Elysium

In the year 2154, there exists two "worlds", our Earth (still hot, flat and crowded) and Elysium which is the ultimate bedroom community, just a 20 minute shuttle ride from Earth.  On Elysium, it is like Stepford, with golf courses, nice houses, no crime and these neat Med Pods, which you put yourself into and get healed of whatever ails you.

Needless to say there is some dissension between the inhabitants of these two worlds and Elysium does a good job of keeping out the undesirables.  Jodie Foster plays the Dick Cheney of Elysium, the Vice President who tells the President what to do.  Matt Damon is a loveable loser on Earth, working a factory job.  When he suffers a "health mishap", he become desperate to get to Elysium for healing.  To patch himself up, he gets outfitted with an exoskeleton courtesy of his Q, Spider.  Did I say Spider Man?

Directed by Neill Blomkquist of South Africa, we have graphic reminders of not only apartheid South Africa but also the gaps between the haves and have-nots in our world.  The military shuttles of Elysium are painted with Springboks and what appear to be Republic of South Africa flags.

The real star of the show is Sharlto Copley who plays Kruger, the enforcer against the Earthlings.  Looks bad, acts bad and sounds... great!  What an accent!  He's a bad dude and is a good villain against Matt Damon.

The dystopian future takes a new twist with the version of Elysium.  It certainly sounds plausible which makes this a cross between futurism and science fiction.   Lots of nods to Total Recall as well as Iron Man.  In the end, the movie can't decide if it is a dark future movie or new action hero.  It works best as the dark future movie.

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