In a grandiose follow-up to his breakout first film “District 9,” Neill Blomkamp once again creates a socially aware movie that attempts to break the boundaries of classism. However, “Elysium” doesn’t hold the same emotional resonance as its predecessor and ends up coming off as a sanctimonious lecture on the moral wrongness of anti-immigration laws.
The movie takes place in a dystopian future in which the poor inhabit a polluted, decaying Earth while the rich live on a floating space station miles above the Earth called Elysium. Elysium is an idyllic paradise where all disease can be cured in a few minutes by private medical machines and everyone dresses like they live in the Hamptons.
Meanwhile much of Earth is made to (none too subtly) look like a Mexican ghetto, with Spanish even being interspersed randomly throughout the dialogue.
In the Los Angeles ghetto, Max DeCosta (Matt Damon, “Promised Land”) is a former car thief who suddenly finds himself with only five days to live after a freak industrial accident causes him to be exposed to lethal amounts of radiation. With few options, he turns to Spider (Wagner Moura, “Father’s Chair”), a sleazy smuggler with a heart of gold who ferries citizens of Earth to Elysium.
In return for a trip to Elysium to heal himself, Max agrees to pull of a dangerous data heist, allowing a metallic exoskeleton to be attached to his spine and brain so that he can download the information. After the data heist goes terribly wrong, Max finds himself with the secrets to Elysium in his head.
The film immediately kicks into high gear, with the Secretary of Defense--played by a frigid-looking Jodie Foster (“Carnage”)--chasing him to keep her planned government coup a secret, psychotic secret police agent Kruger (Sharlto Copley, “The A-Team”) chasing him just to incite a little anarchy and Spider chasing him so he can save everyone on Earth.
Of course, being the selfish anti-hero that he is, Max doesn’t care what anyone wants. The film does try to ground him a bit by playing up a childhood romance with Frey, a nurse with a sick daughter. However, Max’s saint-like redemption story overpowers any attempts to humanize him or even make him likable. Not even Matt Damon’s natural charm can make Max easy to empathize with, because it is so inherently obvious that Max is only a tool for “the greater cause.”
There is a sad lack of development for any of the characters in the film, which is unfortunate considering they got talented stars like Jodie Foster (who is given little to do in the movie other than look intimidating and speak French).
The film’s emphasis on its mythic and epic nature overwhelms any attempts at character depth, with only Sharlto Copley’s character truly standing out among the cast.
Carlto plays the psychotic lunatic Kruger with such gleeful panache that his scenes become some of the most enticing parts of the movie, and certainly the most thrilling. In fact, his cartoonish South African accent only adds to the memorability of the insanely magnetic character, making for one of the best villains of the summer.
“Elysium” is probably one of the most intelligently-written sci-fi movies of the year, despite its penchant for being unsubtle and predictable. Its grim vision of the future recalls profound sci-fi films like “Children of Men,” but still manages to create pulpy action scenes that spur the momentum of the film.
However, it is still a step below Blomkamp’s previous film “District 9,” which got its message about apartheid and classism across without all the bombast.
While its blockbuster nature might have been its downfall, “Elysium” does not fail to be an imaginative musing on the limits of class boundaries and the capacity of human compassion.
hbui@theeagleonline.com
