Movie Review: "Elysium" (Neill Blomkamp, 2013)

AN ALLEGORY EXPLODES:
BLOMKAMP'S LATEST IS MORE BRAWN THAN BRAIN 
by Bennett Campbell Ferguson

In the opening scenes of“Elysium,” the latest dystopian saga from South African director Neill Blomkamp, the camera skims across two opposing futuristic landscapes—the barren, cramped houses of Earth (where the lower classes languish in this vision of the future), and the green lawns of the titular space station (which are home to the rich). As I beheld these vivid worlds, I wondered if that camera was speeding towards something special, carrying me into a meaningful and exhilarating narrative that would stand out in a sea of disappointing summer blockbusters. But, as “Elysium” shows, hope is a fragile thing, a dream that can be abolished by a lethal dose of radiation.

           That is the fate that befalls the film’s hero, Max (Matt Damon) at least, and at the worst possible moment. For the first time in his life, Max has a stable job at a factory and even a potential romantic partner in his childhood friend, Frey (Alice Braga). But all that is taken away from his when Max becomes irradiated at work. Weak, vomiting, and with only five days to live, Max has only one chance for survival—earn a trip to Elysium (which has machines that can cure any illness) by doing a job for a criminal kingpin named Spider (Wagner Moura).

           I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to reveal that Max eventually makes it too Elysium, where he crash lands amidst space McMansions in a grimy starship. Yet Mr. Blomkamp spends little time on that gleaming station—as 2009’s District 9” proved, this director prefers the dust and dirt of Earth. In fact, I can’t think of a blockbuster filmmaker with such an intense fetish for visual ugliness. Mr. Blomkamp may outfit his characters with robotic suits of armor, but their nothing like the golden breastplates of the “Iron Man” films. Instead, they’re gray, bulking, and in one case, drilled into a character’s skin. Like much of the movie, they’re not pleasant to look at.

           For some, this visual style might indicate that Mr. Blomkamp is a brutal realist trying to inject science fiction cinema with grim gravitas. But I don’t think that’s accurate. “Elysium” does strive for plausibility, but it makes the mistake of privileging action over character development. Whereas Christopher Nolan or Bryan Singer might have used the film’s premise to explore questions of class and immigration, Mr. Blomkamp uses it as springboard for a series of inane and bloody action sequences. Of course, this didn’t have to be a problem in itself—there are plenty of satisfying summer blockbusters like “Pacific Rim” that lack engaging action sequences. But those films succeed because they have characters whose vulnerabilities make them worthy of your attention and despite Mr. Damon’s talent, Max is a dull cipher. Oh sure, the film goes to great lengths to show that he’s a charming, romantic fellow, the kind of man who can mock robots and flirt with a cute nurse in the same morning. But charm can’t hold a candle to eccentricity or complexity and those are the two key ingredients that Max lacks.

           With Max failing to deliver, you might hope to find a character worth caring about in Jodie Foster’s Delacourt, who is charged with protecting Elysium from intruders. But Ms. Foster gives a surprisingly inept performance (which is particularly disappointing in light of her bizarre and compelling speech at the Golden Globes)—not only does she fail to create a three-dimensional antagonist for Max to butt heads with, but in one of the strangest missteps of the year, she alternates British and American accents. More distressingly, we never find out why the character is so determined to protect Elysium and it could have been interesting to learn what made her decide that segregating the rich from the poor was the best policy for a brighter future.

           I’m sure there are some viewers who’d think exploring such question would slow down the movie’s momentum. But that’s not how I feel. In my opinion, complex intellectual queries and debates can fuel a movie’s action rather than dissipate it—when ideas are at stake as well as lives (in truly great sci-fi movies like “X2,” “The Fountain,” “WALL-E,” and “Inception”), the story becomes a question of not whether the hero or villain will prevail, but whose ideology will emerge as dominant, determining the course of civilization. I suppose “Elysium” does this somewhat by suggesting that the determination of the poor will ultimately prevail, that declaration is bludgeoned and bruised by the film’s action, which takes precedence not only over character development, but narrative coherence as well. 

          Still, I think there might have been a great film buried in “Elysium.” The premise could have made for a great philosophical thriller, but it also might have been fine fodder for comedy. The story is rife with ridiculous characters, from a kindly, philosophizing nun who mentors Max to a bearded faux-Scottish assassin who attacks him with a sword. Between these unintentionally comic figures and moronic shots of children running through golden fields that would fit seamlessly into a VISA commercial, “Elysium”suggests that Mr. Blomkamp could have an unexpected and unwanted knack for comedy. I doubt he’ll indulge in his next film, but in the mean time, this picture reminds us of a universal truth—when it comes to medicine, laughter trumps robot-suited saviors every time.