A bleak and often depressing cyberpunk story of class division and a meditation of the relative worth of life, Elysium is a masterpiece of special effects, action, character growth wrapped up in a politically charged social commentary that will no doubt polarize audiences.

In the year 2154 the Earth has been abandoned by the wealthy for an orbital space station called Elysium. Elysium is a clean beautiful Utopia where med bays cure all ailments in minutes, lives are extended through reconstructive surgeries and there is no want for anything. On Earth, the poor are left in polluted squalor forced to eek out a living working to keep the Haves that way while making so little as to ensure that they remain Have Nots.

As a child Max (Matt Damon) dreamed of leaving the Earth and taking his best friend Frey (Alice Braga) up to Elysium but his position as an orphan kept him firmly grounded on Earth. When we catch up with the adult Max he is a man who has walked on the wrong side of the law and been caught in the name of earning enough for a ticket but now is trying to walk the straight and narrow by working a factory job that keeps him generally poor but honest. A run in with police droids leaves him with a broken arm and an eight month extension on his parole and things are looking bleak. They get much worse after an accident at the factory leaves him irradiated and given five days to live. If he can get up to Elysium he can save himself but in order to get up to Elysium he has to enter into a deal familiar to any cyberpunk fan in which he is outfitted with a cybernetic exo suit which will allow him to steal data from the brain of an Elysium executive (William Fichtner) who is embroiled in a scheme to start a coup up on Elysium with a high ranking official (Jodie Foster). It all goes very badly.

Elysium is a big and complicated movie and it is difficult to know exactly where to dive in. This is a film of layers and you really don’t have to get into some aspects to enjoy the others. On the surface you have a badass cyberpunk tale that his all the requirements of the genre and does it exceptionally well. The special effects are amazing and the action is well shot and paced. You can enjoy the movie as a character study as the characters are flawed, sometimes selfish individuals who have gratifying arcs that hit emotionally. You can enjoy the nuanced performances that make the whole thing breathe and feel urgent. Finally, you can enjoy it as social commentary on the state of the class system, poverty and availability of healthcare with some immigration issues thrown in for good measure. Of all of these layers, this last one is the one that will cause the most controversy.

I have no wish to start a political debate at all but I did not have a problem with the message of the film and I feel that it is a good starting point for discussion about the issue. While the viewer can certainly watch it and just be angry, it would be more helpful to start a dialogue about it and think critically about how you feel.

In a way this issue is frustrating in terms of the movie because it is so polarizing that a good chunk of viewers will close themselves off to the rest of what is going on. I think it is an important discussion to have for sure and there is nothing wrong with films having a point of view, but I also think there are a lot of really cool things going on here that people might miss by being so busy yelling at each other about whether or not we should have universal health care.

I am a huge fan of the cyberpunk genre of science fiction and going into this I had no idea just how much of a cyberpunk story this was. Cyberpunk, as written by William Gibson, Philip K Dick, Bruce Sterling, Neal Stephenson, et al  is characterized by a dark near future setting in which corporations control government and anti-hero protagonists are often forced to save themselves by entering into a deal to do something nefarious. This often involves hacking, cybernetic implants, data theft and general corporate espionage. The protagonists typically have a checkered past and are rarely particularly good people at the outset. All of the request elements are present in Elysium and it is done in a very cool way.

The special effects here are amazing and once again writer/director Neill Blomkamp proves that he is one of the best directors in the business when it comes to realistic special effects. His previous film District 9 was really just a tease of the level of action we were in store for here. While it never gets too over the top or overrides the story, the action and effects are just incredible and I would pay full price just to see that aspect of the movie.

The emotional side of the story is complete and fully formed and is brutal. This is not a happy story about happy people doing fun things. The consequences are dire and the movie does not let up on the audience in terms of intensity. More than once I was moved to tears here which is rare in a movie that is so steeped in CGI. Like District 9 Blomkamp proves he can service both special effects and emotional weight within the context of the same story.

The performances are exceptional here with Matt Damon turning in a performance that is brave in so far as he has the confidence to play an unlikable character. There isn’t much to recommend about Max and Damon doesn’t soften him very much allowing his single minded selfishness breathe and live. Jodie Foster likewise allows herself to be cold and selfish as well with very little redeeming about her as well.  The biggest standout, however, is Sharlto Copley as Kruger, a sleeper cell operative on Earth who is a sociopath jacked up with just as much cybernetics as Max but who knows how to use it and has the sadism to do so. Copley plays Kruger with the same amount of confidence Damon plays Max and allows the character to be as skin crawlingly evil and nauseating as possible. This is a villain well worth fearing and hating and good for Copley for allowing him to creep us out this much.

Conclusion [10 out of 10]

At the end of the day this movie is going to be polarizing for its social point of view and your mileage will most definitely vary. That being said, I loved every bit of it and think that Blomkamp is a genius and master filmmaker. It makes me a bit sad that there are those who may weeded out politically given how much the film has to offer but even that barrier to entry isn’t enough for me to give it anything less than a perfect score. If you can get behind the message or are open-minded or stubborn enough to allow for it or ignore it then this is one of the best films of the year.