Elysium was a good
example of serious science fiction with plenty of action, but was not as good
as District 9. In the year 2154 Matt
Damon plays Max De Costa, a poor worker living on an over populated, overly
polluted planet Earth with dreams of one day moving to the beautiful, massive
space habitat for the wealthy known as Elysium.
Max is an ex –criminal who is just trying to turn his life around and
work a steady job in a factory making military robots who keep the peace down
on Earth. However, after a serious
accident leaves Max with only a few days to live, he suddenly has nothing to
lose and is determined to make it to Elysium by any means in an attempt to save
himself. Max’s primary opposition is
Jessica Delacourt, Elysium’s Secretary of Defense played by Jodie Foster, and
her mercenary lap dog Kruger. As Max
attempts to save his own life he ends up becoming the key to unlocking Elysium
for everyone on Earth and must decide which is more important. Exploring themes like immigration and class
struggle, the film drives home a lot of current world issues. Brilliant special effects akin to those in
District 9 make the movie very believable but certain aspects could have been
better thought out. Overall, the film
didn’t have the same kind of sociological and political impact that District 9
had which was disappointing but the gritty future world and over the top luxury
of Elysium drive home the serious division between rich and poor that exists
today and will only get worse in the future.
In the end, Elysium is a
hybrid of the classy, serious science fiction films like Moon or 2001: A Space Odyssey
and sci-fi action movies like Star Trek or
Transformers which is great because
it has a little something for everyone.
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