“Elysium” Falls Short of Expectations

 After watching various trailers and reading that Rotten Tomatoes had rated it 68%, I walked into the new movie, Elysium, excited. I walked out thinking of things I could have been doing to improve my life. But instead of exercising, studying or getting a girlfriend I sat through one hour and 37 minutes of boredom. Elysium was a puzzle of a sci-fi movie; it was made up of overused ideas, themes and scenes that were slightly adapted to fit the weak storyline.

 Matt Damon plays the protagonist: a soft-hearted ex-criminal on a filthy, futuristic, impoverished Earth, who is saving up money to go to a beautiful community on a spaceship outside of Earth’s atmosphere called Elysium. Since Elysium is only inhabited by the wealthy, Damon’s character has little chance of going there. But after an accident that leaves him in a detrimental medical state that can only be cured by machines on Elysium, he obviously must try to get there.

 The only funny thing about this movie is the sheer unoriginality of the plot line. The movie begins with the protagonist as a child, looking at Elysium in the sky, hoping he will someday achieve his dream of going there. How original- a kid with a next-to-impossible dream grows up and takes drastic measures to follow it! If this movie is following this archetypal plot line, I thought, then I already know what is going to happen. What is the point of watching the rest of the movie? By the time the climax of the movie came, I had lost all interest.

 In the movie, there are multiple cliché attempts at making the viewer feel attached to the character. First, Damon’s character is still in love with a girl he was dating when he was 10 (Aw!!). Second, the girl has a daughter and Damon’s character would do anything to protect her (No way!). Third, and this is the one they try to shove down your throat the most, is that the woman’s daughter tells Damon’s character a heartwarming story about animals and how they help each other. Then, Damon’s character helps people! (Coincidence?)

 Damon did a decent job with the script and character that was given, but that still isn’t enough to make the movie great. Jodie Foster plays a merciless woman who protects Elysium from immigrants, but isn’t really suited for an antagonistic role. She just wasn’t scary. Her character also follows the usual path of the villain who kills innocent humans, but turns out to be human herself.

Elysium proved that in movies, cool-looking robots aren’t enough. A well-rounded movie needs an original script, original characters, and at least a little humor to brighten the mood, and Elysium brought none of these to the table. If you are still thinking about seeing this movie, consider doing something that enhances your life. I wish I had.