Elysium

Elysium is a 2013 dystopian science fiction thriller film starring Matt Damon and Jodi Foster. The wealthy live in a utopian environment in orbit around Earth, where illegal immigrants are shot down as they approach. The poor live in desperation on the Earth's surface, where resources, including jobs and medical care, are rare and limited. Sound familiar? That's the only complaint I have about this movie: it's vision is a bit heavy-handed. Visually it's brilliant, the casting is perfect, plotting was good, and I cared about the characters. Directed by Neill Blomkamp, who also directed District 9. I'd love to see him direct a movie that someone else wrote. Maybe we'd get the perfect film without the heavy-handed social commentary. That said, I did thoroughly enjoy this film. I found District 9 unwatchable.

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Moria says it had high hopes of a deeper story, but "all that we end up with is a bigger-budgeted version of Lockout (2012)". Rolling Stone gives it 3 out of 4 stars and says, "Elysium delivers sci-fi without dumbing it down. It's a hell-raiser with a social conscience." Empire Online gives it 4 out of 5 stars and concludes, "Not perfect, but a much more satisfying Earth-in-ruins film than Oblivion or After Earth. It is a little more conventional than District 9 (what isn’t?), but confirms Blomkamp as one of the potential science-fiction greats of this decade." EW gives it a B+ and says, "Elysium confirms the talent — for razory mayhem and shocking satire, for the crazed spectacle of future decay — that Blomkamp showcased in his amazing first feature, District 9 (2009)." Roger Ebert's site says, "...it's weirdly refreshing to watch a film that seeks new ways to repackage "Mad Max," "Blade Runner," "Robocop," and elements from Kathryn Bigelow and David Cronenberg." Rotten Tomatoes has a 68% critics score.