Elysium

Late in the 21st century, the Earth has become drastically unfit to live on for some people due to a rising crime rate and pollution, among other things. A project was started by the world's elite to build a space station that orbits Earth called Elysium. This little haven is run by a ruthless head of security named Delacourt. Delacourt uses any means necessary (including actions which some might consider illegal) to ensure Elysium is not infiltrated by the inhabitants down on Earth.

Max is a factory who just wants more than anything to get off Earth and make his way into Elysium. He even goes so far to promise a childhood friend named Frey that he'll take her up there someday. There's just one problem - Max is a career criminal. His record keeps him from earning the massive amount of cash to get his ticket into Elysium. So Max grudgingly turns from his life of crime and goes to work for a factory making robots. For awhile he seems to be doing well for himself, until one day when he gets in an accident at the factory resulting in Max taking in lethal doses of radiation. After the accident Max is told he only has five days to live. Trying to find an alternative, Max realizes that the only way to save himself is to return to his life of crime by breaking into Elysium and using their healthcare system.

If you have ever seen the first feature film by Neill Blomkamp titled District 9, then you should pretty much know what to expect from Elysium. Blomkamp does a fantastic job with Elysium of not only creating a great general sci-fi flick, but also inserting his own ideas about politics and human nature. I wasn't a big fan of District 9, so I was a little hesitant about seeing Elysium but surprisingly I greatly enjoyed it. Elysium isn't perfect though. Some of the fight scenes looked like it came straight out of a video game, and one or two scenes in particular looked like it was trying to imitate The Matrix. The more realistic action was better, though your typical R-rated graphic violence. Probably the most gruesome (yet slightly unbelievable) scene was when one character gets their face blown off by a grenade, somehow survives and then has their face reconstructed by a machine. It initially was quite jarring to see his face completely blown off.

Despite all that, I absolutely enjoyed seeing Matt Damon as Max, Jodie Foster as Delacourt, and Sharlto Copley as an evil mercenary used by Delacourt to hunt down Max. I also appreciated the fact that Elysium wasn't just a stereotypical sci-fi action flick, but actually had a deeper purpose. I would definitely recommend seeing Elysium if you're tired of seeing mindless action flicks that only care about violence, car chases and explosions. Since it is rated R, I want to caution parents before they let their kids see it. This is still a violent action movie with a lot of graphic violence and harsh language.