‘Elysium’ is good but no cigar

‘Elysium’ is the kind of film that you really, really, really want to be spectacular. Firstly because it’s written and directed by South African, Neill Blomkamp, who set science fiction in Africa in his ground-breaking ‘District 9’ (2009) and secondly because the genre has recently taken a blow with colossal duds like ‘Pacific Rim’ (2013) and ‘After Earth’ (2013).

Though it’s visually sublime and its plot of a space habitat called Elysium reserved for high class humans while the majority are left to rot in the rubble of a failed Earth is intriguing, the story fails to develop its characters to a level that would make its issues of class and immigration reach that mythical realm of riveting.

Heavy on the action and light on heart, the film starring an impeccable Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Diego Luna, William Fichtner and a maniacal Sharlto Copley is well acted, choreographed and good to look at, but there is a human element missing that, at times, makes some of the action sequences tedious.

That’s not to say the film isn’t entertaining. The all star cast does what they do well and South African Sharlto Copely steals the show as a blood thirsty sociopath who speaks in his native South African accent as he wreaks havoc everywhere he goes.

As is becoming his trademark, Blomkamp paints a science fictional picture as an exaggerated metaphor for what is currently happening on Earth.

Zooming in on the disparity between rich and poor and the difficulties with regard to their access to health care, as well as their inability to get shot of their situation, Blomkamp creates a sobering and chilling narrative that looks distant but is all too familiar.

If science fiction and social commentary is your thing, check this out. If not, hearing the words “kak” and “lekker” in a major motion picture are well worth the entry free.

‘Elysium’ (2013) is now showing at Ster-Kinekor

– marth__vader or martha@namibian.com.na

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