The year is 2154.  Earth is a poor, polluted, and diseased planet where the masses struggle to survive every day. Elysium is a beautiful, manmade structure in space where the richest of the rich reside in giant mansions free from any illness or injury. Instantly, a viewer watching Elysium knows that this is not a typical action movie. In fact, when the director, Neil Blomkamp, was asked about the social issues hinted at in Elysium (among them healthcare and class disparity), he said “Elysium’ isn’t about the future; it is actually happening right now.”

The film centers on Max Da Costa (Matt Damon), an ex-criminal who has always wanted to flee from the ruins of Los Angeles to Elysium. Unfortunately, he is abused by robotic police and by his supervisor during his job where he makes robots for Elysium. During one confrontation with police, his forearm is broken and he is forced to go to the hospital where he reunites with his old friend, Frey (Alice Braga).

During a factory accident, Max is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation and learns he will die within five days. Desperate to get to Elysium, he finds a smuggler named Spider (Wagner Moura) who offers Max a ticket to Elysium if he steals valuable information worth billions of dollars directly from the mind of his former boss, John Carlyle (William Fichtner). Unbeknownst to Spider and Max, the information in Carlyle’s head may be even more valuable to Jessica Delacourt (Jodie Foster), the woman in charge of keeping Elysium safe from illegal immigrants, and she is willing to do anything, including employ a vicious criminal named Kruger (Sharlto Copley), to get it.

One of the best things about Elysium is that it did not degenerate into an action movie with no hint of a plot or character development. The plot flowed logically and we continued to learn more about Max, Frey, and Spider throughout the film. There were plenty of gunfights and other action scenes nearing the end of the movie to make sure it stayed exciting to the audience.

However, the most fascinating piece of the movie was its focus on important themes. The most intriguing concept of the movie is what people are willing to do to get what they want.  Characters, merely to save their own skin or their way of life, are willing to do terrible things including kill to achieve their own desires. There was clear motivation behind every character’s action and until the very end of the movie, there were no noble sacrifices for the good of others.

Still, there was something missing in Elysium. We don’t ever learn much about Delacourt and why she possesses such a brutal nature. In fact, Kruger takes over the role of main antagonist in the middle of the movie. In a complex movie where the characters’ motives were hugely important, Kruger’s blend of psychopath and stereotypical, power-hungry villain did not cut it, especially when compared with Max, an ambiguous character with both noble ambitions and noticeable flaws.

Elysium can be summed up as a good combination of an action movie and a science fiction movie and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys either of those genres. However, it won’t get a top rating from me. Villains should be just as complicated as the good guys.

Rating: 4/5