Elysium

What the.... Now that looks good. Got my attention more than the Tom Cruise/Will Smith thingamajiggy.
 
It looks good. Maybe a bit heavy handed with the 1% vs 99% theme, but District 9 was a fun gritty sci-fi/action flick. I'll check out this one too.

I have to say though, Oblivion seems more intriguing to me. Seems to have more mystique to it and I love the sleek retro style futuristic designs. Speaking of retro sci-fi design, M. Night Shyamalan's After Earth looks more like a Star Trek film than the upcoming Star Trek Into Darkness.

Oblivion, Elysium, After Earth, and Pacific Rim all look like fun though. As a sci-fi fan this summer is looking to be a good time at the movies. All four of those are new original non-franchise films too. I'm still kinda shocked by that fact.
 
I loved District 9 so I'll be there for this. My only concern is that I'm seeing a lot of structural, visual and thematic similarities to District 9, so much so that I wonder if Neil Blokamp only has one movie in him. It happens to be a good movie, but still, there might be a point of diminishing returns ala Wes Anderson.
 
Nektonic said:
It looks good. Maybe a bit heavy handed with the 1% vs 99% theme, but District 9 was a fun gritty sci-fi/action flick.
Click to expand...

I like that he is tackling the issues he has bourne witness to rather than plucking random high-minded ideas from the american-western zeitgeist. That said I suspect social issues will merely form the excuse for a straightforward A to B and play a very small part in the story. I think District 9 owes a lot of credit to the actor that played Wikus and that he is largely responsible the almost accidental nailing of the mockumentary style. The effects free parts of the film were what made District 9 but I suspect that Blomkamp himself saw it as a way to fill time to get to the action/effects. That the mindless (but undeniably awesome) action that the back half descended into is what Blomkamp is really about. I think at heart he fits the mold of a special effects guy elevated to director. Even if I'm right I think it will be well worth the admission price. But I hope I'm wrong and that this movie has something to say as well. Will be watching it either way.
 
Nektonic said:
It looks good. Maybe a bit heavy handed with the 1% vs 99% theme, but District 9 was a fun gritty sci-fi/action flick. I'll check out this one too.


Oblivion, Elysium, After Earth, and Pacific Rim all look like fun though. As a sci-fi fan this summer is looking to be a good time at the movies. All four of those are new original non-franchise films too. I'm still kinda shocked by that fact.
Click to expand...

I agree about the 1% vs 99%thing. It's a bit heavy handed and there is no "99%" because in the history of Earth 99% of people have never agreed on anything except that they disagree on something. But that's not going to stop me from watching it because it looks like a fun movie with great visuals and lots of action.

Also looking forward to Pacific Rim.
 
Everyone has been talking about the Blomkamp's HALO film that never happened, and how this trailer shares many similarities with the Halo word. So I mashed it up with Blomkamp's 2007 HALO short film for fun:

 
refocusedmedia said:
Everyone has been talking about the Blomkamp's HALO film that never happened, and how this trailer shares many similarities with the Halo word. So I mashed it up with Blomkamp's 2007 HALO short film for fun:

Click to expand...

Nice editing there. The Halo footage mixes in pretty good with Elysium. There is definitely some Halo-esque imagery in the Elysium trailer. The space station itself is similar. The look of some of the robots (red robot at 1:57 looks like a Spartan). The guy looking up at the sky at 1:52 in the trailer looks to be wearing a helmet right out of Halo.

I think Blomkamp's Halo would have been interesting. I want to say that his style might be a bit too gritty for Halo, but then there is the whole Old/New Mombassa thing with the second and third Halo games.

I thought the live action ad for Halo Reach captured the feel of Halo a bit more accurately than Blomkamp's Halo shorts. Although, it all depends on what direction they go with a live action Halo movie. Will it be more majestic and epic sci-fi or down in the mud gritty military sci-fi? Or a mix of the two?

 
Thanks for the comments.

Have you seen the Forward Unto Dawn series? You might enjoy them.

I think Blomkamp has shown tremendous growth as a filmmaker over the course of two films. I'd wager that he is putting himself in position to take on the HALO film and have it look and feel "right".
 
refocusedmedia said:
Thanks for the comments.

Have you seen the Forward Unto Dawn series? You might enjoy them.
Click to expand...

I have. I enjoyed that as well. It kind of felt a bit like what I'd expect a Halo TV series to be like (I would certainly watch something done with similar production value to that, or say the Battlestar Galactica revivals we've seen in recent years).

I also really liked the Halo anime anthology. I wish they would do another one of those.

I think Blomkamp has shown tremendous growth as a filmmaker over the course of two films. I'd wager that he is putting himself in position to take on the HALO film and have it look and feel "right".
Click to expand...

That's certainly a possibility. Perhaps after we've all seen Elysium then we will be able to better gauge how he'd approach a big budget Halo movie?
 
A little Total Recall (the original) influence I see. I like that it seems to have a sense of humor.
 
This looked cool until he said " Were going to to break into the most heavily guarded place in the universe" Then I instantly closed out, WTF, IS their not any new ideas to be had, This is just another cliche film with a different location, I bet we have all scene this film 20 times. I guess this is why I prefer the indie scene, at least there's people willing to make films outside the box. Enough is enough with the HOLLYWOOD Cliche. Sorry to rant, just another let down.
 
I thought this was pretty damn good up until the final third, where it decided to sacrifice any complexity for a clear cut good guy vs bad guy showdown. It's not as stylistically bold as District 9 either, which took a kitchen sink approach to the visuals that gave that movie an electric energy. This is a more palatable for the masses Blomkamp lite, which kind of applies to everything down the line. Damon's Max is a more traditional hero than Copley's Wikus, who had a murky sense of morality that made District 9 more unpredictable. Some people are complaining about the unsubtle political messaging but it's not like the movie sermonizes at length about class issues. It just presents a situation of gross inequality, so gross that it borders on being unbelievable. The machine that can cure any illness in seconds strains credulity, not so much in ability but in speed. It's basically magic and I just find it hard to believe a body could be healed that quickly. Also, if such a machine did exist, I think only the most sociopathic, self centered douchebag would keep it to themselves. The idea that a whole society would be complicit in that moral crime is hard to swallow. If they had the privileged debating wether or not to give the poor this tech, it could have given things more depth. I actually thought when Max got the info in that CEO's head he would learn about the coup about to happen on Elysium and use that knowledge to ruin Jodie Foster's ambitions, allowing more sympathetic people on Elysium to gain power. Seemed like a lost opportunity. As is, the film settles for a simplistic plot device that again strains credulity, and action showdowns which are well done, but a little routine. And without the wild card of Wikus that District 9 had, the outcome is pretty predictable. Sharlto was great here but his character was kind of one note. It was a good note, though.
 
Last edited:
maranfilms said:
This looked cool until he said " Were going to to break into the most heavily guarded place in the universe" Then I instantly closed out, WTF, IS their not any new ideas to be had, This is just another cliche film with a different location, I bet we have all scene this film 20 times. I guess this is why I prefer the indie scene, at least there's people willing to make films outside the box. Enough is enough with the HOLLYWOOD Cliche. Sorry to rant, just another let down.
Click to expand...

Indies are just low budget versions of the same "hollywood cliches", unless you mean experimental films that have no beginning, end, or any intelligible story. Everything is a remix. It's all about the execution. Name an indie story you like and I bet we can easily discover the original elements that are probably in literature over 100 years old, and in film probably 50 years old.
 
Saw the movie yesterday evening. As a sidebar: seems to me like Blomkamp has an ax to grind when it comes to white South Africans, and not only with District 9. In Elysium the former-military type 'bad guys' trying to dispose of the 'good guy' speak English with an Afrikaner accent and the SA flag appears on their flying machine next to the door - just to be sure the point goes across, I suppose... Which made me smile: I'd like to know how many moviegoers in the US can recognize this flag, and during an action sequence on top of that.

L.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top