The makers of ‘District 9’ bring you a new type of future.  One where the rich and powerful live healthy and care free, while the poor and sick live with poverty and starvation…wait, are we talking about current day Earth or a bold new look at a future one?  Elysium is the supposed future, but you’ll feel like it’s the present day we live in.  B-

Matt Damon (The Talented Mr. Ripley) tromps back onto the screen as our pseudo ‘iron-man’ hero set to bring balance back to a human condition.  In our very near and bleak future, the Earth has been ravaged by disease and poverty and the well-to-do- have jumped ship and left the Earth to inhabit a space station/gated community known as Elysium.  Adding to the appeal of the location is a technology that only exists there which can cure any sickness or affliction (and in less than 30 seconds no less).  Determined to cure himself of radiation positioning, Max (Damon) with the help of some crusading freedom fighters finds a way to not only get to Elysium but also to break the system so that any one left on Earth can also become a citizen there.

I know, the film is fraught with socio-economic and political ramifications.  But hey, we’re Sci-fi action junkies – we want guns not speeches.  And it delivers there.  Damon as a ‘lesser’ Iron-Man manages to kick some serious butt while matching wits with a psycho hired assassin and the unscrupulous caretaker of the habitat Delacourt (Jodie Foster).

For me, the film left a lot of unanswered questions – of how our future could get to such a state.  And how exactly did we get the resources to build Elysium which seems to be about the size of a large US city with nothing but pools, mansions and better living?  Let those things go and you’ll see a great bright spot for the Sci-fi crowd in the new thriller; it’s the actual habitat of Elysium.  It’s gorgeous! Wow, really.  That we could even dream to design and construct such a monstrous dwelling is a feat in itself.  It really does look amazing on screen and I bet the IMAX viewers will love it even more.

Elysium is rated R for strong bloody violence and language throughout.  Running Time: 109 minutes.