Film: Elysium

Director: Neil Blomkamp
Genre: Sci-Fi
Source: USA (2013)
Rating: R
Location/Format: Glynn Place Stadium Cinemas
Grade: C

Neil Blomkamp has an amazing eye for sci-fi visuals and creating interesting technological worlds. He also approaches political metaphor like a drunken three year old trying to play with the family dog--stumbling around with obvious good intent but no sense of nuance or finesse, banging hands together and blatantly thumping what should be caressed. In a future world, the 1% live in a perfect space paradise, while the 99% live in a ghetto Los Angeles. Apparently there is no middle class. Also (in case the economic metaphor wasn't enough) the poor people want to illegally enter Elysium, passing themselves off as citizens, in order to receive the free health care that the rich are inexplicably unwilling to share with anyone else. 

You see where we're going here.

When the film focuses on these ideas (or on the cloying and unnecessary flashback scenes), Blomkamp's hands are so heavy that lesser issues like a love story get caught in their orbit, and the film gets clunky. It's weird, but I thought District 9 handled both the political metaphor and the protagonist's backstory much more effectively, so this seemed like a step back in that regard.

Also, in a step back for French accents everywhere, Jodie Foster's choices were . . . odd, to say the least. Her character was a poorly drawn caricature who Blomkamp had no interest in giving depth to. Maybe that's why she decided to try and spice things up with that ridiculous (and only semi-stable) accent? I don't know.

I liked Damon a lot here, though, and I liked Sharlto Copley here too, who seemed to be having so much fun playing the mentally unbalanced private military contractor (OK, OK, political metaphor, I hear you! Keep it down please!) that even though my Filmspotting mentors criticized it for being over the top, I thought he brought a charismatic sense of danger and violence to the screen, which I hadn't really expected.

The film is violent, for sure, and often needlessly so. But the rough design of the world made up for it. The guns, the tech, Damon's exo-skeleton: all of it was interesting and made for some great world enrichment. The film doesn't go to great lengths to explain how the exo-skeleton enhances Damon's strength, for example. It instead shows things like Damon gripping the side of a car and bending the metal as his hand squeezes the door. I like that, and it's that little attention to detail that makes Blomkamp stand out.

As a film, this is bigger budget than District 9 but not as interesting. It's silly and overly simplistic, even if I did see real potential in this world. But that won't stop me from seeing the next Blomkamp movie either. He's trying to create interesting sci-fi universes with something to say to the contemporary world, and even if he's not as good at it as he thinks, I can't fault him for trying. After all, he's shooting for something beyond mere Avengers-style popcorn entertainment, and I'd like to see more directors do that.

I'd just like him to have a little deftness while he's doing it.

Alternate Film Title: "Is That an Exo-Skeleton Outside Your Pocket or Are You Just Happy to See Me?"