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Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

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Old 08-04-13, 06:04 PM
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Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Please continue pre-release discussion here.

Movie:
"Elysium" (Starring: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, William Fichtner, Alice Braga, Carly Pope)

Release Date:
8/9/2013

Rating:
R (for sequences of intense bloody violence and sci-fi action, language, there's a woman in a bikini who gets an MRI for obtaining a treatment for cancer, -words, sh*t, damn, b**ch, and a**hole are definitely used throughout.)

Running Time:
109min. (1h. 49m.)

Budget:
$100 million (estimated)

IMDb Synopsis:
Spoiler:
In the year 2154 two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes, a government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn't stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky Max is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that if successful will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.


IMDb Info and Rating:
7.2 (18,491 votes as of 8/16/13)

Rotten Tomatoes:
Fresh:126 Rotten:60 (68% as of 8/16/13)

Metacritic:
60 metascore ('Mixed or average reviews' as of 8/16/13)

Trailer:
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Poster Art:
Old 08-07-13, 11:39 AM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

the tomato meter keeps fluctuating. i honestly don't know what to make of this movie yet...
Old 08-07-13, 11:55 AM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Originally Posted by OldBoy
the tomato meter keeps fluctuating. i honestly don't know what to make of this movie yet...
it's best to wait until you see it first
Old 08-07-13, 11:56 AM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Originally Posted by riotinmyskull
it's best to wait until you see it first
true. i'll see it Friday and let you know.
Old 08-07-13, 11:57 AM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Interesting. It does make me wonder as to why the reviews are kind of uneven. Either way, I was going to see this no matter what cuz of what D9 brought.
Old 08-07-13, 11:59 AM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Originally Posted by Solid Snake
Interesting. It does make me wonder as to why the reviews are kind of uneven. Either way, I was going to see this no matter what cuz of what D9 brought.
def. D9 was the surprise of the past 5 years for me.
Old 08-07-13, 12:09 PM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Well, I hope to see the theatrical print next week. Seeing the rough cut early last year didn't blow me away and just made it feel very much like the terrible Total Recall reboot.
Old 08-07-13, 12:13 PM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Seeing it tomorrow night.
Old 08-07-13, 12:38 PM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Originally Posted by Solid Snake
Interesting. It does make me wonder as to why the reviews are kind of uneven. Either way, I was going to see this no matter what cuz of what D9 brought.
I detested District 9 so this'll simply be a curious rental for me, unless it suddenly gets amazing reviews. And even then I'd go in with low expectations.
Old 08-07-13, 12:39 PM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Originally Posted by RocShemp
I detested District 9 so this'll simply be a curious rental for me, unless it suddenly gets amazing reviews. And even then I'd go in with low expectations.
I'm in the same boat, and so far it's not getting amazing reviews
Old 08-07-13, 01:18 PM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Originally Posted by devilshalo
Well, I hope to see the theatrical print next week. Seeing the rough cut early last year didn't blow me away and just made it feel very much like the terrible Total Recall reboot.
whoa. Details please. How rough was it? etc etc.
Old 08-07-13, 10:42 PM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

RT is showing this with a running time of 1hr 37min and other sites say 2hrs....so which is it?
Old 08-07-13, 11:13 PM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Socialist propaganda. Avoid at all costs.
Old 08-07-13, 11:18 PM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Try harder. A social message is never a good reason to avoid a movie.
Old 08-08-13, 10:07 AM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Originally Posted by Setzer
RT is showing this with a running time of 1hr 37min and other sites say 2hrs....so which is it?
i've only been seeing 1h. 49min.
Old 08-08-13, 11:58 AM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

ok my beefs with it--now expanded
Saw this last night. It is very heavy handed:
Spoiler:

A) The 'bad guys' have no redeeming qualities or even defensible points of view,the good guys just want to help children etc... The Secretary of Defense actually took pleasure that she killed unarmed women and children. She broke rules so she could maximize casualties (using the rogue agent to kill), and she wanted to become president via a ruthless coup.

B) Their view of healthcare was crazy too. Evidently, a bed-sized machine can cure anything but for some reason they don't use it on earth. They never say why or even try to explain why. I guess the rich people just like keeping poor people sick? They had a bunch of them laying around in every house or on transport ships (via the end of the movie) so they aren't rare.


The future seemed small too:
Spoiler:
They apparently were making robot cops by the millions but they were never around? When Matt Damon was being hunted down, there were a total of 4 guys looking for him (with drones). Where were the SS Robot Troops going door to door? They closed the airspace over LA but only 4 guys were out looking. Crazy.

Also, somehow a car thief named SPIDER was able to break into the future PENTAGON with 3 guys and there are NO robots around to stop him? Also this same SPIDER was able to hack the government computer to become president in 5 seconds? UGH.



But the biggest thing that sticks out in my mind is Matt Damon's character:
Spoiler:
He's horribly miscast or, the film was written with someone else in mind. Basically he grew up only speaking spanish, not being able to read etc. (last name is DeCosta!) but he's the only blonde haired blue eyed kid in Los Angeles.

Seriously I cannot remember any other 'pretty boys' in the flashbacks or even as an adult. He's the ONLY white guy -- GOOD LOOKING MUSCLEBOUND WHITE GUY in the whole slum. The thing that makes it unintentionally funny is that the nuns that raised him tell him that they believe in him, that he's SPECIAL and destined for greatness. They say this to the only blonde haired blue eyed kid in the ghetto. Great, we have racist nuns
Old 08-08-13, 12:03 PM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Originally Posted by Save Ferris
ok my beefs with it--now expanded
Saw this last night. It is very heavy handed:
Spoiler:

A) The 'bad guys' have no redeeming qualities or even defensible points of view,the good guys just want to help children etc... The Secretary of Defense actually took pleasure that she killed unarmed women and children. She broke rules so she could maximize casualties (using the rogue agent to kill), and she wanted to become president via a ruthless coup.

B) Their view of healthcare was crazy too. Evidently, a bed-sized machine can cure anything but for some reason they don't use it on earth. They never say why or even try to explain why. I guess the rich people just like keeping poor people sick? They had a bunch of them laying around in every house or on transport ships (via the end of the movie) so they aren't rare.


The future seemed small too:
Spoiler:
They apparently were making robot cops by the millions but they were never around? When Matt Damon was being hunted down, there were a total of 4 guys looking for him (with drones). Where were the SS Robot Troops going door to door? They closed the airspace over LA but only 4 guys were out looking. Crazy.

Also, somehow a car thief named SPIDER was able to break into the future PENTAGON with 3 guys and there are NO robots around to stop him? Also this same SPIDER was able to hack the government computer to become president in 5 seconds? UGH.



But the biggest thing that sticks out in my mind is Matt Damon's character:
Spoiler:
He's horribly miscast or, the film was written with someone else in mind. Basically he grew up only speaking spanish, not being able to read etc. (last name is DeCosta!) but he's the only blonde haired blue eyed kid in Los Angeles.

Seriously I cannot remember any other 'pretty boys' in the flashbacks or even as an adult. He's the ONLY white guy -- GOOD LOOKING MUSCLEBOUND WHITE GUY in the whole slum. The thing that makes it unintentionally funny is that the nuns that raised him tell him that they believe in him, that he's SPECIAL and destined for greatness. They say this to the only blonde haired blue eyed kid in the ghetto. Great, we have racist nuns
how many stars would you give it?
Old 08-08-13, 12:11 PM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

2.5 stars out of 5 maybe 2 because there are some great action scenes to make it fare well as a popcorn flick but there are a lot of slow parts in it as well. This makes you dwell on the plot holes too much.
Old 08-08-13, 12:28 PM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Originally Posted by Troy Stiffler
Try harder. A social message is never a good reason to avoid a movie.
I agree that commentary in and of itself isn't to be avoided, the problem is Hollywood is almost always terrible with messaging. I have political convictions that wander all over the map, but the stock (almost exclusively liberal) tropes peddled in many Hollywood movies can be extremely off-putting. The main problem is that generally these political messages have the subtlety of a sledghammer to the skull. Hollywood almost always treats the audience as oblivious children that need everything spelled out for them. Nuance and subtlety are to be completely avoided as they're worried the audience might not "get it" unless a meglomaniacle Army general shoots missles into the beautiful "home tree" of the mystical/benevolent/enlightned noble savages (for example) for no good reason whatsoever. I have no problem with including a filmaker's given political ideology into a film, but when the bad guys are all cigar-chomping white, corporate stooges pouring rat poison into baby food with zero motivating factors beyond being evil and possessing the character depth of a sheet of paper, the movie suffers.
Old 08-08-13, 12:51 PM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Originally Posted by Arpeggi
Socialist propaganda. Avoid at all costs.
Elaborate on that.
Old 08-08-13, 12:58 PM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Originally Posted by Troy Stiffler
Try harder. A social message is never a good reason to see a movie.
Fixed.
Old 08-08-13, 01:10 PM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Originally Posted by Solid Snake
Elaborate on that.
Socialist or not, the movie oversimplifies the issue of immigration using black and white values of good versus evil.
Old 08-08-13, 05:06 PM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Good or bad, it seems unanimous that it's not as good as District 9.
Old 08-08-13, 08:15 PM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Originally Posted by Solid Snake
Elaborate on that.
Rich people bad.
Poor people good.
Old 08-08-13, 10:48 PM
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Re: Elysium (Blomkamp, 2013) — The Reviews Thread

Originally Posted by Ash Ketchum
Fixed.
Except I'm not sure that there are that many people who choose to go to a movie simply for its "message" (with the possible exception being some documentaries) - whereas there are quite a few people who miss out on some really good movies because the filmmakers have the audacity to actually insert political commentary into their otherwise "message-less" entertainment. I'm a flaming liberal, but some of my all-time favorite films from Hollywood's classic era are quite conservative, ideologically.

I'm not saying anything about this movie in particular, though - I didn't like District 9, and probably won't even bother to see this one barring strong recommendations from friends.

Last edited by Sondheim; 08-08-13 at 10:55 PM.


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