Elysium

Most of the time, when you read about new movie releases, you get excited. Or you might read about an upcoming movie, you never heard of, that have no famous actors, but suddenly becomes one of the most loved motion pictures by critics and audiences. This is exactly what happened in 2009, with the release of District 9. With legendary Peter Jackson on board as a producer, i got kind of excited. Especially when i read that director Neill Blomkamp, only used a budget of 20 million for his sci fi project. The first time i watched District 9, i simply loved this story. The most interesting part of this motion picture was the idea, of aliens being locked up in a certain area, like black people were in the 1800´s, like slaves. Even if the slavery did end, people with different nationalities are still being treated different, you can ask yourself, why ? So now it´s time for another sci fi action movie, but with a different story, starring Matt Damon and legendary actress Jodi Foster. Is Elysium as good as District 9, or is this another sci fi blockbuster without intelligent content ?

In the year 2154, two classes of people are divided, the wealthy and the poor. The poor work down on Earth, while the rich people live on the space station called Elysium. Here on Elysium there are no sick people, no poverty, while on the overpopulated Earth people struggle every day to survive. High-ranking Elysium government minister, Jessica Delacourt ( Jodi Foster ), make sure no immigrants from Earth lands on Elysium, with the help of mercenary C M Krueger ( Sharlto Copley ), who shoot down 2 of the spaceships heading towards Elysium. One spacecraft manage to land, but the immigrants are arrested. On Earth, Max De Costa, an ex-con living in Los Angeles is heading towards work, at one of Armadyne's factories , the company that built the space station Elysium. One day at his shift, he is badly injured from a industrial accident, and Max is exposed to lethal levels of radiation. The Armadyne Company refuse to help him, and leave him with some pills. He is told he will only survive a few days, and the only way to get treatment is on Elysium. Max agree to work for Spider ( Wagner Moura ), a smuggler known for his brutality. Spider send Max and a team of soldiers to steal information from John Carlyle, the CEO of Armadyne.  The mission does not go as planned, but they succeed to steal the corporate information. On Elysium, Jessica is fired from her government minister position, for breaking rules over her own descicions on killing immigrants from Earth. But she still keep in contact with Krueger, to wipe out the team of Max. Badly injured, Max finds his way to the hospital where his childhood friend Frey Santiago ( Alice Braga ) works as a nurse. He does not want to stay in the hospital, because he knows Krueger is looking for him, so Frey brings him to her home. Jessica is determined to get Max killed, so Krueger goes hunting to finish him, and his plans to go to Elysium.

Even if i do enjoy District 9 more than Elysium, i still had a great time at the Cinema while watching Elysium. This is a very visually splendid sci fi movie, for all of you who loved the style of District 9. There are some details that reminds me of Neill Blomkamp´s earlier work, but that is ok, because Elysium have something different to say. Mr Blomkamp is one of those directors, with such great camera skills, he knows exactly what he is doing, and his work looks great on the big screen. Just look at the space station Elysium, so detailed in every way you feel bedazzled. Matt Damon does one of his best perfomances in a while, showing once again why he can do very different characters than we are used to see him do. What about Jodi Foster ? For over 30 years she have delivered in many classics, and smaller budget productions, and still today she is one of her generations best actors. With some really massive special effects, we get a sci fi action movie filled with lots of tastefull scenes. Finally we can forget about After Earth, and move on to a much better place in the world of Blomkamp.

Rating: DDDD