Elysium (film)
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| Elysium | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
| |
| Directed by | Neill Blomkamp |
| Produced by | Neill Blomkamp Bill Block Simon Kinberg Executive Producer - Sue Baden-Powell |
| Written by | Neill Blomkamp |
| Starring | Matt Damon Jodie Foster Sharlto Copley Alice Braga Diego Luna Wagner Moura William Fichtner |
| Music by | Ryan Amon |
| Cinematography | Trent Opaloch |
| Editing by | Julian Clarke Lee Smith |
| Studio | Alphacore Media Rights Capital QED International |
| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures |
| Release date(s) |
|
| Running time | 109 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English Spanish |
| Budget | $115 million[2] |
| Box office | $212,857,225[2] |
Elysium is a 2013 American science fiction action-thriller film written, co-produced and directed by Neill Blomkamp and starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster.[3] It was released on August 9, 2013 in both conventional and IMAX Digital theaters. Elysium is a co-production of Media Rights Capital and TriStar Pictures.[4]
The film takes place on both a ravaged Earth and a luxurious space habitat called Elysium.[5] It explores political and sociological themes such as immigration,overpopulation, transhumanism, health care, and class issues.[6]
Contents
[hide]Plot
In 2154, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a luxurious space station called Elysium and the poor, who live on an overpopulated, devastated Earth. While residents on Earth are policed by ruthless robots, Elysian citizens live in comfort and regularly use man-sized medical devices called Med-Bays to keep them free of disease.
Max Da Costa (Matt Damon), a former car thief and parolee, lives in the ruins of Los Angeles and works at an assembly line for the Armadyne Corp., the company that built Elysium. But an accident at the plant exposes Max to a lethal dose of radiation, giving him only days to live. Meanwhile, when a caravan of illegal immigrants from Earth attempts to reach Elysium, Elysian Secretary of Defense Jessica Delacourt (Jodie Foster) orders vicious mercenary Kruger (Sharlto Copley) to shoot down the shuttles. Disapproving of her methods, Elysian President Patel (Faran Tahir) reprimands her. Delacourt, vowing to protect Elysium and her own power, bargains with Armadyne's CEO John Carlyle (William Fichtner) to write a program that can override Elysium's central computer and make her President. Carlyle creates the program in his office on Earth and uploads it to his brain for safekeeping.
Max, knowing his only chance for survival is a Med-Bay, with the assistance of his friend Julio (Diego Luna), seek help from notorious smuggler Spider (Wagner Moura). Spider agrees to get Max to Elysium only if he helps him steal valuable financial information from Carlyle, who is preparing to leave Earth. However, recognizing Max's weakened condition, Spider has his doctor's implant Max with a powered exoskeleton, giving him superhuman strength, as well as an implant in his brain that can store computer data. With help, Max and Julio intercept Carlyle's ship, and Max uploads the data (including the program) to his own brain. However, Delacourt secretly deploys Kruger to rescue Carlyle and recover the program. In the ensuing firefight, all of Max's allies are killed, Kruger kills Julio, Carlyle is mortally wounded, and a wounded Max retreats to the house of Frey (Alice Braga), a childhood friend whose daughter, Matilda, has leukemia. Realizing that Max intends to smuggle himself to Elysium, Frey begs him to take Matilda with him so that she can be cured, but Max refuses.
Afterwards, when Max returns to Spider to extract the information from his head, they discover Carlyle's program, realizing that they could make all of Earth's residents legal citizens of Elysium. However, the airspace lockdown Delecourt issued prevents Spider from launching a ship for Max. Instead, Max bargains with Kruger to be taken to Elysium, who unbeknownst to Max has captured Frey and Matilda as hostages. With the lockdown lifted, Kruger's ship departs for Elysium, but a scuffle ensues, causing the ship to crash land into Elysium. Max, Frey and Matilda are apprehended from the wreckage.
Delacourt chastises Kruger’s recklessness, but the mentally-unhinged Kruger kills Delacourt, planning to steal the program for himself to rule Elysium. Kruger has his men install a military-grade version of Max's exoskeleton onto himself, and goes on a rampage through Elysium while looking for Max. Max escapes from his confinement and frees Frey and Matilda. Realizing that Med-Bays only work for Elysian citizens, Max resolves to use Carlyle's program to make everyone a citizen. He meets with Spider, who snuck aboard Elysium during the chaos, and head for the main control hub. However, they are ambushed by Kruger. During the fight, Max tears the interface that connects Kruger's brain to his exoskeleton directly out of his skull, and then hurls Kruger over a ledge to his death.
Spider and Max reach Elysium's main datacenter and Max, and realize that the activation of the program will kill Max. After speaking with Frey one last time over a radio, Max activates the program, killing himself. As Max dies, the computer core is rebooted, registering every Earth resident as a citizen of Elysium. A Med-Bay cures Matilda, and as a massive number of new citizens on Earth are now recognized by Elysium's main computer as being in need of medical treatment, a fleet of medical ships are dispatched to Earth and begin their work.
Cast
- Matt Damon as Max Da Costa
- Maxwell Perry Cotton as young Max
- Jodie Foster as Secretary of Defense Jessica Delacourt
- Sharlto Copley as Agent C.M. Kruger
- Alice Braga as Frey Santiago
- Valentina Giros as young Frey
- Diego Luna as Julio
- Wagner Moura as Spider
- William Fichtner as John Carlyle
- Brandon Auret as Drake
- Josh Blacker as Crowe
- Emma Tremblay as Matilda Santiago
- Jose Pablo Cantillo as Sandro
- Faran Tahir as President Patel
- Adrian Holmes as Manuel
- Jared Keeso as Rico
- Carly Pope as CCB agent
- Ona Grauer as CCB agent
Production
Elysium was written and directed by Neill Blomkamp, the director and co-writer of District 9 (2009). It re-unites Blomkamp with some of his District 9 crew, such as editor Julian Clarke, production designer Philip Ivey, cinematographer Trent Opaloch, and actor Sharlto Copley, playing one of the film's villains.
In January 2011, independent studio Media Rights Capital met with major studios to distribute Elysium, and Blomkamp shared art designs of his proposed science fiction film. The art designs won over the executives at Sony Pictures, who bought the film after making a more attractive offer than the other studios.[7]
With a production budget of $115 million,[8] production began in July 2011. The film's Earth-bound scenes were shot in a dump in the poor Iztapalapa district on the outskirts of Mexico City, while the scenes for Elysium were shot in Vancouver and the wealthyHuixquilucan-Interlomas suburbs of Mexico City. Matt Damon shaved his head for the role of Max, and also worked out four hours a day with personal trainer Dr. Sae-ung.[9] The main role was first offered to Ninja, a South African rapper, who despite being a fan of District 9(he has a D9 tattoo on his inner lip) did not take the role.[10] The role was then offered to rapper Eminem, but he wanted the film to be shot in Detroit. That was not an option for the two studios, so Blomkamp moved on to Damon as his next choice.[11]
The futuristic designs were executed by Philip Ivey after long periods of researching and studying older science fiction films. Ivey has continuously cited Syd Mead as a substantial influence for the film. Weta Workshop created the exosuits for Damon and Copley's characters, while the complicated visual effects were handled primarily by Image Engine (who also collaborated on District 9) with additional work by Whiskytree, MPC, The Embassy and Industrial Light and Magic. Re-shoots took place through October 2012.[12]
The film's "organic" music score was composed by newcomer Ryan Amon and recorded at Abbey Road Studios with the Philharmonia Orchestra.[citation needed] The soundtrack was released on August 6, 2013.
Release
When the film was first announced, Sony intended to release it in late 2012.[7] It later set an official release date for March 8, 2013,[13]before moving one week earlier to prevent competing against Oz the Great and Powerful.[14] In October 2012, Sony then announced they had pushed back the release date to August 9, 2013.[15]
In April 2013, Sony also announced that the film would be specifically reformatted for IMAX theaters. By that time, two theatrical trailersand a TV spot had already been showcased.[16]
Box office
As of September 8, 2013, Elysium has grossed $85,077,000 in the domestic box office and $127,177,000 internationally for a worldwide total of $212,177,000.[2] Elysium opened on August 9, 2013 and grossed $11,088,228 on its opening day, ranking #1. The film proceeded to rank #1 for the weekend, grossing $29,807,393.[17]
Critical reception
Elysium received generally positive reviews. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 68% approval rating with an average rating of 6.5/10 based on 222 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "After the heady sci-fi thrills of District 9, Elysium is a bit of a comedown for director Neill Blomkamp, but on its own terms, it delivers just often enough to satisfy."[18] The film currently holds a Metacritic score of 61 out of 100, based on 47 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[19]
