RocShemp

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters was a stupid-fun time waster and never pretended to be otherwise. District 9 aspired to be legitimate sci-fi but failed in that regard. Finally it decided to be a live action third person shooter. Total bait and switch.

Why So Blu?

Not really. the first 80% of that film was straight up social commentary and all that. It was the last part of the film ( the very last) that was mainstream action. Hell, Vickus redeemed himself at the end.

You need to watch it again. Maybe it'll sink in a bit more now that you've seen how uneven Elysium is.

RocShemp

No, your percentages line up with how I saw it. The problem is that I felt the attempt at social commentary was hamfisted at best. And then the finale was even worse when the movie seems to say "aw, fuck it" and just becomes a shooter at the end. I honestly felt nothing for Sharlto Copley's character. Not even when he was supposed to be "redeemed".

Let's just agree that y'all liked District 9 and I thought it was shit. This thread isn't even about that flick anyway so I apologize for bringing it up.

As for Elysium, I haven't seen it yet and will simply wait 'til it's available on RedBox. It's not a must see movie for me.

Why So Blu?

It doesn't though (3 years for aliens to return). It was also obvious that they at least foreshadow sequels. Elysium doesn't even do that and in retrospect, I know we have haters out there, but I'm sure Peter Jackson had a lot to do with the molding of D9 as opposed to not being involved at all on Elysium.


And you're goddamn right that you're sorry for bringing it up.

RocShemp

Yeah, bringing up shitty movies like District 9 make me farty and bloaty. So I am truly sorry for the smell.

Jules Winfield

Farty smelling opinions make me puke. So, there!

Dr. DVD

Save Ferris

Because he has a machine that can heal any disease and costs him nothing to share anyway. He eventually stops liking to enslave people.

Solid Snake

hrmm. That didn't bother me. I thought it made sense. Newer model attachment and Kruger's pretty wild. I thought it ramped up to that level fine.

Osiris3657

It looks like the same opinion as alot of others. I liked Elysium, but it didn't meet my expectations. District 9 was alot better IMO.

I liked Elysium enough to buy a copy when it comes out on Blu and think multiple viewings will help.

Solid Snake

Same here. My level of enjoyment trumps what issues I had with the narrative.

OldBoy

i just think if you go into this with little expectations (i know too hard with D9), but i quite enjoyed this as a pure sci-fi actioner. just really surprised me...

Dr. DVD

From a standpoint of needing an action sequence, it did. I just thought it felt obligatory.

I do agree that this works better as just a sci-fi action flick than anything else. However, you can't tell me that if this were made the way it was by anyone other than Blomkamp (or another director held in high regard) it would be getting such benefit of the doubt three star type reviews.

One last thing

Why So Blu?

They didn't say Earth technically, since we never leave L.A. They're not useless, they're just on standby against a non-citizen threat.

Troy Stiffler

Blomkamp is a visionary. His sci-fi vision and execution of the effects are near perfect.

I enjoyed the movie. But wasn't totally on board for everything. Some good action scattered throughout. The scenes that were supposed to be emotional weren't very effective for me.

I probably enjoyed the first act the most.

I work around factories a good bit. Going inside that curing chamber was just stupid to me. Of course the hydraulics were going to free up and lock him in there. A simple fix in the logistics could have had Damon putting a bar or something in there to hold the door open. Little stuff like that in sci-fi bother me.

The mercenary stole the show. Copley is a very entertaining actor. He took most of the scenes in The A-Team too. And then carried District 9 largely by himself.

Yavin

Saw this yesterday and loved it. Visually, it was very much a continuation of the style of District 9, and everything (all the futuristic tech) felt "real".

One thing I don't get though is how so much of the hype building up to the film mentioned that we've never seen anything like this film. But the film does recycle bits and pieces from other films. It's just that it combines them in a fresh and entertaining way.

Also, it seems like Elysium itself had no weapons of its own to protect from "undocumented" ships incoming? Seems kind of strange that they would have to use assets on Earth to "protect" themselves. And the bit about changing the reboot program to make everyone on Earth a citizen of Elysium (by simply changing one variable) seemed kind of laughable.

Other than that, it was a very solid film. Though I didn't mention any of my above issues in my review of the film.

slop101

I enjoyed it pretty well, though more for it's visionary aspect than anything having to do with story or character.

It was kinda dumb, though not nearly as dumb as Prometheus.

Joe Schmoe

Just got back from seeing it. Good effects throughout (except when that guy's face was re-constructed). Nice premise, but the execution was ridiculous. Jodi Foster's character was so heartless she was hard to take seriously, as was her pretentious accent. I accepted the MRI-type machine that detected and cured illness in mere seconds, but when the guy's face was blown off and a machine "grew" it back in a matter of seconds (and the guy could speak normally without any therapy whatsoever), they were asking the audience to believe too much IMHO.

The lack of security on Elysium itself was laughable, especially knowing that Jodi Foster's character had no regard for the lives of non-citizens. I'd expect someone like that to have a better defense system on board or more guards, especially given the fact that the station wasn't enclosed and a ship could land anywhere so long as it got past a few missiles from Earth.

And what was really the point of Matt Damon's exoskeleton? To look cool? I thought it looked cumbersome. The film was filled with flashbacks of Damon's character and his childhood female friend as if that relationship was supposed to be important to the story, but in the present time it never felt like she wanted him in her life. He could have just as easily met her and her sick kid for the first time while on the run, and he would have had as little chemistry with her as he did when he reunited with his dear childhood friend. And how did that Hispanic woman know that Damon's character would grow up to do something important? Could she see the future or was she just speaking out of her ass to cheer him up?

I was on the fence about seeing this movie. Thank god I paid matinee prices. Wish I had waited for it to come to Redbox though. 2 stars.

CloverClover

I agree with all of you, definite problems but still dug it. People are always saying there are no original ideas, but this one was original.

badlieut

I went in w/ low expectations and I came out enjoying it. I would've liked a bit more story to flesh it out a bit. I thought that meerkat story would've melted Max's heart but hell, he walked out on them to save his own skin. That was different and I appreciated that.

My take on the lack of defenses on Elysium was Foster having Wikus on Earth shoot down the shuttles was against Elysium policy. Why else would she have been reprimanded for her actions by the president and Wikus decommissioned?

I think all the ports and Wikus' body were made for the armor to be screwed into him. They never really explained what those were for that I saw. Must've had some face armor that could've been attached as well. So, he's obviously well-trained with it and can do things like the power jump.

Troy Stiffler

The lack of lethal security on Elysium is exactly like the Mexican border. We're not down there leveling Mexicans who cross. We find them (mostly) and deport. Same goes for the way they allow hacks in the system. Though the "Earth" hack was a bit of a reach.

We also don't have hoards of armed Mexicans revolting at once - demanding entry into the USA.

I'd imagine that if they had a foreign policy of executing illegal immigrants, Earth would take offense to that. Other than some spies, does any country on Earth execute illegal immigrants?

Elysium is basically it's own country.

Troy Stiffler

To make him stronger. He was weakened from the radiation, and the suit made him strong and agile. It appears to be a tactile/military invention from the future. The guys in LA had an older used unit. Then the mercenary had a new unit.

I wasn't crazy about the movie. But you guys missed a lot of the plot points.

The Bus

I thought it was pretty good but it could've been much, much more. The “world” started to fall apart the deeper we got into the film.

I thought the weapons were really cool.

Why So Blu?

I thought it looked neat. It reminded me of stop motion. We don't really see stop motion all that much anymore.

Joe Schmoe

I agree it looked like stop motion, but that's why I thought it looked bad... like the Nazis' faces melting in Raiders of the Lost Ark. It just looked outdated to me.