In 'Elysium,' the director overdoes the effects
If the new Matt Damon sci-fi movie 鈥淓lysium鈥� is to be trusted, by the year 2154*, the planet Earth will be one big garbage dump. I would say that date is a bit optimistic. Be that as it may, writer-director Neill Blomkamp (鈥�District 9鈥�) sure loves his garbage.
In this socially conscious fantasy epic, Damon plays Max, a factory laborer who accidentally gets irradiated at work. With days to live, he makes a mad scramble to reach Elysium, the high-tech orbital space station where all the 1 percenters (or maybe it鈥檚 the 1/10 of one-percenters) live in bikinied bliss and medical science can cure almost anything.
The garbage-y set pieces on Earth have a fetid monumentality, and Max鈥檚 desperation is sometimes stirring. But Blomkamp overdoes even his best effects. (I would have welcomed more vistas of Elysium to break up the grungefest.) If 鈥淓lysium鈥� is an example of how recession-era Hollywood intends to dramatize the rift between the haves and the have-nots, let鈥檚 hope the studios don鈥檛 also bring back Smell-O-Rama. Grade: C+ (Rated R for strong bloody violence and language throughout.)
