I finally sat down and watched Elysium. The film is 4 star according to the unknown (and unclear sourcing of) rubric on Direct TV. 4 stars might be a bit meaty, considering the clearly nutsoid actions of the secondary antagonist. Overall however, the film presented a rather sensible dystopian vision based primarily off the ‘corporate = affluent’ model of future thought. In some ways it is an ode to Ayn Rand, whose seminal work spoke of the great minds of the world going on strike and retreating from the common world. That is what happens with the government and ultra-rich in this story. They retreat from the world–literally. They move to a fixed orbit space station that affords them all the pleasures of a perfect earth while the rest of the people suffer planetside.
The plot of the story moves us quickly between earth and space, building a larger socio-political message arou[nd what essentially is a love story gone awry. I enjoyed the action and the pacing, but the dynamics between the characters were limited at best. The ‘love’ story is told through flashbacks that center on a mother figure and a quote–a moment in time–that seems somewhat meaningless to the general plot. At the same time, the visuals, reminiscent of District 9, are very powerful and help to cement what is a weak character story dipped heavily in a very interesting world.