Overall, Elysium is a fairly decent movie in an artistic sense. We are reminded throughout the movie that we are watching a summer action blockbuster, but as a dystopian story it does raise some serious questions. Unfortunately, the movie largely glosses over the issues it brings up, limiting its power as detailed analysis of the philosophical plot points. As intelligent moviegoers the audience must decide for itself whether the questions raised and the answers proposed by the movie are valid. To do this, we must consider the ethos of the film. We shall do so in multiple parts, considering how different factors add to or take away from the ethos of Elysium.
Cast and Crew
Elysium was written and directed by Neill Blomkamp. His involvement adds ethos to the movie in several ways:
Genre and Audience
|
As previously discussed, Elysium is clearly intended primarily as an action film. While it raises some serious issues, those concerns take a backseat to excitement and violence. While this certainly appeals to the intended audience - young, predominately male action aficionados - it does cause Elysium to lose some of its ethos as a social commentary. This is a film clearly designed to win in the box office, not necessarily in the Oscars. This is obvious from how many more scenes there are like this...
...as opposed to scenes that actually let us know about how the world of Elysium came about. Particularly when all the problems are neatly resolved by granting everyone on Earth citizenship to Elysium, the film loses the chance to make a statement on the difficult topics of immigration and healthcare. Rather, after an undeniably exciting fight scene, they simply tie everything up with a contrived little bow and run the credits. We can't fault the film too much for this - Elysium is excellent in terms of its primary purpose. However, one can't help but wonder what the film would've been like if it focused more on the intriguing societal questions it raises, as opposed to the non-stop thrills and action demanded by the genre and audience.
Critical Reception
Elysium received mixed reviews from both movie critics and the audience with many of them voicing similar concerns to those we presented in the section above. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the movie received 68% positive reviews from critics and a 59% positive reviews from the audience. Many critics thought that while Elysium was good it didn't live up to its full potential, particularly when compared to Blomkamp's similar work District 9. Elysium did solidly for its genre in the box office as well, making $93.1 billion. It also received a Leo Award in 2014 for Best Visual Effects Motion Picture.
Production Quality
All movies have an intrinsic ethos related to the quality of the acting and production. Cheaply made movies are obvious, and often lose their appeal because of it. Elysium fairs well on this front. The $115 million film had excellent video effects, and the acting was very good for this type of run and gun action film. The actors all made good character choices, taking what could easily have been a run of the mill run and gun affair into something a little more special.
Summary
With a better script and better plot development this film could have been remarkable. As is, however, it is still a very solid action movie with good acting talent and some important themes. The high quality and past record of the director and actors serve to give Elysium a strong ethos.