Review of Elysium (2013) by Makalu — 08 Aug 2013

I just got back from the 10 o'clock screening of Elysium, and boy am I disappointed. I mean, talk about underwhelming in pretty much every way possible. There were tons of fairly sizable problems with the film, one of the most damning being the reliance on generic cookie-cutter characters (excluding Kruger, who was kinda awesome) and a convoluted chase-movie plot that lacked real motivation since the audience wasn't brought up to speed on the stakes of the mission or the endgame of the heroes.

However, I would argue the greatest flaw of the movie is just the fact that it doesn't have a whole lot going for it. Once you get past the clever premise and fantastic world-building, the movie doesn't have a whole lot of originality to spare. Its few creative weapons concepts (like the air-burst gun and shield you see in the trailer) are only used for a few seconds a piece before being traded for something more uninspired. A few characters look promising from the get-go, like the bonkers Kruger and some of Max's gangster buddies, but all these guys end up going the safe and dull route. Even the climax of the film, which I was hoping would do something daring and different to solve the character's predicament, went the trite path of a million different feel-good endings that were nothing but convenient B.S. that wrapped up everything with a nice bow, regardless of how little sense it made.