Elysium Movie Review

Elysium. To the Greeks, Elysium was where the just and heroic went after their death, to live blessed afterlives filled with indulgence and joy. It was said to exist on an island in the midst of the western ocean at the edge of the world, ruled by Gods, populated by the chosen few deemed worthy. To the Greeks it was a Heaven few dared to believe attainable for themselves.

To the filthy poor who populate Neill Blomkamp’s vision of a future Earth, Elysium is very much the same. Hanging like a jewel in the sky, the space station known as Elysium is the home of the rich and powerful, a select society who have separated themselves from the unpleasantness of a world destroyed by their greed, who live in opulence and keep their bodies perfect through advanced medical technology they keep for themselves. Can such a haven exist for long when it is built on the blood and tears of an oppressed majority? This is one of the many questions Blomkamp asks in his latest film, ELYSIUM.

I will say right at the top – and I don’t think Mr. Blomkamp would mind me saying it – this isn’t just a science fiction movie. It is a polemic against what he sees as the growing injustice of the haves against the have-nots. Having grown up in South Africa during apartheid, he saw first-hand the terrible cost of segregation. His first major motion picture, DISTRICT 9, was about that very thing, with aliens replacing the oppressed Africans. With ELYSIUM he now tackles the subject of class warfare and the centralization of power and wealth.

The film begins with a brief moment of exposition in which we’re told that during the late Twenty-First Century our world became poisoned and overpopulated to the point where the rich decided to leave it behind, so they built the space station Elysium to be their sanctuary, from which they could continue to control the lives of everyone they left behind without having to actually face the results. Meanwhile, the Earth is now a third-world shantytown.

Next we meet a young Max who dreams of living on Elysium and pledges to take his childhood love, Fray, there one day. That young Max eventually grows up, and with Matt Damon giving a strong performance as a man literally racing the clock, we watch as he struggles to not only save himself, but perhaps become a hero for us all.

To say anything more would be edging into spoiler territory, so I’ll end the story description there. But, I’d be remise if I didn’t also mention Sharlto Copley. Those who’ve seen DISTRICT 9 will recognize him as the mild corporate stooge who eventually learns what it’s like to be on the other side of the racial divide. Copley and Blomkamp have a long history together, and in this film the South African actor is in blistering form as the psychotic security officer Agent Kruger. While Damon is easy to sympathize with and see as a hero, Copley is anything but. He is a madman without a single ounce of remorse or humanity in his metal-plated body. And let’s not forget Jodie Foster as the coldly calculating Delacort, the Secretary of Defense for Elysium. It feels like a long time since Foster was up on the big screen, so it was nice to see her there again, even if the character she was playing made you want to punch her in the face.

For me, everything about the production of this movie worked. All of the performances were genuine and affecting, the special effects were seamless (with a special shout-out to the outstanding first battle between Kruger and Max), the music was exceptional without being overbearing, and Blomkamp’s direction was so deft and sure you’d think this wasn’t his second film, but his twenty-second.

Was Elysium perfect? No. There were some story contrivances that I had to shake my head at, and at times the tone was heavy-handed. But, were those things enough to overshadow all the good? Not even a little.

Folks, as I said before, this isn’t just a science fiction film. It is an – dare I say it – important film. The days when our entertainment tried to also speak to larger issues is long in the past. Now all Hollywood seems to want to do is dazzle us with special effects in the hopes we’ll line up again and again. Blomkamp, though, is trying to do more, and even if you don’t agree with his politics you have to credit his skill and passion. He makes movies that stand above genre, that don’t limp by on tropes and wiz-bang FX, and for that alone I applaud him. Well done, sir. Well done. ELYSIUM is a movie I look forward to seeing many more times in the future.

Score: $8.50 out of $10.00

 

Justin Macumber
The Hollywood Outsider
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