Review of Elysium (2013) by Changezali — 23 Oct 2013

Elysium is not a film for stupid people. Ultimately, critics and reviewers will pan the film simply because they're unaware of the sci-fi tropes and themes that it references. Like Tarantino, Blomkamp is demanding engagement from the viewer, and when one is able to shunt disbelief aside and enter his world, the brilliance of his vision and his technical ability in portraying it make it an emotionally and intellectually satisfying experience.

This is Asimov meets Orwell, it shows a depth of understanding of the nature and evolution of technology as well as the essential structures that produce it that should make most political scientists feel ashamed.

Blomkamp isn't producing 'summer block buster entertainment' for the American masses, he's trying to create something artistic. This is not Lady Gaga, it's the White Stripes. A lot of critics will miss the joy of this movie by trying to watch it in terms of a summer blockbuster, instead of being aware that this is a director who will never (at least we hope) produce anything that Hollywood wants him to make.

Blomkamp heavily references the scientific types found in novels like Dune and gives them a feeling of reality that is almost creepily grounded in today. A lot of critics ask questions like "how did people end up on Elysium".

Well how have rich people in any time period distanced themselves from the masses? The answer is slowly. This is a film that will ultimately be beyond people who have never seen or noted how extreme income disparities develop and who have no feeling for how political economy works thorough technology.

As such, many critics will try to cast it as a parody or satire of today's world, but in doing so will miss the point completely. This is the world of today taken to its logical end. Solid acting by Matt Damon who plays the everyman with a sort of pent up aggression that's important to the role.

Jodie Foster's role is delightful, but ultimately, if a movie is defined by the quality of its villain, Foster is an antagonist but not the ultimate evil. That's reserved for Sharlito Copley, who's portrayal of Agent M Kruger brings chills, all the more so because his type of existence and the nature of his evil are so well recorded in history.

But you'd have to know some history to know that and so we come back to the point; Elysium is an intelligent film for intelligent people, and many critics will bash it simply because they don't get it.

I certainly don't expect the editor of Time Out London to do so. Frankly, I hope Blomkamp simply ignores them and that we continue to see the evolution of this fascinating artist.