Elysium

If you had five days left to live, how would you spend it?

Elysium follows ex-con Max de Costa, a production line worker who is given a death sentence after being exposed to high amount of radiation. While he lives on Earth, which has become a slum since the wealthy had retreated to the space station 'Elysium', he is unable to cure his sickness, but is given the chance to break into the futuristic utopia.

The writing, like Blomkamp's last masterpiece, District 9, is wonderfully fresh. This is the kind of future I really crave to see in a Sci-Fi movie.  The older generation of Sci-Fi felt too sterile and clean, it's nice to see spaceships in the same movie as a grill made out of an oil drum. Incorporating social issues that we face now in this futuristic dystopian world obviously comes naturally to Blomkamp. While District 9 tackled racism and immigration, Elysium looks at class warfare and health care. 

The acting in this movie was fantastic. Matt Damon, as he almost always does, has an amazing performance in this movie. I was a little thrown off by the quasi-french accent Jodie Foster had throughout the movie, but that is a minor detail. The gold star of the day however, goes to Sharlto Copley. I loved this guy as Wikus in District 9, his breakout performance,; and his portrayal of Murdock in the A-Team movie was flawless, but this role was going to be a test as his first villainous role, and like a champ, he knocked it out of the park. I truly believe that Copley is probably one of the most underused actors out there compared to the quality of the performance he gives.

The cinematics is beautiful in this movie. The scenes that cut from the slums of Mexico to the paradise of Elysium are really amazing, going from the dusty, dead, and overcrowded to the pristine opulence is definitely a smart artistic choice to have. My only nitpick that I can find here is that Kruger's ship looks very reminiscent of the alien technology from District 9. I can understand how this happened, as Blomkamp is most likely the one who created the 3D model (his previous job was doing artistic 3D models that decorated the covers and pages of the magazine 'Popular Science'), but I would have liked to see something just slightly different.

Final Judgement:

Too often these days, do we hear the words 'Must See' attached to a movie. I would classify very few movies as a movie that someone "must watch". That being said, Elysium is one of those movies. To be honest this was the movie I was waiting for all summer to see. A perfect blend of creativity, beauty, and raw emotion. Frankly I was worried this movie wouldn't live up to the high expectations I was putting on it, but it blew them away. This is not only worth the ticket price, it may be worth a second ticket just to soak it in again.

Score:★★★★★★★★★★

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Pacific Rim

Giant robots fighting giant monsters from another dimension. Sounds like something from a terrible Japanese cartoon, right? Well in my modest opinion, this movie definitely did better than that…not that those are high expectations.

‘Pacific Rim’ spins an fantastical yarn, showing us that giant monsters, nicknamed ‘Kaiju’ invaded Earth, forcing mankind to unite against them to bring us the ‘Jagers’, giant man-made metal monstrosities with the soul purpose of killing Kaiju. The story centers around a single pilot (piloting a Jager it turns out, it a two person job) that has placed himself in somewhat of a self imposed exile, and is called upon to help mankind make its final stand against the growing threat of the Kaiju.

The look of this movie was, in a single word, dazzling. The graphic effects were incredibly well done, the robots looked fantastic and, being that you see different generations of robots, believable. Being a Guillermo del Toro movie, you expect some great monsters, and holy crap does he deliver. The Kaiju are a diverse and stunning collection of horrors from a mind that has to run rampant with the things that hide under the bed. I saw this in 3D, and there were a few sketchy moment in 3D, but all in all, the 3D was used as it should be, as a tool to enhance the depth of the field and not as the gimmick it was in the 70’s.

Acting was pretty decent in this movie. The show was definitely Idris Elba’s, demanding all of y=the attention of whatever scene he was in. Charlie Day was surprisingly good, even though he was used mostly as a comedic boxing glove whenever the story needed a good comedy punch. Another great performer in this movie was Rinko Kikuchi, this being her largest performance to date. Ron Pearlman of course makes an appearance, as he and del Toro are good friends.

The story in this film was decent, but I do have to admit I was hoping for a little more drama and story and a little less action. I liked what I saw, but there were some action sequences that are almost exhausting just watching because of the amount of force and devastation caused. Other than that small concern, wanting a little more exposition and detail in some areas, I really have nothing negative to say about the story.

Final Judgement:

This is what you want out of a summer action movie. There was a good story, amazing special effects, and even a little hint at romance mixed up in it. If you are looking for an action movie, buy tickets to this. If you are indifferent or prefer 3D, this is a 3D movie that won't kill your eyes, and this movie in IMAX is breath-taking. While it most likely won't win an award from the Academy, this is a movie that shouldn't disappoint.

Score: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

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