Elysium

Hi, I’m back from vacation.

I wanted to see Elysium because I like sci-fi and this was the same director who did District 9, Neil Blomkamp. I liked District 9 very much. It condemned Apartheid, and the orchestrated evacuation of the “prawns” was symbolic of genocide. I had high expectations for Elysium, which regrettably were not met.

Elysium is a simple story of the have and have not’s.  The movie sets vividly depict the contrast between the two societies. Los Angles of 2154 is all squalor and over populated while Elysium is a giant sleek space station of prosperity spinning above the Earth fiercely protected against any intruders. Aside from the opulent life style no one on Elysium gets sick. They have machines that cure all, from caner to a shot gun blast to the face (yuk!).

Matt Damon is the protagonist. He is a former criminal eking out a living working in a factory that OSHA would have condemned. Damon is wasted here. Any mid weight actor could have carried off this part since action is more important than acting. What was interesting in the movie was the use of Spanish. I didn’t get it at first, but of course this Los Angles. Even Matt gets to speak some Spanish,”Hola me llamo es…Thank God for subtitles.

Jody Foster players the Über bitch as Elysium’s Secretary of State. Foster plays these roles very well, but here she over does it. Her words were like venom spiting from her lips and veins popping on her neck. She got to the point where her character looked cartoonish.

The most entertaining part of the movie was played by the South African actor Sharlto Copley. He played the nebbish administrator in District 9 who in the end was transformed into a prawn. In District 9 he seemed to be five feet two inches weighting about one hundred and two pounds. In Elysium he is a giant! He looks six feet two inches weighing about two hundred and thirty pounds, all muscle.  He beats the crap out of Damon and you can tell he enjoyed his role.

This is a B movie, more worthwhile on DVD. For all its sleekness it lacks gravity.