Escape to the Movies: Elysium

[RA92]

So bob, support this indy film with it's embracing ideas or you're the scum of the earth?

Exactly where does Bob imply you're scum of the Earth for not supporting this movie?

You don't like it, fine. But quit makin' stuff up.

Some people...

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Funny. Bob's cheering this movie on while other reviews I've read are canning it. Time gave it 2+1/2 stars out of 5 and it only gets a 47% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Uh...is this another case where Bob's inner fanboy leaves him giddy and oblivious to problems? You may recall how he said the Captain America might be "the best movie ever". Bob has as much of a track record for going overboard liking certain directors or movies as he does for reflexively hating others (I never listen to Bob when he talks about JJ Abrahm's work, anymore).

Has anyone else seen this movie? If so I'd appreciate your opinion on it.

Let's just put it this way: Time is written by, and generally appeals to, the class of people this movie talks down about. Consider that when you look at their score for the movie.

 

[Makabriel]

I have never in my life walked out of a movie thinking "You, know.. that movie made me think of how badly 'x' is being treated by 'y' and how our government is 'z'". I never understood how people get their backs up by "ham fisted" force feeding of today's latest trending problems in a movie. I watch movies to be entertained. I don't care if the movie has ties to real world happenings. Never once did a movie make me question the way I think about things. Never once did I think "Oh, this director is a devout believer of somethingorother, I better not watch it because that means I subscribe to their views". Are people this weak willed that they think they'll be brainwashed by something topical in a sci-fi action movie?

Just boggles my mind..

 

[daxterx2005]

Man I totally want to go to that arcade.
Arcades are like non existent here in SC.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

I don't mind Bob downplaying how ham-fisted this movie clearly is as a negative point. I do mind the fact that he never even seems to fault the movie for it. I mind even more due to Bob criticizing other films for very similar levels of blatant metaphor.

Maybe you missed the part of the review where Bob points-out how all of the Earthbound characters all seem to be Hispanic and mostly speak Spanish, followed by a very loud and sarcastic "Gee, I wonder what that's a metaphor of". He made little effort to hide the fact that the story basically slaps you in the face with its message, just that the rest of the movie is so awesome, it's forgivable. Compared to other movies that are boring, AND slap you in the face with heavy morality messages on top of that. It's like the case of an average student getting a C grade and no one cares, but when his brother who usually gets straight A's gets a C, his parents damn-near murder him for it. Not a perfect analogy, but you get the idea. Different standards for different movies. That and, you know, opinion.

 

[Mumorpuger]

So, judging from the review, does that mean that this movie is another "great white savior" flick? And if so, does that mean this one is getting a pass for... I dunno. "Reasons?"

 

[TaboriHK]

I struggle to watch more than a minute of these. Please leave the accent in Boston, it's unbearable.

 

[axlryder]

I don't mind Bob downplaying how ham-fisted this movie clearly is as a negative point. I do mind the fact that he never even seems to fault the movie for it. I mind even more due to Bob criticizing other films for very similar levels of blatant metaphor.

Maybe you missed the part of the review where Bob points-out how all of the Earthbound characters all seem to be Hispanic and mostly speak Spanish, followed by a very loud and sarcastic "Gee, I wonder what that's a metaphor of". He made little effort to hide the fact that the story basically slaps you in the face with its message, just that the rest of the movie is so awesome, it's forgivable. Compared to other movies that are boring, AND slap you in the face with heavy morality messages on top of that. It's like the case of an average student getting a C grade and no one cares, but when his brother who usually gets straight A's gets a C, his parents damn-near murder him for it. Not a perfect analogy, but you get the idea. Different standards for different movies. That and, you know, opinion.

Yes, he made a point to say that it was obvious, and then went right past it and gave the movie a glowing recommendation anyway. It did almost nothing to factor into his recommendation or seriously detract from his opinion of the film. He even made a point to say that his only major gripe was that it didn't spend enough time on certain things, and that the film "something to say" and had a "powerful thesis", and just seemed generally positive in tone towards the story and its message. It's almost like he's saying "yeah, it's ham-fisted, but it works here".

I don't expect cookie cutter standards, but I do expect consistency from a reviewer. I consider it basic professionalism, and I don't feel your analogy/explanation properly justifies his approach to the review. Just because the movie does a lot right doesn't mean you can just give it a pass on the things it does very wrong. He's gone on record saying that such heavy-handedness is insulting and belittling to the audience. I see what you're saying, and feel free to disagree, but the review smacks of unchecked bias to me.

 

[Strain42]

Nothing on Planes? I wasn't expecting a full review of it, but I thought maybe it would at least get a post credits joke.

I have no interest in seeing Elysium (because I'm poor and have to pick and choose my movies very carefully, I've only gone to see 4 movies so far this year) but I do remember seeing the trailer for this and finding something interesting about it. Glad to know it was alright.

Also does anyone else find it incredibly odd that a lot of the things that people seem to just insult MovieBob over are the same thing that Yahtzee does, but no one seems to complain when he does it, in fact they often celebrate it. Whether it's plugging his book (and hey, the special announcement wasn't just a book plug, guys. It was to plug a special signing, since when is that not allowed?) calling a movie lowest common denominator, using that to insult the audience (how often has Yahtzee actually called people twats or cunts for liking a certain game?) or letting his bias get in the way of things?

If you don't want an opinion based show to be covered in personal opinion, than stop watching it. It's not a hard concept.

 

[RedmistSM]

Sounds cool, but I wasn't that blown away by District 9 when I saw it. The action was nice, but the opponents were really uneven in strength and the metaphors of that film were as unsubtle as.. as unsubtle as the metaphors in this film sound like they are. I'll probably watch it since they have the good sense to pit one cyborg against another, but I'll make sure not to get swept up in your hype or I fear I'll be dissapointed.

(I don't mind the accent)

Also does anyone else find it incredibly odd that a lot of the things that people seem to just insult MovieBob over are the same thing that Yahtzee does (...)
If you don't want an opinion based show to be covered in personal opinion, than stop watching it. It's not a hard concept.

Speaking for nobody but myself, the difference between the shows is the degree that each one is funny. Moviebob doesn't do a whole ton of jokes and comedy, it's not his main thing. It's easier to be annoyed by stated opinions than opinions wrapped in a joke I just snickered at.

 

[kickassfrog]

August 21st in the UK?... ************.

Yeah, but we got the chance to see The World's End before the [I actually don't feel like insulting americans right now so insert your own derogatory but ultimately good-natured insult of choice] got to. So there's that.

 

[faefrost]

We're never gonna get that Battle Angel Alita movie, are we? :'(

Nope This pretty much killed it, just as Promethius killed The Mountains of Madness one.

 

[faefrost]

You know -- and this is just based on the information presented in the review -- if "the one percent" can just up and move to a space colony removed from the rest of humanity where they never have to work again, and the result is that everything goes to hell down below... doesn't that kind of validate the ideas presented in, of all things, Atlas Shrugged? You know, where all the rich people pack up and move to Rapture Galt's Gulch and everyone else is like "Oh noes, the people who actually knew how to run things are all gone, whatever shall we do?" because apparently "the 99 percent" are all idiots who need to be led by the hand by their, ahem, intellectual superiors.

What I'm getting is that this is a really obnoxious viewpoint no matter whose "side" of the conflict you claim to be on.

I think that in Elysium (and here I'm basing myself on the review and trailers just like you), is not that Rich people leaving earth caused the world to go hell, is more like, when those people left, they took everything that made the world "work" with them. Or maybe the world was already fucked up enough before they did, and the problem really lies in rich people making this huge space colony where everything is better but leaving everyone else who can't afford it to deal with a broken planet Earth.

Hmmm? Isn't that sorta kinda the entire point to most of Ayn Rand's works? Particularly Atlas Shrugged? Now maybe that would have been an interesting point to explore in parallel with this films heavy handed Occupy Space Habitrail / LaRaza themes. Sadly this is a Hollywood production.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

I have never in my life walked out of a movie thinking "You, know.. that movie made me think of how badly 'x' is being treated by 'y' and how our government is 'z'". I never understood how people get their backs up by "ham fisted" force feeding of today's latest trending problems in a movie. I watch movies to be entertained. I don't care if the movie has ties to real world happenings. Never once did a movie make me question the way I think about things. Never once did I think "Oh, this director is a devout believer of somethingorother, I better not watch it because that means I subscribe to their views". Are people this weak willed that they think they'll be brainwashed by something topical in a sci-fi action movie?

Just boggles my mind..

It has nothing to do with thinking about how you might "subscribe to their views" or be "brainwashed". It has to do with film-makers with very clear-cut beliefs making movies that take complicated ideas that are chock full of grey areas and reducing them to black-and-white fantasy, where everyone falls into convenient categories of "if you think this way you're smart and righteous and wonderful, and if you think this way you're a vile and disgusting human being". As you can imagine, people don't really like being insulted, and they especially don't like it when you insult them by presuming to understand their views when the film-maker clearly doesn't (or just ignores them).

 

[NeedsaBetterName22]

You know -- and this is just based on the information presented in the review -- if "the one percent" can just up and move to a space colony removed from the rest of humanity where they never have to work again, and the result is that everything goes to hell down below... doesn't that kind of validate the ideas presented in, of all things, Atlas Shrugged? You know, where all the rich people pack up and move to Rapture Galt's Gulch and everyone else is like "Oh noes, the people who actually knew how to run things are all gone, whatever shall we do?" because apparently "the 99 percent" are all idiots who need to be led by the hand by their, ahem, intellectual superiors.

What I'm getting is that this is a really obnoxious viewpoint no matter whose "side" of the conflict you claim to be on.

I personally find the dumbest political thing from the movie is that Matt Damon, after going on and on about gun control and media for months, is now paying the bills with a movie that seems to love gun imagery.

I think that presenting Elysium as 'meaningful' in any way is really an insult to your intelligence. The entire movie runs on Hollywood Economics, that is to say:

1. It makes zero sense.
2. Corporate people are greedy, except when greed or profit margins would actually stop them from just being cartoonishly evil (i.e. "Hey, we have super cheap medical technology that could ensure our workforce is always healthy and productive! ....No, we need to keep it to ourselves even though it's cheap and we could make them pay massively for it. So, you know, it can be a commentary on public healthcare, which is NOT the same thing as a magic medicine machine.")
3. Wealth is a finite resource that can't be created, only shifted around society (central to the 'rich stealing from everyone else' narrative).
4. Paul Ehrlich, rather then being completely discredited, was totally right. Overpopulation and resource depletion will occur before the 23rd century (and of course the movie ignores the fact that they have the space technology to mine the solar system).
5. Despite the fact that they have the technology to mechanize almost all manual labour cheaply they don't and just keep using third-world class workers (in reality this is actually happening, the rising middle classes in India and China are beginning to force companies to stop investing in sweatshops and start investing in more mechanized operations with less, but better paid workers).

This is the 'Bioshock is a good criticism of Objectivism' nonsense all over again. The writers don't have a solid grasp of economics and can't write them into the script effectively. When I got out of the early screening I thought it was a mess. The technology designs were solid though.

 

[johntheescapist]

I saw the movie today. It sucked balls due to a lot of things to be frank.

A. The cast is shit. I can not say I liked one character in that movie, everyone was so damn forgettable, including Damon himself. Also if almost everyone in Los Angeles is Mexican in the movie would it had killed the movie to have a Mexican main character? I mean I love straight white males playing my protagonist when it makes sense as much as the next guy but seeing Damon speak Spanish...meh kind of drags you out of it all.

B. The plot is really really really predictable. If you do not see what is going to happen 30 minutes in then you have never seen a movie in your life. Seriously you can guess the whole thing 30 minutes in.

C. The action scenes are boring, partly because of the color Platte, partly because you can already guess what the result of them will be.

D. The plot is full of too many damn holes. I am not going to spoil specifics but will instead give an example about the world that you saw in the trailer. The medicine machines work on an atomic level, meaning they are nano-machines that can create or kill or modify living flesh. If they have nanotech that can cure cancer or whatever then why don't the rich on Elysium just use nano-tech and create whatever they want instead of relying on factory workers on earth like Damon?

E. The ending is not only predictable but will destroy any good feelings you have about the movie. Seriously I thought In Time and the Running Man movie had world breaking endings but the ending to this film...it's just pathetically horribly shit.

DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE, just go read the Running Man or the Economist or something

 

[Makabriel]

It has nothing to do with thinking about how you might "subscribe to their views" or be "brainwashed". It has to do with film-makers with very clear-cut beliefs making movies that take complicated ideas that are chock full of grey areas and reducing them to black-and-white fantasy, where everyone falls into convenient categories of "if you think this way you're smart and righteous and wonderful, and if you think this way you're a vile and disgusting human being". As you can imagine, people don't really like being insulted, and they especially don't like it when you insult them by presuming to understand their views when the film-maker clearly doesn't (or just ignores them).

But how does this make sense in a fictional movie? A documentary I can understand. But imagine debating these points while disusing Judge Dread, which has a lot of the same views. Hell, the remake of Total Recall even...

 

[TheProfessor234]

The thing that has been bothering me about the trailer since day 1: If they had this exoskeleton that would allow them to infiltrate the upper crust, why haven't they used it before NOW?

Not to spoil anything, but it's not the suit that's special. It's just an exoskeleton suit to help Max move because of his failing body.

Also, loved the movie, sure it has its faults but I still had a great time. If anything, I hope to see Copley in more roles and the next big film from Blomkamp.

 

[Casual Shinji]

We're never gonna get that Battle Angel Alita movie, are we? :'(

OOooooOoooo that takes me back.....

Yeah, the good old days when the robots were awesome and the punk was cyber.

 

[DugMachine]

Aww is bob mad he thought he had sway over the audiences? awwwww.
oh look a critic blowing matt Damon. People don't fall for this. it's a b movie with a face lift.
if you can't beat a crappy comedy your not that good of a movie.

i'm glad to see the 2 posters above me saw this movie for the piece of crap that it is.

Because 2 posters that disagree with him is the whole of the audience? I've not seen this movie and have no plans to see it as I'm not interested in the plot but what a childish post. Awww it's funny how you think movie critics can't add their personal opinions and bias in THEIR reviews aww