In 2009 director Neill Blomkamp blew everyone away with his debut film District 9. It was a sci-fi action film had something to say but did so subtly. The world in which the film took place felt like it existed before the cameras showed up and would continue to exist after they left. The special effects were implemented seamlessly making it look like the aliens in the movie truly existed. So when Blomkamp announced that his follow up film would be Elysium, another sic-fi action film that took place on a dilapidated earth and a pristine space station for the rich, I was beyond excited. I could not wait to see what kind of world Blomkamp would take me to next and finally, four years after District 9, I could experience another one of his stories.
To be completely honest, Elysium was a disappointment, especially on the heels of a genuinely great movie like District 9. The action is there and the look is there but the feel is off. Gone is the subtle social commentary. Gone is the spectacular world building. Instead we get just a taste of this world when such an interesting place needed to be developed much more. In fact, most of the movie takes place on Earth before finally making it to Elysium in the third act. I feel like I saw no more of Elysium in the movie than I did in a single one of the movie's trailers.
The only person we actually get to meet on Elysium is Secretary Delacourt played horribly by a seemingly confused Jodie Foster. Throughout the length of the movie, Foster constantly changes from one weird accent to another like it's her job. If she would have simply stuck with one weird accent it would be acceptable to assume that the accent is weird because hey, it's 2154 and things in the future are weird right? But no, she changes it for every different scene she's in and it is extremely distracting, pulling me out of the experience multiple times. Besides Foster though, the performances are pretty good with no real standouts, mainly because the plot doesn't really allow any of the characters to develop the way they should.
The action in this film is pretty entertaining mainly because of the futuristic weaponry and the locations. Matt Damon proves yet again that he can be a total bad ass and Sharlto Copley brings a surprisingly threatening villain, Kruger, to the screen to try to take Damon's character Max down. The fight scenes between the two seem pretty awesome but truthfully it was often times very hard to tell what was going on because of the choice to shoot most of these scenes with a very shaky hand-held camera. Half the time I couldn't tell who was throwing who or who was winning the fight.
In the end I felt like Blomkamp was trying to simply replicate the success he had with District 9 by doing, what felt like, the same kind of movie but this time it was far too under-developed. The incredible visuals of this film keep it from failing completely and it is always nice to see some originality but the okay performances and shallow plot really held this movie down. I know I have pretty much only slammed this movie in this review but it is still a pretty good movie. It is definitely an entertaining movie from start to finish and the concept and look of the film are fantastic. Most of the disappointment comes from the feeling that had the script been just a little bit better, this would have been a modern sci-fi classic. Hopefully Elysium is the fluke and not District 9 but only time will tell which is which. I know I certainly have my fingers crossed that Mr. Blomkamp has more District 9's up his sleeve.
6 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment