2013, USA
Neill Blomkamp
7 // 10
Is Neill Blomkamp the Ken Loach of science fiction? Is Sharlto Copley going to play a Biker Mouse from Mars next? Missing the shrimp yet? There's only one way to find out!
Oh, the curse of the kick-ass début! How cruel art thou! How uncompromising the expectations you instigate, how biased are the words of unfair critics drunk on your bitter venom. How difficult you make it, to start a review without making hurtful comparisons... Oh yes, what a canine female you are!
Tell me, Dear Reader, what can be better than an artist (say, film director) with a vision, passion and determination? OR, Dear Reader, what could be possibly worse than an artist (say, film director) with a vision, passion and determination? Am I being silly? Absolutely not. The only difference between those two is the quality of the vision. District 9? It worked. Elysium? It doesn't.
I could probably even just end there.
But that would be silly, I still have more rant in me to let out. Why rant? Well, mainly because of those expectations I've mentioned earlier. For District 9, I remember, I had nigh on none. Seeing the trailers I just thought it'd be some mediocre attempt at making a film on apartheid, just using aliens as an allegory. I was perfectly happy to give it a miss and only the flood of very enthusiastic reviews made me change my mind. And while I was not entirely wrong in my presumption, the film turned out to be, as we all know, so much more than that. It showed that Blomkamp was able to take a fairly obvious theme and present it in such a way, that the resulting film was simply oozing originality. It showed Blomkamp as a master of his craft. And so, with Elysium, I was expecting of him nothing less. Which was not to be.
So, yes, having watched the trailers, having read everything that was revealed about the script, I already knew the story was not exactly original. The rich versus the poor dystopia, the 'city in the sky' concept (Battle Angel Alita, anyone? Or even WALL-E to some extent?), you know, there was nothing new there. But that was OK. It was Blomkamp, he could totally pull it off. I mean, who else but him? No need to worry, it's good ol' captn' at the helm, everything will be just fine... Only it isn't and it's probably my own fault for putting too much of my confidence into a director's potential after only seeing one film. And Elysium does not give me that much hope for the future. It is a District 9 in many aspects, just more. Much more. Where District 9 was subtle, Elysium is excessive. Where District 9 was indicative, Elysium is moralising, preaching even. Where District 9 was realistic and gritty Elysium is over-polarised and idealised. It is the best example of what happens when the artist himself does not exercise some level of self-restrained. As a result Elysium is so busy and determined to deliver its social message, it forgets to care about the story. Elysium therefore is not a film, it's a manifest. And that is, for me, what a primary role of the cinema is supposed to be about. When the art is relegated to play second fiddle, the proscenium is taken over by a propaganda, which, when you spend $115 million, is not just out of place, it also stinks a bit of hypocrisy.
A special, dedicated rant, I also reserve for Sharlto Copley, even though it may not be entirely his fault, but, honestly... WTF is going on? Is Kruger supposed to be some kind of joke? Was Mr Copley so jealous about David James' portrayal of Koobus in District 9 that he wanted to outshine him with even a bad-asser bad-ass? Honestly, this was all I could see: Wikus trying to be Koobus. What a waste! I'm all for a successful director-actor duo but please, chaps, reverse the trend, I beg of you. Otherwise, it'll be very hard to look forward to Chappie, I'm afraid.
OK, so these are the words of the critique. Have I got no praise at all? Oh but I do, I do, I do! Mind you, it's almost exclusively about the visual feast, but then again, what a visual feast it is indeed! I mean, it's not just feast. It's gun porn, futuristic flying vessels porn and any scrap-metal-grim-future kind of porn you can think of (except of actual porn porn, of course). The visual design is just stunning, attention to detail absolute. Nothing feels too much, nothing feels out of place and every single piece of vehicle or equipment that in real life would be worn and scratched is worn and scratched exactly as it should be. After seeing the same approach in District 9 I guess that'll be one assumption safe to make, that the scrap-punk style is simply Mr. Blomkamp's signature dish. It is the snail porridge (so to speak) I actually want to eat and I want to eat more of it as well.
Tu summarise then, as a sci-fi flick, Elysium is strong enough. The depicted world is rather coherent, believable and visually more than attractive. I guess if this was Blomkamp's debut, it would have been met by a warmer reception from the critics and the audience. Being a follow up, however, it simply doesn't live up to expectations and it does, after all, face punch the viewer with a far too simplified message, whose philosophical background would not feel out of place in the company of some weed-smoking, jumper-wearing, occupy-this-or-that vegetarians. As such it lacks finesse, depth and maturity, elements, which Blomkamp seemed to have had overspilling bucket-loads when he directed his first feature film.
Still, looking forward to his next one, Chappie, all the same. It's got Sharlto Copley in it, it'll be awesome :)
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