Has anyone here seen Elysium? by SHINYGOODGUY

CINEMA

Has anyone here seen Elysium?

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POSTED BY: SHINYGOODGUY
UPDATED: Saturday, September 7, 2013 00:48
SHORT URL: http://bit.ly/18a2yO6
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Friday, August 30, 2013 5:53 AM

SHINYGOODGUY

Hi guys,

I wanted to know if anyone has seen Elysium. Is it any good?
Is it worth the price of admission? I'm guessing EC might know, or at least, point me in the right direction.

Thanks,

SGG

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Friday, August 30, 2013 5:42 PM

MAL4PREZ

Meh.

I don't go to movies often, so I set my standards pretty high. I was disappointed in this one. Some nice visuals, but I thought it was basically a bad action flick. Too much money on effects, not enough on writing a plausible script.

It hurts me to say that. I adore both Matt Damon and Jodie Foster.

*---------------------------------------*
The French Revolution would have never happened if Marie Antoinette had just given every peasant an iPhone.

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Saturday, August 31, 2013 3:14 AM

SHINYGOODGUY

I went tonight to see it and I agree with you 100%

Great visuals, so-so script, actually a bad script. I was not thrilled when I saw the trailer for this movie, even though I really liked Blomkamp's District 9.

Both Damon and Foster were miscast, methinks. Matt did his best with the script, and Foster was quite convincing as the evil Secretary of Defense, but it seemed a bit slapped together rather than paced evenly.

Here are my pet peeves about Elysium:

It was all a bunch of show - the floating luxury space station. I never felt that the people were privileged, so much as it was a vacation getaway. A lot like Floston's Paradise, the floating cruise ship. No real development.

I would have chosen not to show Elysium at the very beginning. Instead I would have established the poor on Earth and Max's story first, then slowly developed Foster's character (notice I don't remember Madame Secretary's name) I almost didn't care about her, thank God Jodi was up for the challenge.

The editing was too choppy, the dialogue was meh, but I couldn't understand the Mexican actors and the lead villain, who had a guttural South African accent. We needed subtitles for him (he was actually not half bad as villains go) "You were born for something great, blah, blah" The fact that it was spoken in Spanish didn't make it exotic enough for me to not notice how bad it was.

Plot: Hackers hacking the unhackable, but Elysium security could trace what was being uploaded into Max's head, only they couldn't gain access because it was password and anti-theft protected, I think. It didn't make sense. It was glossed over in the most pedestrian way that it was almost laughable. I never felt a real sense of danger because I didn't know what was going on.
The audience has to be let in on the reason for our hero is in danger for it to work, it's important for the pay off later on at the end.

Ok, I'm exhausted about this movie and I haven't gotten to the good parts, wait, there aren't any, even the fight sequences were poorly staged, shot and executed. The camera, in most of the action scenes, was in cinema verte mode and was overused to the point of distraction. Oh, and don't get me started on the flares - OMG, Blomkamp must have seen Firefly and thought "I should pay homage to Joss Whedon." Dude enough with the flare shots; technique does not a movie make.

Don't go to the theatre to see this, wait for the DVD release. It may have started out a good idea for a film, but it lost it's way onto the screen.

SGG

Quote:
Originally posted by MAL4PREZ:
Meh.

I don't go to movies often, so I set my standards pretty high. I was disappointed in this one. Some nice visuals, but I thought it was basically a bad action flick. Too much money on effects, not enough on writing a plausible script.

It hurts me to say that. I adore both Matt Damon and Jodie Foster.

*---------------------------------------*
The French Revolution would have never happened if Marie Antoinette had just given every peasant an iPhone.

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Saturday, August 31, 2013 9:24 PM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

I posted about this a couple of weeks ago, but made the mistake of putting it in the Other SF Series forum instead of Cinema, so I guess you missed it.

http://templetongate.net/elysium.htm

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Saturday, September 7, 2013 12:48 AM

SHINYGOODGUY

Read it, good review. Basically, a good idea butchered by the Suits of Hollywood. Blomkamp must have owed someone a favor and he packed up his erector set. I didn't care for any of the characters (Braga was good with the little she was given).

I agree, this was on par with Oblivion. Actually Oblivion was a couple of notches better, and that's not saying much. This was an 8 on the Stink-O-Meter, while Oblivion was a 6.

SGG

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
I posted about this a couple of weeks ago, but made the mistake of putting it in the Other SF Series forum instead of Cinema, so I guess you missed it.

http://templetongate.net/elysium.htm

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