Elysium

Neill Blomkamp is known for his gritty, politically themed movie District 9 which used sci-fi as a backdrop to tell about racism and cruelty. Now with a more stellar cast Blomkamp is using the genre again as a back drop for the political thriller Elysium and proves once again that it works.

Its 2154 and life sucks here on Earth. Overpopulation and poverty are the new normal and thieving is necessary for survival. Thankfully there is a place that doesn't suck so bad, a place that takes its name from the home of the gods in old mythology, but a place that is nigh impossible to get into unless you are the richest of the rich. That place is Elysium. Max Da Costa has dreamed of going to Elysium since he was a boy in an orphanage with his best friend Frey and has tried to get the money all his life. But crime still doesn't pay in 2154. Now Max is trying to walk the straight and narrow, working hard, and clinging on to the hope that things will get better. Unfortunately before that has a chance of happening Max is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation and is given five days to live. His only hope at surviving is to do the impossible and break into Elysium and Frey asks him to do the same for her daughter who has leukemia. But getting out of the hell on earth and into the heaven of Elysium is easier said than done.

Elysium has a much more complicated plot then the little summery above but that is all I can reveal without spoiling the fantastic finale. There will be many comparisons of District 9 and Elysium, some of them fair and some of them not. They both are gritty takes of a complicated futuristic world. Both have stirring political themes. I can honestly say that I thought Elysium was the better movie. I enjoyed the characters and plot more. There have been a lot of sci-fi movies this summer, some I liked, some I didn't. Very rare does Hollywood offer a gritty sci-fi thriller that is compelling on all levels but Neill Blomkamp knows what he's doing and he delivers a gem in Elysium.