Elysium is the product of one of Hollywood’s latest and hottest talents – Neil Blomkamp. Blompkamp surprised everyone in 2009 with District 9, a sci-fi film that took place in the most unlikely of places – South Africa. Funded by New Zealand film guru, Peter Jackson and made with a meagre budget of $30 million, District 9 ended up being a sleeper hit that was critically and commercially lauded. Now Blompkamp is back with a much bigger budget and much bigger stars. And the question that then comes to mind is: does Elysium deliver the goods? The answer is: well, not completely.
Let’s not berate the efforts of good film making. Elysium is clearly a well made film. It looks expensive and one can see where the money went. Regrettably the movie underwhelms surprisingly within the storyline department and this trickles into the emotional core of the film – which basically does not exist. For some reason the film just fails to engage on a personal level. The story moves along relatively slow and even when it is kicked into gear, one cannot help but just want it to get along and conclude. It’s a bit of a pity for the actors involved. Matt Damon and Jodie Foster are veteran Hollywood heavyweights whose names alone cry out ‘bankable’. The great thing about Damon is of course his flexibility; here is an actor who has not limited his choice of roles to become typecast. A brief look at the last ten years and you get classics like the Bourne series along with the Ocean’s series about casino inspired heists and big paydays like the type one could encounter when playing mobile slots.
The same can be said about Jodie Foster. This actress has been bringing it since the late 70’s and in Elysium, it’s not that her character isn’t well acted or portrayed, it’s just that she doesn’t have much to play with. Sharlto Copely as the villain Kruger has substantially more than his co-stars to work with and South African audiences me be amused by this character.
Elysium, like District 9 tackles heavy social questions but whereby the latter delivered on story and character interest the former does not. It could be that like society’s blind eye to many social ills of this world, the world of Elysium is also meant to conjure up apathy on behalf of the audience, but this is very unlikely. In the end Blomkamp delivers a visual feast, but regrettably, not much more than that.
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