![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
A couple brief thoughts on Elysium
Mostly because I started to say this on FB and then didn't want to spoil people.
Basically, as I said on Facebook, I liked the concept but not so much the execution. It boggles my mind that an advanced space station wouldn't be able to reprogram its computers! I mean, yes, I actually did cry a bit at the idea of all those sick kids getting help like citizens, and maybe if that's all that happens before they reprogram it's enough, but really it's impossible to imagine that they didn't correct the computer core within, like, 24 hours of the events of the film.
Also, there's suspension of disbelief and then there's just CRAZINESS. I can suspend my disbelief and go with super-healing chambers that cure any illness, but I have a much harder time with a guy getting his whole face blown up and not dying, or a guy with lethal radiation exposure that's supposed to kill him in 5 days able to be an action hero for 4 days and 23 hours of that time.
And I think making the final showdown between Matt Damon and the South African dude, rather than Matt Damon and Jodi Foster, was kind of a copout. I really wanted more on Jodi Foster's character (and specifically, is she more representative of the folks on Elysium, or is Patel more representative?) Does anyone on Elysium care about Earth at all, or do they just ignore it?
On the other hand, I thought that despite the clearly dystopic aspects of Earth, this film did a much better job than any recent dystopian film I've seen of making it clear that people were living full, human lives despite the terrible conditions. I really loved the worldbuilding when it came to Earth--that almost everyone was bilingual, that there were still people (like the nun) trying to help people, that practically everyone other than Matt Damon and the bad guys were POCs, etc. And just as a sheer adventure movie it was quite well paced. I wish they'd let Frey be a little more badass, but in general I like that whole aspect of the film.
Basically, as I said on Facebook, I liked the concept but not so much the execution. It boggles my mind that an advanced space station wouldn't be able to reprogram its computers! I mean, yes, I actually did cry a bit at the idea of all those sick kids getting help like citizens, and maybe if that's all that happens before they reprogram it's enough, but really it's impossible to imagine that they didn't correct the computer core within, like, 24 hours of the events of the film.
Also, there's suspension of disbelief and then there's just CRAZINESS. I can suspend my disbelief and go with super-healing chambers that cure any illness, but I have a much harder time with a guy getting his whole face blown up and not dying, or a guy with lethal radiation exposure that's supposed to kill him in 5 days able to be an action hero for 4 days and 23 hours of that time.
And I think making the final showdown between Matt Damon and the South African dude, rather than Matt Damon and Jodi Foster, was kind of a copout. I really wanted more on Jodi Foster's character (and specifically, is she more representative of the folks on Elysium, or is Patel more representative?) Does anyone on Elysium care about Earth at all, or do they just ignore it?
On the other hand, I thought that despite the clearly dystopic aspects of Earth, this film did a much better job than any recent dystopian film I've seen of making it clear that people were living full, human lives despite the terrible conditions. I really loved the worldbuilding when it came to Earth--that almost everyone was bilingual, that there were still people (like the nun) trying to help people, that practically everyone other than Matt Damon and the bad guys were POCs, etc. And just as a sheer adventure movie it was quite well paced. I wish they'd let Frey be a little more badass, but in general I like that whole aspect of the film.