Neill Blomkamp's second feature film has a lot to live up to. His debut, 2009's District 9, was a critically acclaimed box office hit, as well as gathering four Oscar nominations, including ones for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. His followup, Elysium, has a bit more star power behind it, a larger budget, and hopes to be as well loved as District 9 was.
Stepping into the leading role of Max De Costa, a former criminal who is trying to go straight, is Matt Damon. Max had grown up stealing cars and anything else he could get his hands on, until he was caught and sent to prison. Once out, he got a job in a factory making the droids that police the cities of Earth. One fateful afternoon, Max gets caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and is exposed to a deadly amount of radiation. Nothing on Earth can save him, but the MedBays on Elysium can fix him immediately. The only problem for Max is that Elysium is only for the rich and powerful, not for lowly former criminals. One of Los Angeles's underworld types devises a plan for Max to get to Elysium by fitting him with an exoskeleton that will enhance his combat abilities and having him download the brain data of one of Earth's richest men. Once Max has this data, the Secretary of Defense (Jodie Foster, Silence of the Lambs) dispatches her top agent (Sharlto Copley, District 9 & The A-Team) to retrieve what's in Max's head. Max is aided by his childhood friend (Alice Braga, Predators) and one of his partners in crime (Diego Luna, Contraband) along the way.
Much like District 9, there's a pretty clear socio-political message throughout the movie. Elysium deals with elitism, as well as what's actually going on in third world countries right now with the overpopulation and lack of ways to help the people. This message is very clear during the first half of the film, and then, by the second half, the film turns into more of a straight action film, one where underlying messages take a back seat. Not that that was a bad thing, but the shift from "let's worry about overpopulation a lot" to "let's watch people explode" had no middle ground.
Speaking of the action, when the film does feature the chases and shootouts, Blomkamp delivers. Max is your typical everyman, but when he has the exoskeleton attached, it's believable that it is actually helping him in combat, and it's very fun to watch. The futuristic weapons used throughout the film are incredibly cool to see in action, including explosive rounds and a rail gun that Max finds in the armory on Elysium. The final showdown between Max and Kruger (Copely) was also very well done, as there was a lot of tension build up with other plot pieces in motion as well.
In a summer chock full of sequels, Neill Blomkamp delivered the thinking man's sci-fi action movie, an original one at that. Great performances from Damon and Foster, as well as wonderful set pieces and action scenes, Elysium is certainly worth a look. In my book, Blomkamp's two for two.