Movie

Review

Elysium
Joshua
Dargan Hayes

- Director Neill Blomkamp

Movie Summary:
In the year 2159, humanity is sharply divided between two classes of people: The rich live
aboard a space station called Elysium, and the rest live in Earth's ruins. With his life
hanging in the balance, a man named Max (Matt Damon)
agrees to undertake a dangerous mission that could bring
equality to the population, but Secretary Delacourt
(Jodie Foster) wants to preserve the lifestyle of Elysium's
citizens, no matter what the cost.

Main Actors:
Matt Damon
Jodie Foster
William Fichtner
Sharlto Copley
Alice Braga
Wagner Moura

Mise en Scene - Characters:

One of the aspects that makes the films world appear more realistic in Elysium is
definitely the quality of the acting. Examples of this can be seen in the facial expressions
such as desperation in the people trying to make their way to Elysium for medical care and
the terrified faces of the residents when those spacecraft are incoming. (Clip 1)
Professional acting also helped increase the effectiveness of the end scene when Max
(Matt Damon) gave his life for the safety of others and was very clearly saddened by this
for obvious reasons. This in conjunction with sound created an excellent and powerful
closing scene. (Clip 2)

Clips:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9rS-x4aT5w
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30BTQ6B4Y6M
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIBtePb-dGY
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct9K4BAr0Oo

Mise en Scene - Location

The movie is based both on earth and on a space center called
Elysium. The movie uses extensive special effects (CGI) to
make the movies world appear more believable and succeeds
in doing that as at no point do you slip out of the movies train
of thought due to bad quality of whats in front of you as
regards 3D imaging and special effects.
These advanced 3Ds can be seen in (Clip 1) when the digitally
produced spacecraft are headed for the digitally produced space center but are shot down by digitally produced
rockets and in (Clip 3), which is the movies trailer, in which you get a good idea of the other aspects of the movie
where special effects were extensively used.

Mise en Scene - Editing

Careful editing was vital especially in the action scenes
where quickly moving between angles and perspectives
adds to the excitement and sense that you are actually
there and a part of whatevers going on. (Clip 4) is one
of the main action scenes in the movie and it uses
editing along with a mixture of sound effects and
special effects to keep the audiences eyes and mind fixed solely on whats happening on the screen.

Mise en Scene - Sound

Sound was extensively used in Elysium to add atmosphere and
cement in peoples minds that certain scenes were sad emotional
ones and others were exciting action sequences, such as in (Clip 1),
(Clip 2) and (Clip 4), when they are in the spacecraft it sounds like
one and when they are fighting you can hear the shots and
explosions which when used with proper editing can produce a really believable scene that entices the viewer and
keeps them hooked and in the end scene when the music slows right down and nearly becomes depressing as Max
(Matt Damon) dies.

J.D.H.

Classic Hollywood 3 Act Narrative

Act I
In this movie, Elysium, the first act predominantly consists of an
introduction to our main characters, Max, his friend Julio and Secretary
Delacourt, an overview of the times they live in and the situations they
face on a daily basis and a glimpse of the inequalities in the world that
hints at what the movie will be about.

Turning Point I
The initial turning point in Elysium is when Max, Matt Damon, gets trapped in a radioactive chamber at work and is
given only a five day life expectancy. Because he both wants to do something useful in his life and get cured, which
can be done on the space station, he decides to join a bunch of criminals wholl lead an attack on the station.

Act II
Act two consists of the preparations on earth and some holdups along the way which help to build tension, such
as airspace being completely locked down and some of the equipment being destroyed. When these problems
are overcome the scenes are then all based on the Elysium space station where his team try to take over the
command center of the station so they can reprogram its software in favor of equality.

J.D.H.

Turning Point II
The second turning point is very near the end of the movie where they begin to gain control of the areas they need
to in Elysium and the tension from the previous few scenes, although somewhat continues, mainly changes to a
feeling of happiness and success.

Act III
The final act of the movie is basically just the final
scene, as talked about in the Mise en Scene section,
when Max and his friend have successfully takn control
of and barricaded themselves into the computer control
room and manage to reprogram the station to give
equality to all but in doing this Max (Matt Damon) dies
just as the scene fades to black and the movie ends.
(Clip 2)

J.D.H.