Elysium: How a Second Act Let Me Down I have sympathy for artists who produce works that are instantly loved by the masses on their first try because they have to live up to that initial success. There was high expectations (I think this summer Hollywood has been let down several times now) for Neill Blomkamp’s second movie after his amazing first feature District 9 that anything short of fantastic would be a big disappointment. I want to say right up front, Elysium was a good movie with great bloody wonderful action (my favorite kind), a sense of intelligence among the noise, and an impressive visual style. So why do I feel Elysium was a mishap from this director? Well the major blunder was the casting of Matt Damon as Max. First, Damon is a good actor and his performance is not bad. He brings out his Bourne moves and lays the smack down on those who get in his way. My problem is if your story is about an obvious separation of classes that is represented by mostly white people versus the poor who are represented mostly by blacks and Hispanics why is a WASP like Damon representing them as their hero? It is hard to believe in the futuristic Los Angeles, particular where Damon’s character lives, that he is the only WHITE person there. It’s a halfhearted attempt at the social commentary the director is making and it impacts the rest of the film because you do not believe for a second Damon’s Max belonged there among the “huddled masses yearning to be free” and his take down of the status quo in Elysium is hollow. The story behind the Matrix was a great example of how a savior/hero/messiah/agent of change or whatever you wanted to call that archetype character was turned on its head. Those who are fans, like me, know that Will Smith was approached to be Neo and Val Kilmer was to be Morpheus. Of course Smith didn’t want to take a risk with the then unknown Wachowskis so Keanu Reeves was cast as the One and Laurence Fishburne played Morpheus. Now Reeves, unlike Damon, and his band of freedom fighters in the first Matrix were a snapshot of what the people of Zion were, a unified group that were composed of different races all oppressed by the machines. So when they fought and (some) died together it felt real because they were all suffering the same fate no matter if they were black and white they were all (in the context of the world of the Matrix) Zionists. The hero should represent who he/she is fighting for, even if it is a reluctant burden as Damon does in the story. Also, Max is not a well-drawn character like Wikus in District 9 played by the excellent Sharlto Copley who I have to say is such a chameleon of an actor that he steals the show in Elysium playing a baddie (he is in a three way running for bad guy of the summer with Cumberlatch’s Kahn and Shannon’s General Zod). Wikus was a character you hated in the beginning of the movie and during his tragic downfall you eventually sympathize with him. He becomes an unlikely hero who pays the ultimate price for the sins of his society against the “Prawns”. The audience cheered and felt a sense of catharsis when Winkus redeems himself as he took out the government men in a blaze of glory. You don’t get that experience with Max, his mission to Elysium is for his own need but he unwittingly becomes the citizens of Earth’s champion when he obtains the wrench to throw in the machine (don’t want to give away the plot). The love interest, a Hispanic nurse who has a dying daughter, is really just a half-baked attempt to make Damon’s character not appear to be completely without a care for his fellow man. The real heroes of the movie happened to be, surprised to say, the “criminal” underworld lead by a man named Spider (played by Wagner Moura) who aid Max’s quest to get to Elysium by their use of some seriously sophisticated computer hijacking and identity thievery. Honestly, that is my biggest issue with the movie, everything else was solid but I wanted to be knocked off my socks like I was with District 9. I still believe there is great potential for this director and I am looking forward to more of his visions of doom and gloom for the world, hopefully in a more subtle way. Also, he should change things up a bit because Elysium felt like a retread of things that District 9 already did perhaps a female hero would be nice. I do have to give him credit (and this is why I will continue to follow his work) he could have been lazy and rested on his laurels by doing a sequel to District 9, giving studios and audiences what they wanted but he chose to continue and explore other problems within our society telling a new story. However, one day, I do hope Christopher Johnson comes back as he promised Winkus four years ago.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 00:57:10 +0000
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