Cert 15
109 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language, bloody violence and gory images
With Matt Damon and Jodie Foster as its leads and Neill Blomkamp, the director of District 9 at its helm, the last thing I expected was Elysium to be so boring.
Honestly, I needed Mr Bean-style matchsticks to prevent my eyelids from clamping shut.
In fact, I started to play a game of 'spot the home Foster's accent' to keep me moderately entertained.
The film is set in 2154 and she plays the head of defence of an elaborate earth satellite to where the rich have migrated.
It offers a crime-free environment and a fantastic health system which means disease can be cured instantly.
Back on the planet, no such benefits exist. Earth appears post-apocalyptic with a chaotic population policed by robots.
Dissidents have their eyes on Elysium but every time they manage to sent a craft there it is blown out of the sky.
Damon's character is a former criminal who, in the past, dreamed about going to Elysium but since he has gone straight, is working at a factory and trying to keep out of trouble.
That is until his body becomes wracked with radiation poisoning and the only hope comes from going there to be cured.
But it's going to be a highly dangerous enterprise made even more so because an old flame (Alice Braga) wants him to take her terminally-ill daughter (Emma Tremblay) too.
And its level of difficulty is hoisted up several notices because psychopathic killer (Sharlto Copley who played Wikus in District 9) is working for the Elysium authorities and is trying to stop him making it.
Fortunately, I watched this film with subtitles for the hard of hearing, otherwise I would have struggled with his very strong Afrikaans accent.
But at least his character was from South Africa. I couldn't fathom from where Foster's hailed. Her accent was incredibly off-putting.
Anyway, Elysium just becomes a rather tiresome battle between Damon and his allies and the authorities or, if you fancy a bit of symbolism, the oppressed masses and the elite.
One can't knock Blomkamp's ambition and his movie does have its moments, sporadically, but Elysium, while looking a bit like District 9, falls well short of its quality.
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: yes
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 4/10