ELYSIUM with Matt Damon
I like science fiction. I write science fiction, so there you have it. This is my disclaimer, so the gentle reader knows going in that I am wildly biased in favor of good sci fi.
ELYSIUM is good sci fi. In fact, it’s quite good. B+ good.
Matt Damon is an inherently likable, imperfect hero who harbors shadows in his past. He’s on probation. Right away we see him as a child, being tender with a lovely girl his own age. And then we see him as a tattooed man, getting creamed by a grotesquely unfair system.
Did I mention how hot Damon is? I’m biased that way, too, because he reminds me of a hot guy I dated in college. There weren’t a lot of those, so I tend to prize them.
The movie was fast-paced and visually interesting. It didn’t break new ground but it did tightly hold my attention. The characters were well drawn–Jodie Foster was an excellent evil rich protector–and the movie was well structured.
I have three rules for writing novels which I discuss openly: 1, story is how your protagonist does NOT get what he or she wants; 2, every story is an argument for a specific value; and 3, what are the stakes?
This movie sinuously answers all three of my rules. Matt Damon never gets all of what he wants. I don’t want to include a spoiler here, so I won’t say what that means. I will simply say that I admire the movie creators for not letting go of the story for a Hollywood ending. The value that is being argued for is an excellent one: the value of all human beings regardless of their net worth. And the stakes in the plot were always well defined.
I enjoyed this movie. I recommend it. It was a fun flick to see in the theater, and it would be an awesome rent at home.
