Elysium: visionary design, gripping action

If you’ve seen the original series Star Trek episode The Cloud Minders, you know the setup for Elysium – the aristocratic elite live high above the Earth in pristine utopia while the great unwashed live in impoverished squalor below, toiling away on the planet’s surface. Director Neill Blomkamp has envisioned a spectacular follow-up to his 2009 debut, District 9. Elysium is definitely a companion piece that belongs on the same shelf, as both films make ample use of bleak shantytowns as the catalyst for stories of class struggle.

The titular Elysium is a vast space station of the future, always visible in the skies above the industrial ghetto of dystopian Los Angeles. Science Fiction fans, if you’ve longed to see Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama depicted as a film, the visual effects technology is ready to go, as Elysium is a giant wheel-like environment that’s absolutely photorealistic and convincing. Across the board, the effects depicted in Elysium are a marvel and stunningly well executed.

Matt Damon is an Earthbound laborer, grinding out a living in the industrial slums, building the droids that help maintain Elysium’s status quo. It’s a Bruce Willis role – a Korben Dallas (The Fifth Element) type. When events conspire to make getting to Elysium a matter of urgency, Damon’s character will have to transform himself to have even a chance at getting there. Blomkamp (who also wrote the script) must have a strong affection for Paul Verhoeven. Becoming part machine while struggling to retain your humanity is handled with a pathos and ferocity similar to Robocop. An automated parole officer recalls the “Johnny Cab” of Total Recall. Order on Elysium is maintained by the icy Jodie Foster, whose work I normally love. But Foster seems to be impersonating Cate Blanchett here, with an odd Franco-British accent that’s all over the place. Her lethal weapon of choice is deranged field agent Sharlto Copley, who steals the movie with a wildly unpredictable and unhinged performance. He’s the villain of the summer and makes one of the most physical and impulsive antagonists you’re likely to see anywhere.

Elysium is a pretty spectacular science fiction movie that never skimps on the action. Blomkamp’s films have a strong dose of social undercurrent in them. Where District 9 deftly addressed immigration, Elysium references the widening gulf between haves and have-nots; our mad dash to incorporate tech; surveillance drones and health care for all. While the messaging may be a little heavy-handed, Blomkamp’s uses sci-fi to comment on the here and now, while keeping the plot moving at a breakneck pace. It’s refreshing to see a summer sci-fi film with an actual R-rating for a change. The violence and gore are in your face and sometimes wince-inducing. William Fichtner is particularly terrific as an aristocratic citizen repulsed by the workers he has to supervise. I have to single out the design work on this film by Philip Ivey, TyRuben Ellingson and the legendary futurist Syd Mead (Blade Runner) for the highest praise. The flying vehicles on display not only look absolutely credible, but they’re some of the most striking designs I’ve seen in ages. Wait ‘til you see the “Bugatti” Fichtner’s executive uses.

There are parts of Elysium that will definitely give some viewers plenty of nits to pick. But any shortcuts or just-go-with-it moments are minor, given the suspense of the plot and the staggeringly good effects on display. This is fast-moving, action-packed sci-fi on a big scale and absolutely worth seeing in the theater. It’s wildly entertaining and Blomkamp moves up to the James Cameron/Ridley Scott league here. He’s a visionary and Elysium is absolutely eye-popping.