It is 2154, the wealthy live on a space station called Elysium and the rest of the population live on the ruined and overpopulated Earth, Max (Matt Damon) is an ex-con working at a factory owned by the Armadyne Corporation that built Elysium and the security robots.   Max tries to run a straight life and he has a chance encounter with Frey (Alice Kruger), an old friend from his childhood.  Before he can reconnect with her further, an accident at work exposes Max to a lethal does of radiation.  He turns to crime to get up to Elysium where their medical machines can rid his body of the radiation that leaves him with fives days to live.   He accepts a job from his old boss Spider who has an exoskeleton grafted to Max which gives max incredible strength like the security robots.  Max and his crew decide to hijack the information out of the head of John Carlyle (William Fichtner), the CEO of Armadyne.  Max and Spider find out Caryle’s head contains a program to override the systems of Elysium.

Carlyle has made a deal with Defense Secretary Jessica Delacourt (Joide Foster) of Elysium to give her a program to reboot Elysium to install her as President in exchange for future contracts between Elysium and Armadyne.  Delacourt has used harsh methods to keep illegal citizens from entering Elysium to prevent access to the advanced medical equipment.  President Patel and the rest of the ruling council of Elysium don’t agree with her methods and warn her she is on her last chance.   She enlists one of her agents, Kruger (Sharlto Copley) to retrieve the stolen program.   Max becomes engaged in a fight to save his life and maybe even change everything for the sick and dying.

ELYSIUM is an in interesting sci-fi action film that does remind me of the 1970s sci-fi films with model work and production design inspired by the work of Syd Mead.  Neill Blomkamp does provide an engaging film even though it isn’t as good as his debut film, DISTRICT 9.  The pacing and production design are what ultimately sell this movie in addition to the solid performances from the cast.  ELYSIUM paints a future world that reflects the class struggles between the rich and the poor in today’s world.   ELYSIUM proves Blomkamp isn’t a one trick pony and I wait for his next movie (which I hope is the sequel to DISTRICT 9).

This movie review is (c)8-11-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

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