Earlier this evening the other DrC and I watched the Matt Damon, Jodie Foster science fiction film Elysium. It is a highly dystopian future (aren't they all for Hollywood?) set a hundred years from now in a Los Angeles that looks worse than but sounds the same as the back streets of Ensenada. The poor live dirtside.
The wealthy live on a space station shaped like a giant wheel which spins to simulate gravity. The station is named Elysium, and it looks much like Beverly Hills. Apparently current trends have continued, essentially eliminating the middle class.
Damon plays slum-dweller Max whereas Foster plays Elysium's Defense Minister. The rest of the cast are talented unknowns. The film has a fully-realized "look" that isn't pretty but definitely "works."
This isn't the cute Matt Damon of the Bourne trilogy, here he's ugly and spends much of the film wearing a cyborg rig that makes him both more-than-and-less-than-human.
The film Elysium isn't as bad as some reviews have alleged, but it probably won't win many prizes either. We liked it, but didn't love it.
