Elysium Review

Believe it or not. There will be a time when Earth will be diseased and polluted to the point where the rich will pay to live in an utopia outpost sort of place (with machines that can cure all illness and extend life up to 3 times of the typical lifespan) that orbits the planet while the majority poor ones continue to live and suffer here. Such is the setting of Elysium.

The movie stars Matt Damon as a high tech criminal but still poor that decided to go straight and work his way up in a factory manufacturing droids to police Elysium and control Earth citizens. However, one work day turned out badly with him getting exposed to radiation and had only 5 days to live. Of course, only those miracle machines in Elysium can save him and so the movie really kicks off from there. He made a deal with the bad guys to steal the memory out of his evil boss' mind because he didn’t give a damn when he got exposed to radiation. He gets physically fitted into an exoskeleton with lots of drilling and hacking and become kind of super. In return he gets sent to Elysium.

Off he went to steal but of course things went bad, lost his best buddy and got hunted but he did manage to steal a, coincidentally, program that could reset the whole Elysium that will turn the tide of things. Along the way, he met his childhood sweetheart (whose daughter is dying of leukaemia and also needs the miracle machine). His original journey to save himself became one that could save the world! Oh yeah, it’s that kind of movie!

Effects are ok and there is nothing much to really act out. This is the first time I see an evil Jodie Foster, the controlling figure in Elysium. Interesting but there’s really not much acting skills required in this movie. Action sequences are not over the hill. All in, good for an entertainment but I doubt it’ll become a classic.

Story - extreme setting of what the world is becoming now. 3/5
Looking for lots of action? 3/5
Effects? 3/5
Acting? There’s really not much and not necessary. There’re lots of desperation, though. 3/5
Overall, an above average movie that’s not great. 3/5

And the trailer: