Elysium

You could call it the District 9 effect. Ever since Neil Blomkamp’s prawn-infested masterpiece took its triumphant bow back in 2009, every year we’ve seen similarly themed science fiction films (i.e. low on budget but big on ideas) hit cinemas, usually before or just after the blockbuster behemoths roll into town. In December 2010 it was Gareth Edwards’ Monsters (with a miniscule budget of $500,000), a slow-burning love story masquerading as a creature feature; in April 2011 Duncan Jones retold Groundhog Day as a techno thriller with Source Code ($32 million); and in September 2012 Rian Johnson put a dark spin on the time travel sub-genre with Looper ($30 million).

And now, the man who (arguably) started it all is back with yet another intriguing high-concept SF flick that almost feels like a coda to what has been, quite frankly, a summer of relentless mass destruction – try counting the films featuring explosions and obliterated buildings and you’ll get the picture. True, Blomkamp’s Elysium does feature the odd bang here and there and its $115 million budget is considerably larger than the previously mentioned entries (although still nowhere near the inflated sums of most of today’s blockbusters), yet somehow it still manages to feel like a personal project.

Set in a dystopian 2154, the plot sees the human population split in two factions. The ultra-wealthy live on Elysium, a luxurious satellite orbiting the Earth where every household is fitted with highly advanced medical machines that can cure any injury or disease known to man. The rest of us are confined to Earth, now poverty stricken and emaciated by countless wars. It is here where we meet Max De Costa (Matt Damon), an ex-convict who gets a fatal dose of radiation poisoning during an industrial accident. Given only 5 days left to live, he decides to break into Elysium so he can get a hold of the necessary medical equipment that can save him.

Usually the best science fiction movies are the ones that to some degree reflect the society of the time in which they were filmed rather than the one in which they are set, and in terms of subtext Blomkamp is not exactly being very subtle, as Elysium can be viewed as a social commentary on the financial inequality that plagues many of today’s nations. Factor in that most of the population on Earth is of Hispanic origin, with families trying to reach the divine satellite undetected on small, clunky spaceships and the dots pretty much join themselves. There are no prizes for guessing which real life superpower nation Elysium is standing in for.

So liberals will lap up Matt Damon’s fight for equal access healthcare, but there is also a lot to admire in the amount of detail Blomkamp has put into brining his twisted vision of the future to life. For instance, examining the design between the immigrants’ afore-mentioned derelict vessels and the rich’s slicker, more dynamic vehicles is like comparing a first generation Fiat Panda with the new Jaguar F Type. Another highlight is the suggestion that one day all parole officers will be static dummies playing automated messages and dispensing pain-killers. Even Max’s spindly exoskeleton makes sense, in an implausibly practical sort of way.

Unfortunately the film is lacking in the character department. District 9’s Wikus Van Der Merwe made such a compelling protagonist because he was an insufferable bureaucrat that managed to gradually win us over thanks to his tragic metamorphosis. By stark contrast, Max is your standard underdog on a heroic quest and comes off a bit, well, vanilla. Speaking of Wikus, Sharlto Copley pops up again, this time as a cackling, OTT serial rapist/killer/litterer whose idea of conveying villainy is flipping the birdie to innocent bystanders. And while her presence does not affect the overall quality of the film, Emma Tremblay's character may well be the most photogenic chemo patient ever portrayed on-screen.

What no one is disputing however is Neil Blomkamp’s status as an emerging visionary filmmaker. Watching the opening minutes of Elysium feels like seeing a confident auteur at work and there’s no doubt that, if he keeps up these levels of quality, he’ll someday be mentioned in the same breath as other masters of Science Fiction, such as Ridley Scott, Paul Verhoven or even James Cameron.

3/5