By Marc S. Sanders
Neill Blomkamp is that writer/ director who escapes my memory until I see a movie trailer with one of his signature robot designs weaved into the populace of his dystopian stories, like in his widely recognized District 9 and Chappie, which I’ve yet to see. These androids are as capable as humans but primarily devoid of feelings and follow stringent programming with no exceptions. That way order is maintained without an interference of subjectivity. These figures are not plotters like HAL 9000 or companions like R2D2, but they have strength through arms and legs to restrain anyone out of line, and thus that’s a hard obstacle to circumvent when you are a human member of a vastly overpopulated Earth who desperately needs to reach the orbital space station Elysium where the wealthy thrive and survive with technology designed to cure any illness or injury.
Matt Damon is Max, a former street criminal, now factory worker on parole who dwells among the detritus of filth, crime, sickness and starvation left behind on Earth. An accident with a piece of machinery exposes him to radiation that only allows him less than five days to live. His one chance is to board Elysium and take advantage of a quick remedy that will cure him and prolong his life.
Jodie Foster is Delacourt, the business-suited, high-powered official who keeps a tight ship on the station in space. She ensures that all traffic in and out are strictly enforced to uphold the enchanting Utopia for the uber-rich. She’ll go so far as to order vessels shot down on approach. That still doesn’t prevent rebellious outlaws from trying to make way. Food and medicine are scarce below on Earth.
Max conspires with a known rebel (Wagner Moura) who will get him on board Elysium in exchange for downloading all files about the ship that are stored in the mind of an executive (William Fichtner). Delacourt contracts a bounty hunter named Kruger (Sharlto Kopley) to hunt down Max and extract the files while also keeping him from making his journey.
Elysium boasts some spectacular visual effects ranging from all of the robotics that work against Max and his rebel comrades to the ships that travel across the skies of a dirty Los Angeles and up into the reaches of space. The space station is shaped like a hexagonal satellite and filled with stunning upper-class decor. It’s quite the country club for the one percent of one percenters with pools, tennis courts and well-manicured lawns. Everything is colorfully lit while the daytimes of L.A. are distressed with dirty brown and grey hues. Blomkamp demonstrates the wide expanse of class warfare with the two environments. This film deserved Oscar recognition for art direction and special effects. Outstanding work.
As Damon was still in his Jason Bourne phase, he looks everything of the suffering muscled, action hero, complete with a kind of steel frame screwed into his chest, back and head to keep him upright and ready to run and fight. Damon, accompanied by Blomkamp’s designs look like a spawn of a Phillip K Dick story. You can easily group Elysium with Blade Runner, Total Recall and Minority Report. Though Elysium released five years later, it operates like a pre-cursor to Wall-E with stacks and stacks of high-rise garbage on Earth, while the elite live happily in the heavens.
Still, the set ups never feel entirely complete. Something always felt like it was missing.
I think Blomkamp’s outline extends more validity to its fiction thirteen years after its release. It’s not overtly stated but there’s no denying that the heroes are battling against an anti-immigration regime, lacking feeling for those that do not measure up to the wealthy and upper class. I believe I appreciate Elysium a lot more now, than had I seen it back in 2013.
Call me woke if you want! It’s such a stupid, invented moniker to argue against compassion, anyway.
This film is lacking though. Blomkamp could have offered more contrast between the two regions. For the wealthy, there’s a very cold Jodie Foster who’s not lending much depth except to give the orders that identify her as the villain. Delacourt debates with the President (Faran Tahir) of the station but I could not easily identify what they disagree on. What’s he doing here and what exactly is on his mind?
Sharlto Kopley’s character looks like another Mad Max spawn with a very hard to understand dialect and a barbaric exterior. Not exactly a villain I love to hate. I gave up trying to comprehend anything he was saying and only regarded him as the guy that Matt Damon had to outrun, and out-punch if he’s ever to reach his destination.
Alice Braga is Frey, the adult version of Max’ childhood friend. As an ER nurse, she has her own reasons to get Max on Elysium. Her daughter is stricken with leukemia. She’s a side story and Blomkamp’s film could have just focused on Damon’s peril to run like in The Fugitive. It’s rare I see Frey helping Max’ plight. Braga’s stay is over welcomed with a lot of cutting room floor material.
Elysium has good action and outstanding special effects that build a convincing future year of 2154. It’s not a perfect thriller, but its themes are clearly relevant to the concerns of most Americans and illegal immigrants.
Are our governing bodies, taking into account all manners of people and social classes, or are they functioning with a harsh and violently forceful approach? Add another half hour to this movie, and excise some irrelevant characters in the cast, and this likely would have shown a clearer, more precise grim future of a year 2154 that looks a lot like real life modern day social structure.
2 UNPAID MOVIE CRITICS!!!! 