Reviews

...and often this is exactly what makes good sci-fi.

Focus is heavy on character development, and the debris-hauler protagonists are repeatedly called to ponder on what space is, and what it means to them and to the rest of the people that are far from being astronauts. As the story unfolds, their answers to these particular questions change dramatically along with their psyches - this is something audiences rarely see in such entertainment genres.

The main plot device with the terrorists never manages to take center stage, although it is above average and it does end with a bold twist; an alternative post-9/11 narration made back in 2004, which one rarely sees even 13 years after the actual events.

The writers have tried to keep the whole thing realistic and have been successful at it; one will not see anything out-worldly happening in 26 episodes. Sure, books/pens/motorcycles do look very much out of place in 2076 but such anachronistic elements can easily be dismissed in favor of suspension of disbelief.

Although the mood is starkly uneven, turning from generalized lighthearted-ness in the first half to *very* dark overtones as the series progresses, in the end heroes and viewers alike have made a complete circle and are ready to move forward, only this time they are wiser and more optimistic than in the beginning. Overall this is a must- see for space-loving teens, boys and girls alike. A very welcome change from spaceships blasting each other to bits.

Elysium is a cyborg movie taking place some 150 years in the future, at a time when the entire earth is a sweatshop planet, while the upper class resides in an ultra lux space station in orbit. Guess what - technology has been used to chain down the 99%, but then an accident that Damon suffers sets off events that threaten to change the course of history.

The story is actually *kinda* original, in the same way that District 9 was. There are too many similarities between the 2 movies, and I bet that you'll like this one as much as you liked the other. It's clearly a b-movie despite all the money spent on cast (unlike district 9) and SFX (which were quite good). In fact if the director had not used any famous actors, I dare say it would be so much better.

If you haven't seen district 9, then let me sum it all up in bullets:

*Pros: a poor excuse of a plot, bad acting (partly due to the script)

*Cons: really good setting, nice photography, good SFX

*a lot of hand-held camera work

*average action sequences

*about the political commentary: Elysium is an overtly anti- capitalist/anti-imperialist screamer, not in the classic Hollywood sense of good vs evil - it's not the antithesis between rich evil bastards and poor good people; as the writer highlights from start to finish, the cause of unhappiness is clearly to be found in the system itself. Really huge (full with blinking neon arrows) parallels are drawn with modern day exploitation of the third world by the west, of the worker and nature by the capital, and so on, and so on. The message is so blatantly thrown in the face of the viewer that many people are genuinely put off by it for purely ideological reasons. The same allusions were evident in district 9, but people took that film more like it was about racism, which is more universally accepted as a bad thing.

*overall: slightly above average flick

There's not much to say, this movie is exactly what it poses for. Ol'timers that grew up watching mecha animes (like me) will love it. Kids are just kids and will adore the fabulous action sequences. Btw if you did not know what 'mecha' is,you probably won't enjoy it as much. Lots and lots of nerdy details that will get your attention-if you are a nerd of course; something that essentially caught mine is that the romantic element in this flick is completely non-formulaic for Hollywood but just makes perfect sense for animes. Technically speaking: acting/directing=quite good, sfx/music=up to industry standards, CGI=very good, plot/story=entertainingly silly. There is a 15-30-min period in the middle of the film that drags a bit, but that's OK. Enjoy!