by Matt Sernaker, Managing Editor
In the future, things aren’t going well for the people of Earth. Over population is rampant, while healthcare and quality of life are at an all time low. With things taking a turn for the worse, mankind’s elite have decided to abandon life on Earth, and now live in a giant space station called Elysium. This floating paradise in the sky can only be accessed by “citizens” (aka the wealthy), while the working class remains down below on the dying planet. Only one man can make a difference and restore balance to this dystopian future, and that one man is…Matt Damon? Matt Damon (The Bourne Trilogy) stars in the new futuristic tale Elysium, from Director Neill Blomkamp (District 9).
We are going to keep this one short and simple folks:
The Good: ROBOTS!
The CGI in this film is pretty awesome. For those of you who are video game fans, Elysium will definitely remind you of HALO (comparisons are blatantly obvious). If George Lucas could have used the robots from this movie in The Phantom Menace, the Battle Droids would have been bad-ass. The ships and technology were incredibly well done, and fit seamlessly into this damaged world. Blomkamp has done well to focus on the realist aspects of the story, making sure that the designs remain grounded in a modern-esque setting. All of the visuals were truly believable as the audience was informed of the state of our planet, and why things have progressed so badly in this story.
The Bad: Sorry to say, but there is a lot.
In order to tell a story like Elysium, you need to create likable characters…Unfortunately for Matt Damon and the rest of the cast, we were counting down the moments until they met their fate. Damon plays Max DeCosta, a punk who has been in trouble with the law on multiple occasions. While at work, he is accidentally exposed to a lethal dose of radiation, and informed that he has days left to live. He decides that he WILL make it to Elysium, where they have the technology to make him better. Max partners with Spider, (Wagner Moura – The Man From The Future) a man who has ways of smuggling people up to the space station. Spider requires information, and Max is sent on a fool’s errand to steal data out of the brain of his former boss (William Fichtner – The Dark Knight). Things get even more challenging when Elysium’s Secretary of Defense (Jodie Foster – Contact) decides to stage a coup and seize control of the station. Throw Max’s old childhood friend (Alice Braga – Predators) and her sick daughter (newcomer Emma Tremblay) into the mix, and you have the basic gist of Elysium. Oh wait, I forgot about the crazed Sleeper Agent Kruger, played by Shartlo Copley (District 9)!
Inconsistency also ultimately hurts the film. For some unknown reason, Jodie Foster has the WORST accent ever, which she fails to maintain throughout her brief time on screen. Copley also has a very frustrating accent throughout the film, which just makes his character more annoying as the story progresses. Matt Damon does not have an accent in this film (thankfully), but he really brings absolutely nothing to the table in terms of characterization or energy. They could easily have replaced him with any other actor, and the film would still have turned out the same.
Overall
There really wasn’t much of a reason to tell this story. District 9 is a film that I still hold in very high regard, and it was surprising that this many talented people could have produced such a boring film. The decision to have more than 2/3s of the film take place on Earth instead of on the station that the movie is named after was a poor choice. It took too long to get to the action, and even once it arrived, it was ultimately not worth the wait. Elysium has a short running time, and I found myself checking my watch every 10 minutes or so, waiting for the story to end. This one is a pass, and I really hope that Blomkamp can come back from this mess of a film. The man is very talented as a Director, but this one missed the mark.
Rating: 
ComicsOnline gives Elysium 2 amazing robots out of 5.
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