Elysium

I didn't expect much from Elysium, since I thought the publicity shots showing Matt Damon looked like he was wearing an exoskeleton made by a seven year old.

But I was pleasantly surprised. There's a good reason why that exoskeleton looks cobbled together... it is cobbled together... because Matt plays a poor person on an Earth where the rich have moved out.

There are lots of nice touches in Elysium. The robots are cool and there are some cool weapons. But the future here (AD 2154) isn't that amazing apart from medical pods that can cure any condition by shining a light on you for about 4 seconds.

Technology isn't really the issue here though. The metaphors are pretty unambiguous: Elysium is America and Earth is Mexico. Sometimes metaphors are dispensed with completely: the nasty rich people speak English and the nice poor people speak Spanish; the nasty poor people are all white males with South African accents.

All pretty blunt. Particularly the clichéd British accents of the rich (can't make the E=USA too obvious for the majority of paying customers) ... the worst of which is  Jodie Foster's which is truly terrible. Having an Indian male as the President also seemed a bit crass to me... although Foster as his ballsy female head of Homeland Security is a nice touch.

There's not a lot of acting required here, but Damon is on excellent form and Alice Braga gives excellent support as the grown-up childhood friend Frey.

Certainly flawed as a social commentary... but very enjoyable non-the-less.