Elysium - A-

Rated R, 97 minutes

Lean, tight sci-fi thriller "Elysium" is this summer's best film

Matt Damon

Well, it's about time. It's taken most of this summer, but this summer's best, most original film has finally arrived in Neil Blomkamp's ("District 9") action-packed, efficiently made science-fiction thriller "Elysium." In the year 2154, the very wealthy live on Elysium, high-tech space utopian station with cures to all diseases while everyone else lives below on the overpopulated, disease-infested slum Earth has become. 36-year-old factory-worker and ex-con Max DeCosta (Matt Damon) races against time to get to Elysium from Los Angeles to be cured of a deadly cancer and he has some valuable information that could alter the course of history. This pits him against Elysium’s powerful Secretary of Defense Delacourt (Jodie Foster) and her violent secret police forces, led by Agent Kruger (Sharlto Copley). The vastly entertaining "Elysium," directed and written by Blomkamp, is one of the year's best films and certainly the most original science-fiction film since Blomkamp's own "District 9" in 2009. If that film put him on the map, then this one will catapult his career a little further. Handsomely filmed and scored with a grittier feel and a tighter pace than "District 9," it's filled with some clever (though sometimes violent) visuals and a great cast. It's superbly acted by the appealing, always likable Damon, as well as a headstrong Foster, who shares co-billing with Damon but only one brief scene and no dialogue with him. Copley, who was the lead good guy in "District 9," chews up the screen and then some as the bad guy here, and while he borders on caricature, he's also great fun. Blomkamp moves "Elysium" along very well, to the point you might not notice its minor flaws. The characters are all interesting, but not all well-drawn, the ending on the pat side and it lacks what could've been some terrific Damon-Foster interplay. Still, "Elysium" is compelling and energetic enough that you'll forget those flaws and maybe even forget it's a sci-fi film underneath all the tense action and an explosive climax. Enjoyable, tense and wholly original, "Elysium" is a must-see for science-fiction and non-science-fiction lovers alike.

Wes's Grade: A-