. The question is why would Blomkamp allow this? Foster is
an acting legend. She’s a multi-Oscar winner. While she looks fantastic in the
role, she is seriously miscast or just mis-directed. If Jodie Foster was
allowed to just be Jodie Foster in this role, the effect would have been
incredible. C'est la vie on Elysium.
People expecting
another “District 9” or who expect a little more substance from their science
fiction films will most likely be disappointed by “Elysium,” but those who like
their videogame-style sci-fi shoot-em-ups will have no problem here. If
Blomkamp created a stronger balance between those two approaches, which at
first appears he is doing, then perhaps “Elysium” would be far greater.
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