Elysium
(2013/Sony Blu-ray w/DVD) + Elysium:
The Art Of The Film
(2013/By Mark Salisbury/Hardcover/Titan Books)
Picture:
B/C+ Sound: B+/C+ Extras: B- Film/Book: B-
Neill
Blomkamp's Elysium
(2013) is his epic science fiction follow-up to the critical smash
success of District
9
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) which was also in the same genre,
but this is not a sequel, yet it has the same social conscious and
does not hold back in a vision of the future that seems to possible,
but is very ugly. In this case, after so many elites and
corporations denied climate change and could care less about how much
they polluted, a giant space station named Elysium containing the
riches, most powerful, most privileged and connected with all the
best nature, science, wealth and science has been collected and the
declining earth is now ruled from there.
Matt
Damon plays Max, a poor worker with a so-called criminal past just
barely getting by and stuck like everyone else on earth who is part
of the disposable majority. We find in flashback how he always
wanted to go to Elysium, but was told he was not allowed without
explanation, but the idea has always stuck with him and we see some
of his story in flashback, including when he is dreaming. After an
altercation with some police droids leaves him with a broken arm, he
meets his old female friend as an adult (Alice Braga) now doing
medical work. Things get worse for him when he is exposed to deadly
radiation levels in a work accident that should have never happened.
Turns
out his friend's daughter is sick with Leukemia, so he has new
reasons to get to Elysium, where they have the technology to quickly
heal so many diseases. Unfortunately, his rebel friends keep getting
potential escapees from earth to the station killed as the defenses
to keep them down (figuratively and literally) by those determined to
keep their paradise elite and safe from those they hate as well as
from subversive ideas. However, there is a power struggle and a
determined official (Jodie Foster in a dynamically cold, effective
turn surprising us once again with her range) is at odds with the
heads of the station.
She
is doing some of their dirty work, but they don't want to know how
she is doing what they will not, so she finds a way to take advantage
of this gap to take over the station herself and will use a rogue
assassin and killer named Kruger (Sharito Copley, who was so good in
District
9) to
get what she wants.
I
will forego the rest of the details of the plot so you will be
surprised, but thought the screenplay was decent, though the film
takes a more commercial turn midway when all the plot elements and
subplots build into a nice action sequence. The problem is that
after that, the story leans on some conventions and a bit of formula
that get in the way of it being as effective as it could be, though
the cast (also including Diego Luna and William Fitchner) gels very
well and makes this easily one of the best big budget films of 2013
and one about something, about people for a change. It did
moderately well at the box office and on Blu-ray and DVD, deserves to
find a much wider audience.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer is an all
digital HD shoot using anamorphic Panavision lenses with RED EPIC and
Canon HD cameras, resulting in one of the best HD digital shoots of
its kind to date. Blomkamp and Director
of Photography Trent Opaloch once again push the format into
something else something better, something with character and
something that has narrative visual context. The great Syd Mead
co-designed the look of the entire film and they really know how to
run with it. The anamorphically enhanced DVD is much softer and
passable at best, not being able to handle the depth and detail the
Blu-ray can.
As
for sound, the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1 lossless mix on the
Blu-ray is on of the best audio mixes of the year with true
state-of-the-art editing, design and more character than you usually
encounter anymore on such big budget productions. Originally issued
in both the Dolby Atmos 11.1 and Auro 11.1 sound formats, this
mixdown is very effective, has some fine demo moments and can go a
few rounds with the sound design of any Blu-ray release to date.
This will really challenge and soar on the better home theater
systems. The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on the DVD is fairly good, but
no match for the DTS-MA 7.1 by a longshot.
Extras
include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and iTunes
capable devices, while both formats offer two featurettes:
Collaboration:
Crafting & Performances In Elysium
and Engineering
Utopia: Creating A Society In The Sky.
The Blu-ray adds such exclusives as Extended Scenes and four more
Behind The Scenes featurettes: Visions
Of 2154: An Interactive Exploration Of The Art & Design Of
Elysium,
The
Technology Of 2154,
The
Journey To Elysium
(in 3 parts) and In
Support Of Story: The Visual Effects Of Elysium.
Though
those extras are extensive and have many of the art and concept works
used in the making of the film, I still found Mark Salisbury's new
coffee table book Elysium: The
Art Of The Film an
amazing (and very collectible)volume showing the art and more on very
high quality paper with excellent image reproduction that book lovers
and film fans will love. At 178 pages, it is a solid companion to
the film and is fun like these books used to always be.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
