Elysium

With most films we've experienced in the past where future Earth is ruined, it's usually caused from a nuclear war, pestilence, or even aliens from another planet. However, with "Elysium", the reasoning of Earth's ruin is never fully explained, which, in a sense, makes this film that much more compelling.

In the year 2154 two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster), a government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium, including hiring a mercenary killer, Kruger (Sharlto Copley) to shoot down any approaching spacecraft intruding on Elysium's airspace.This doesn't stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can, especially when no one on Elysium experience sickness, poverty, or even war.
While Max (Matt Damon) is working in a factory, he inadvertently gets caught in a cell where he is exposed to high radiation levels. With only five days to live, he asks his friend, Julio (Diego Luna) to talk to Spider (Wagner Moura) to see if he can do whatever he can to secure a ticket for Max to Elysium so he can be healed. To obtain his healing, Max agrees to a daunting mission that if successful, will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.

Others to round out the cast are Alice Braga as Frey, a long time friend of Max, William Fichtner as John Carlyle, who is in cahoots with Delacourt, Brandon Auret as Drake, Josh Blacker as Crowe, Emma Tremblay as Matilda, Frey's daughter, Jose Pablo Cantillo as Sandro, Maxwell Perry Cotton as Young Max, Faran Tahir as President Patel of Elysium, Adrian Holmes as Manuel, Jared Keeso as Rico, Valentina Giron as Young Frey, and Yolanda Abbud L. as Nun.

This was incredibly well delineated by writer and director Neill Blomkamp ("District 9" '09). This guy really knows how to emit extreme emotion from his actors so as to make their characters that much more realistic. This premise does state a commentary in that it is about a hot ticket issue politically right now--immigration problems, and even uses Homeland Security in a negative connotation. A kind of homage Blomkamp used was the fact he used a cylindrical space station as was also used in Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" '68.

With the exception of a couple small inconsistencies, this was an amazing story which keeps you on that proverbial edge of the seat. All this and the IMAX process will leave you in awe of both story and visuals.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                        Rated: R                        109mins.