Elysium (2013)

Elysium is a science fiction film , set in the future where humans have divided themselves into two classes . One class, the poorer one, lives on a barren and polluted earth. While the wealthiest , lives on a space station that orbits the earth where they are provided elegant and beautiful homes , robot servants ,and machines that could literally heal anything. The film centers around a young white man who lives in a predominantly Latino area in California. He used to steal cars for a living, and he eventually finds a way to where all the rich people live in their perfect little bubble, - yes it sounds like the OC to me . Hey even the houses at Elysium looks they were plucked from Orange County, and that is saying a lot

Elysium is actually one big narrative on what is happening in our society today, it tackles issues like class-war , immigration and universal health care . I'm pretty sure a lot of Republicans and their equivalent in many other countries were somewhat pissed at watching this movie . If you are very political and socially aware , this film would resonate with you . But don't think it's all politics and social issues, the movie has a lot of great action and Matt Damon does justice to his role . But I think it was a little too one sided , we were exposed to a lot of gritty and intense scenes on earth. There were too few scenes on Elysium except for glimpses of parties and political infighting, Jodie Foster seemed like a caricature of an evil conniving wealthy politician, her talents were totally under-utilized. It woulds have been nice if there was even just one , well-fleshed out character from Elysium, I'm talking about the space station - not the entire movie. Although the movie aside from this facet is really strong, it was exciting , it provokes an idea and conversation, and the effects were really good. Brazilian actor Wagner Moura who plays a sort of gangster character in this movie for me delivered the best performance in this film, he even kind of outshone the lead stars Jodie Foster and Matt Damon. All in all Elysium is a great movie , really fun and thought provoking.

Watch Trailer Here

Directed by Neill Blomkamp

Matt Damon as Max Da Costa
Jodie Foster as Secretary of Defense Jessica Delacourt
Sharlto Copley as Agent C.M. Kruger
Alice Braga as Frey Santiago
Diego Luna as Julio
Wagner Moura as Spider
William Fichtner as John Carlyle