Elysium

2013
R
1h 49m

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

478K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer3:14

Cyberpunk Dystopian Sci-Fi Sci-Fi Epic Action Drama Sci-Fi Thriller

In the year 2154, the very wealthy live on a man-made space station while the rest of the population resides on a ruined Earth. A man takes on a mission that could bring equality to the pola... Read allIn the year 2154, the very wealthy live on a man-made space station while the rest of the population resides on a ruined Earth. A man takes on a mission that could bring equality to the polarized worlds.In the year 2154, the very wealthy live on a man-made space station while the rest of the population resides on a ruined Earth. A man takes on a mission that could bring equality to the polarized worlds.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

478K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

2,272

535

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 10 nominations total

Trivia
Sharlto Copley presented an American, an Eastern European, and a British "version" of Kruger to Neill Blomkamp before they agreed that Kruger would be from their home country, South Africa, and speak with the accent of "a very specific area in Johannesburg". Accordingly, Kruger's men are played by fellow South Africans Brandon Auret (who also appeared in Blomkamp's movie District 9 (2009) with Copley) and Josh Blacker. They all incorporate numerous Afrikaans slang words into their dialogue, e.g. "Boet," an informal derivative of "brother," "Boykie," meaning "little boy," and "lekker," a slang for approval.

Goofs
The original "Stanford Torus" design of a wheel-shaped space colony had an offset mirror angled to reflect sunlight onto mirrors set around the central hub and then outward to the ring. Elysium has no such arrangement and sunlight simply shines directly to the interior of the ring. This is completely impractical, as Elysium rotates (about every 6 minutes). This means that location around the habitat would have an ongoing series of periods of "day" and "night", each lasting only 3 minutes, which would be extremely disconcerting for the inhabitants. In addition, Elysium appears to have its rotational axis pointing towards the Earth, and as it orbits the Earth that would mean that (a) it rotates with respect to the Sun, and so the amount of sunlight and its angle will be continuously varying, and (b) during each orbit it will spend time in the Earth's shadow and not receive any sunlight at all.

Quotes
Android Police Officer: [Referring to Max's backpack] What's in the bag?
Max: [Max's head is shaved bald] Hair products, mostly.

Crazy credits
In the soundtrack part of the end titles it says:

"Piano Concerto No. 8 in C minor 'Pathetique' - Adagio Cantabile Written by Ludwig van Beethoven"

L. v. Beethoven wrote only five piano concertos (his eighth piano sonata is titled "Pathetique" however).

Connections
Featured in ReelzChannel Specials: Richard Roeper's Red Hot Summer (2013)

Soundtracks
Ghosst
Written by Lorn (as Marcos Ortega)
Performed by Lorn
Courtesy of Ninja Tune Ltd.

User reviews1K

Review

Featured review

7/10

Very nice dystopia, above average

Good surprise that this Elysium, after the promising District 9. Neill Blomkamp confirms his know-how in the framework of a US blockbuster. Here is still at work an interesting subject, with contemporary resonances. The film is also beautiful, whether it is the shots of the earth with this devastated mega-city where poverty and assembly line work reigns, or the shots of Elysium, the space station for the rich who live in a sanitized world, filled with greenery, where there is no more disease, and who exploit the poor earthlings for their profit.

The subject is not original and has been treated many times, but here the production benefits from the latest digital techniques: on this level the film is a success. And the direction of the actors is also very good: Matt Damon is very good. Sharlto Copley is still impressive in a crazy role.

Good surprise then that this dystopia is far above the average of the basic science-fiction super production (I include superhero movies as science-fiction).