There is always this curse of big budget film and fame. Neill Blomkamp was rather unknown (probably not true) when he made District 9. And suddenly, he score big in the critically acclaimed movie. Everyone seems to know him (again, may not be totally true). This reminded me of the rise (and fall ) of M Night Shamaylan. He hit the jackpot with Sixth Sense (and still remain the top 10 movie for me) and fame, big budget brought more movies, but more miss than hits. The same goes with Blomkamp; after District 9, naturally came bigger budget from studios and more famous names in his movies. The South African director did a very good job with District 9, so much so that he may have difficulties reaching the same benchmark he set.
In
Elysium, expect cliche sci-fi storyline. In the future, the world is so overpopulated that the rich had built for themselves a space station to preserve their ways of life. Abundant food, entertainments and high tech machines in each home to diagnose and heal virtually any illness (except death), the population in Elysium lives in a virtual heaven. The poor who were left behind on earth, lives their remaining lives in slums. Matt Damon, during his daily work in a droid producing factory was exposed to deadly dose of radiation, so much so he will be expecting death unless healed by on of those machine in Elysium. Thus, began his non stop adventure to go up to Elysium, in the process brought a major change to the whole society structure in Elysium and Earth.
The movie boast a bigger cast, with Matt Damon carrying the lead. He was alright, as someone who is fighting for survival, though I think he was limited by the script. Jodie Foster, as one of the villain, as my wife pointed out, was underutilized. She still have the aura of elegance around her, and I would love to see her with more screen time. The rest of the cast are forgettable, including the main villain.
Bulk of the budget probably went to the CGI, and Elysium does look pretty. The action sequence was limited, isolated and did not work well for me. I was never a fan of those shaking camera action sequence. Still, on paper, the movie should work. On reality, it did not. The whole pace was too slooooooow. At the end I actually got bored watching Damon on screen. He did occupied the same screen time in Bourne series but those series are much much more bearable and memorable. The plot is soooo cliche that you have the usual society separated by social norm. The hero trying to make difference. The villain trying to maintain status quo. The villain had to be cruel enough so people will love to hate. Another villain trying to take over the earth. Hero vs villain. Hero won. Predictable. In the same argument, I can still draw some parallel to District 9. Similarly the society is divided into 2 (rich,poor vs human,aliens), privileged vs the under-privilege. The difference is the main character in District 9 is rather memorable and everyone can sympathize with him. In the end the division between the two social classes is broken down. In District 9, the division was brought down in the main character own personal self, in Elysium, it affected the whole earth.
Theories aside. Good effort. But I bet after I woke up from my sleep, I would have thought that Elysium is a new drug that came into the market.
ratings: 2 half poink!
comments: go watch District 9. much, much, much better.
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