Review of Elysium (2013) by Luca Maria M — 04 Jan 2016

Matrix meets District 9. In his first movie, director Blomkamp hid a metaphor of apartheid under the sci-fi look, in the second one he talks about social disparities between riches and poors (Elysium is "Beverly Hills on space") but this time the result is so-so.

The visuals of the movie are wonderful, but the plot is a bit messy in many parts and incoherent in others. Things happens but they seem to be forced and be happening thanks to a deus ex-machina, not for natural consequences of what we saw before (a bit like in "Prometheus", to stay in sci fi fields).

With a different script it would have been a really great movie, because there's a lot of talent involved in the production of this film, even if Matt Damon and Jodie Foster characters are so one sided that they can't show how great actors they are (curiously, the better performance comes from the less experienced actor of the trio, Sharlto Copley: I liked his manic evil soldier, a little clichè as a character but scenes with him on screen were the most convincing and funny ones).