movie review - Elysium
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-eight years and a million words
Toronto, 2014.06.11
I was attracted to this flick originally because I learned that it featured an orbital named Elysium - just like an unpublished novel of mine. The movie is about a middling-distant future in which there are citizens and non-citizens. Citizens have access to things like health care and police, and non-citizens don't. The main character's picked up as a contract soldier to enforce this bad deal for non-citizens, and of course learns things he's not supposed to.
It's a bit paint-by-numbers but it's beautifully made and the lead is charismatic enough to carry it off. It worked as far as story, dialog, tone, and so on are concerned, but I certainly wasn't moved.
Not recommended.