Neill Blomkamp’s next project... ELYSIUM? - Part 1

[BlackFox]

Yeah for some reason we have had to wait a couple weeks for this and KA2, according to box office mojo its only been released in the following places:

Bulgaria
Finland
Israel Sony
Russia - CIS
Slovakia
Sweden
Ukraine

Whether that will mean it gets more talked about after though we shall see, its been a hard couple of weeks watching everyone talk about movies we cant see!! Especially when reviews have been a bit of a mixed bag.t:

 

[dark_b]

http://www.fxguide.com/featured/elysium-a-practical-miniature-and-digital-fx-odyssey/

 

[addison81]

That's why it looked so good when The Raven crashed on Elysium. Great miniature work. There's some great stuff in The Art of Elysium book as well. I gotta say I think the robots in the film are my favorites from any movie. I hope the robot look of Chappie is just as impressive.

 

[jacobed]

not every action scene on Earth had a shaky cam. so no not going to work.


is anyone shocked how noone talks about Elysium? not even complaining. on other forums,in the comment sections,....
i am suprised and shocked. what is happening here? this was a movie for scifi and superhero fanboys.

It's too meh to talk about.

 

[Thundercrack85]

I think the biggest issue was that the trailer essentially gave away the entire movie.

Special effects were amazing. But again, Blomkamp really needs to work on his villains. Don't get me wrong, Kruger was fun as an insane killer, but Foster's character was rather dull. All his villains seem to be petty rich people and violent psychopaths for hire. And what was Foster's accent?

I mean, I hate rich people as much as the next guy, but they can be interesting, if nothing else.

 

[Schlosser85]

Hating rich people is the same as hating poor people. With the exception that it's "in vogue" to do the former, despite the fact that the people hating on teh eeeeevilll rich people would like to be rich people themselves.

 

[Schlosser85]

I still gotta catch this, either this week or next week.

I hate being broke.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Except that poor people have no power. Whereas many rich people make sure poor people stay poor.

It's natural to hate people who have what you don't have, and make sure you don't get it.

Human nature is to be greedy and selfish. The rich are just most successful at that. Hence the mix of envy and hatred for them.

 

[Schlosser85]

Meh, I'm friends with both poor and rich people.

Of course there's rich greedy ****ers, but there's poor greedy ****ers too.

Things like that only separate people if they let it. Some rich people hate poor people, some poor people hate rich people, some people are mature enough to like or dislike people on an individual basis.

 

[Thundercrack85]

It's easier to hate a successful villain I suppose.

I think it's the visuals also. It's one thing if a society is wealthy, but much like America, in Elysium, it's the wealthy who put themselves above the poor, and make sure they have no chance of improving their lot in life.

Though the movie did at least sort of imply that not everyone on Elysium was a Romney-esque Dickens villain.

 

[redhawk23]

Hating rich people is the same as hating poor people. With the exception that it's "in vogue" to do the former, despite the fact that the people hating on teh eeeeevilll rich people would like to be rich people themselves.

And does this film hate rich people? The lifestyle of those on Elysium is never held as anything but the goal for everyone else. The only people who are vilified are the corrupt and those who resort to killing other people to get what they want. It is even strongly implied that most of the people, or at least many strongly disagree with Foster's character about how to deal with security issues.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Well, let's see, Elysium (and its people, i.e. the rich) are implied to be withholding life saving medical advances from the general population... they have zero compassion for anyone on the planet (even when they get to Elysium, they're shipped off immediately)... Yeah, I'd say so, by and large. We see how their robots treat people on Earth too.

Every named Elysium character is a villain. Even the president only takes issue with Foster's character killing people because she does it so publicly, she even calls him out on it (he only cares about PR).

Though that does imply that someone on Elysium isn't a fan of civilian casualties, but they're not named characters.

I was kind of sad to see that the plot didn't cumulate with Max knocking Elysium out of orbit, and killing them all. But then, with the ending, Elysium will probably be destroyed in a matter of weeks anyway.

 

[Schlosser85]

I was kind of sad to see that the plot didn't cumulate with Max knocking Elysium out of orbit, and killing them all.

Considering there's families, children, etc. on Elysium, how would that make him any better than Delacourt?

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I finally saw this tonight and I personally enjoyed it, was it as good as D9? No, is the simple answer.

But Elysium had an identity of its own and the story was good, as were many of the characters, Damon as Max was good, as was Braga (who gets hotter every time I see her) as Frey. Foster was decent but was a little too hammy at times, and Sharlto Copley stole the show as Kruger, a darkly comic villain and up there as the one of the best villains of the year.

Blomkamps direction seemed a little off at times though, I thought his use of Shakey-cam and slow-motion was really over-used at times, and it was to the detriment of the movie at times as well. The movie wasnt as well paced as D9 either, there seemed to be a few too many slow moments were you just want the movie to move along and yet it lingers in a pointless place.

The action and special-effects were really well done, you couldnt tell when CGI was being used 99% of the time, and the way Blomkamp does futuristic weapons and their effects on humans is sublime, he literally has no equal in this regard.

Another problem I had was that Damon's journey seemed a little too similar to Wikus' in D9, both characters bordered on unlikeable for a long time in their movies only to have a change of heart in the 3rd act and do something for the cause rather than follow through on their selfish desires from earlier. I just thought it was handled better and in a more natural way in D9 than it was here.

I wonder because of the budget was the studio more involved this time, as Blomkamp just seemed more restrained than when he directed D9 for me. I just hope it doesnt change him as a film-maker as he has the potential to really go places as a director.

Overall I enjoyed Elysium a lot, with a bit of editing it would have flowed better but I came out of the movie satisfied and found myself enjoying it a lot. 8/10.

 

[redhawk23]

Well, let's see, Elysium (and its people, i.e. the rich) are implied to be withholding life saving medical advances from the general population..

Apt comparisons are uncomfortable aren't they?

The med beds are just a stand in for basically any life saving technology you can think of from cancer treatments to antibiotics. Even leaving aside expensive treatments there are basic health solutions, like simple plumbing to carry waste away, that have not been distributed throughout the world simply because no one has found a way to profit from it.

 

[Thundercrack85]

While that may have been the intention, its a pretty flawed comparison. Those guys on Elysium had beds that can cure any disease / condition. Really, if they wanted to, they could easily provide them for Earth, and in the end we see that happen, proving they're selfish bastards who want to keep poor people down.

While the drug companies are certainly amoral, developed countries routinely try to introduce life saving medical supplies into third world countries. The success is usually limited by corruption, lack of infrastructure, and locals being suspicious of modern technology. Not to mention the limit of those treatments, people in the developed world die all the time.

 

[Drz]

If the rich people in our world would provide more money to health care instead of off shoring it to banks on tiny islands and whatnot, our world would be a better place.

Thats why the ending is so super simple, because it's really the same here, if the rich would share it to everyone (and then you got those tax evaders, but im not saying all rich people are tax evaders) then it would help out alot.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Yes, but it wouldn't be a magical cure-all booth.

Even the richest people today are mortal, and will die of some disease or condition. That's the great thing about death, it's the ultimate equalizer. People aren't born equal, but they sure die equal.

I suppose that's what bugged me about the movie. In this future, you have one society which seems to have modern medical technology, and one living with Star Trek technology. This really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. There should be more of a middle ground.

Plus it does make the people of Elysium look particularly evil. With a few hundred booths, in a year, they could cure every cancer patient.

 

[Persona]

besides the metaphorical aspect, i thought it was pretty clear that the medbeds aren't made available to Earth citizens cuz of the overpopulation issue.

 

[Persona]

basically, global politics of the future look a lot like China's, unfortunately.

 

[Thundercrack85]

If that's the case, then Max just made the world much, much worse.

 

[Project862006]

just got back i really enjoyed it but is it me or could this film of used a good 30 more minutes it felt too short

sharlto copley's kruggar imo is the villain of the year by far

 

[Thundercrack85]

You know, looking back, I'm still not entirely clear how rebooting Elysium would make Foster president. I mean, are the citizens of Elysium just going to forget that Captain Robau was president?

 

[Project862006]

^what exactly are the citizens gonna do lol she could just kick them off Elysium if they question it

 

[Thundercrack85]

Even best case scenario, and it gives her control over the military robots (and that's a big assumption), we see that Elysium has normal human soldiers as well. It would trigger a civil war.

She could have laid that plan out better. Maybe frame the rebels for killing the president?