Elysium is a science fiction film set in a bleak future 150 years from now, where most of the Earth is overpopulated and in really bad economic shape. All of the rich people have moved into a space station in orbit around the Earth called Elysium. It is like a huge gated community in the sky, where all of the people are cured of disease, and labor is performed by androids.
Elysium has a lot of fascinating science fiction concepts that date back to the 1940's. There is Elysium itself, a centrifugal force space station that is like a giant wheel. There are machines that scan people's bodies, and can detect and cure diseases and injuries. There are 'droids, (the robots, not the phones) that move like people, and can communicate verbally. There are spaceships that can make suborbital space without multistage rockets. The weapons still fire bullets, although the ammunition is more advanced. No ray guns. There are exoskeletons that allow humans to have the strength of androids. Some of the technology is awesome, but the computers haven't changed much in the future of Elysium. They are running a variant of Unix or Linux. The screens are LCD and they still have actual keyboards with keys that are buttons. They use laptops that are a lot like what we have today. I guess some things will never be improved, after a point.
Matt Damon plays Max Da Costa, an ex-convict who has decided to go straight and work for a living. He is on parole for criminal activities, and has a job in a factory that produces androids that will work in Elysium. As some of the story is related in the form of a flashback to his youth, we see that Elysium has been in orbit for some time, and that it is a goal for a lot of people to go there and get access to the machines that can cure their diseases, but which the inhabitants of Elysium jealously guard from the huddled masses. Damon played Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum, and also played in The Adjustment Bureau.
Jodie Foster plays a politically-motivated but very corrupt Secretary of Defense Delacourt Rhodes, who is responsible for protecting Elysium from invasion by the riff-raff who still live on Earth. Jodie Foster has been in many films in a long career, and she still looks good. As Delacourt, she is willing to do pretty much anything, including reprogramming Elysium's computers to make herself President. She orders a rich businessman, John Carlyle, who runs the plant where Max works, to rewrite the code of Elysium's computers. He stores it using his brain as a sort of portable disk drive to bring it into Elysium. It has an encryption scheme that is fatal to anyone who downloads it wihout the proper codes. William Fitchner plays John Carlyle, and has the appearance of the villain's lackey. He had roles in this year's Lone Ranger and in Contact, which also starred Jodie Foster.
Max has an industrial accident, caused when a machine jams and he goes inside a radiation disinfecting chamber to unjam it. His boss orders him to go inside, but as soon as he clears the jam, the door slams shut. Max is trapped inside and is exposed to a deadly dose of radiation, for which death is an inevitable outcome after five days. He sees his only hope as getting to Elysium and accessing the cure machines. He goes to see a criminal mastermind named Spider, played by Wagner Moura, who puts him in an exoskeleton, so that he can get to Elysium. Capturing Carlyle is the ticket in, and so he goes after Carlyle.
Now, Delacourt Rhodes has an agent who lives on Earth, and who she uses to do certain work that is off the books. His name is Kruger, and he is one of the more interesting characters in the movie. He is strong and ruthless, seems to have no concern for anyone, and is willing to do anything necessary to get the job done. Kruger is played by Sharlto Copley, who starred in the brilliant District 9 in 2009. Kruger is sent to rescue Carlyle, and to bring him safely to Elysium.
Alice Bragga plays Frey, who is Max's girlfriend, whom he has known all his life, as seen in the first few flashback scenes. They lost touch, but after his industrial accident, Max runs into her at the hospital, where she works as a nurse. Bragga starred with Will Smith in I Am Legend, and in the 2010 movie, Predators.
The movie is fairly exciting, with some really good action scenes and decent special effects. The acting is also pretty good, especially Sharlto Copley and Jodie Foster. Damon plays the same kind of action role as he did in the Bourne movies. The whole premise of the film is that the rich have sucked the life out of Earth and dragged it all up into the sky, leaving the rest of humanity to suffer in squalor and harsh conditions, while they live in the ultimate gated community.
It all boils down to affordable health care, and the goal seems to be getting access to the machines that keep the people of Elysium alive and healthy. It is rather unrealistic to extrapolate that level of care over 10 billion people, but they try to do a movie about it. It is hard not to root for the poor people, but it doesn't make for a great film, but maybe a good political statement. I enjoyed it in spite of the message, but I was a little disappointed that that was the motivation, not love.
At any rate, I would not really go to the theater to see this one, as it will be quite adequately served by a smaller screen, and there needs to be movies that you haven't seen yet when they come out on video. I would wait for Elysium to come out on video, except I already paid for a ticket. I give it 3 Shurikens for the science fiction concept development, and the pretty high quality villainy of Copley and Foster, and for decent special effects and fight scenes.
Now, Delacourt Rhodes has an agent who lives on Earth, and who she uses to do certain work that is off the books. His name is Kruger, and he is one of the more interesting characters in the movie. He is strong and ruthless, seems to have no concern for anyone, and is willing to do anything necessary to get the job done. Kruger is played by Sharlto Copley, who starred in the brilliant District 9 in 2009. Kruger is sent to rescue Carlyle, and to bring him safely to Elysium.
Alice Bragga plays Frey, who is Max's girlfriend, whom he has known all his life, as seen in the first few flashback scenes. They lost touch, but after his industrial accident, Max runs into her at the hospital, where she works as a nurse. Bragga starred with Will Smith in I Am Legend, and in the 2010 movie, Predators.
The movie is fairly exciting, with some really good action scenes and decent special effects. The acting is also pretty good, especially Sharlto Copley and Jodie Foster. Damon plays the same kind of action role as he did in the Bourne movies. The whole premise of the film is that the rich have sucked the life out of Earth and dragged it all up into the sky, leaving the rest of humanity to suffer in squalor and harsh conditions, while they live in the ultimate gated community.
It all boils down to affordable health care, and the goal seems to be getting access to the machines that keep the people of Elysium alive and healthy. It is rather unrealistic to extrapolate that level of care over 10 billion people, but they try to do a movie about it. It is hard not to root for the poor people, but it doesn't make for a great film, but maybe a good political statement. I enjoyed it in spite of the message, but I was a little disappointed that that was the motivation, not love.
At any rate, I would not really go to the theater to see this one, as it will be quite adequately served by a smaller screen, and there needs to be movies that you haven't seen yet when they come out on video. I would wait for Elysium to come out on video, except I already paid for a ticket. I give it 3 Shurikens for the science fiction concept development, and the pretty high quality villainy of Copley and Foster, and for decent special effects and fight scenes.
No comments:
Post a Comment