The 'haves' on a massive star-shaped space colony, Elysium, and the 'have-nots' on a grubby Mad Max future Earth could easily be an analogy for today's Syrian refugee crisis but once this promising, elaborate cgi world-split-in-two is established, director Neill Blomkamp focuses all his attention on the action and it is like he is trying to distract viewers from the fact he has nothing more to say: there is constant noise, John Woo-style slow-mo theatrics, fleeting moments of experimental camerawork and sfx in extended fight scenes, more noise (everyone needs to yell a name twice before they receive their angry reply over the din..."Max!? Max!!?"); there are superficial references to leukemia, healthcare, robotics, war crimes, government bureaucracy; there's a superhero showdown and Jodie Foster with an accent that sounds like she is doing elocution drills, and it's a sum total of bloated, headache-inducing rigmarole that made me wonder how I might be able to retreat to the quiet of a Mars colony before the end of the movie let alone in 2145.
★★☆☆☆
CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEW
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