Elysium 6.8/10
Watched last night. Writer, director Neill Blomkamp. I had no idea what to expect. Has Matt Damon, I have always liked him (Bourne, etc.). He gives Mel Gibson a run for his money in this.
Sci fi, future stuff, 2054 or so projection. Some things we have now
much exaggerated: Pollution, over population, schism between the haves
and have nots taken to the absolute extreme -- the rich have sequestered
themselves in a ginormous space station. Earth seems to have devolved
into the Brazillian slums entirely, work is very hard to get, it's an
employers market in spades, the work is ultra hazardous and unfriendly.
Criminality is rampant, poverty ubiquitous.
That stuff in itself is interesting. The characters and their
relationships in particular are pretty shallow. I guess we are meant to
identify with people without diving into ourselves, a typical flaw of
Hollywood fare. Protagonists and villains, the so common refrain in
action movies.
The movie loses its footing, plays out its premises in a relatively
predictable manner, egregiously so. The ending is preposterous, of
course, but you accept it because, well, you have to, it's a movie. It
does not raise itself above the typical sci fi action flick, except in
the socio-economic distorted lens used in particular in the earlier
portions. The casting was by and large very good, the characters very
interesting, even a few of the villains. However, except for three or so villains,
they were portrayed as one dimensional venal sadists. It could have been
a lot better.
Pro reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes suggest that the earlier District 9 by
Neill Blomkamp is way better. I'm going to see that...
Jackie Brown.
"What the fuck happened to you man? Your ass used to be beautiful."
My favorite Tarantino movie.