Elysium

Ian and I have both recently been to see Elysium at the cinema! Since we are living in different countries, we have had to see it separately and commence all our squeeing via the medium of email! I really wanted to share these as I love Ian's opinion of the film. He is much, much cleverer than I! I love his writing, especially when he is excited about something! I hope that if you loved Elysium too then you will find something you can relate to in his words. 

We love sitting around chatting about films. 

***OMGSPOILERS***I must mention that if you haven't seen the film yet then this blog post is not for you! Please don't read any further ^-^***OMGSPOILERS***

Anyway, here are the emails, unedited (and badly spelled on my part!) and RAWR:  

Ian:

FUUUUUUUUUH-HUUUUUUUUCKKKK, YEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THAT FILM WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!
Obvs it's late and I'm tired and need to go to bed, but I had to boot up and log in to mail you about how awesome it was! Christ, I loved every split second of it. It's so gritty and credible but full of awesome tech. I love the story and the characters and how everything pans out in the end. Just perfect. All the actors are great. Not a bad performance in it. I can see why people would complain at the shaky cam, but I think it lent a shot of adrenaline to the fight sequences perfectly and had me gritting my teeth with excitement. The weapons were so satisfying, and when he was using the ChemRail from Elysium's armoury to take that merc dude apart, I nearly cried at how perfect it was.
Plus, the whole film is Blade Runner beautiful, and that's saying something.
It's a D9 beater for me. And, dare I say it, also a Pacific Rim beater too!!! One of the best films I've seen, stat! :D
Totally ordering the book too. I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed it Dani!

Dani:

 Yes! YES! YEEEEEESSS!! Finally I can have a conversation with someone about Elysium that won't just dismiss it as 'not D9!' Can we Skype about it on Sat evening? 

I loved it too! And the whole world can fuck off with its nit-picky-unfounded-criticisms of Jodie Foster because I LOVED her! She was horrible! Just as greedy and as elitist as today's leaders but multiplied by a 100+ years! I thought she was perfect!
The scenes on earth were harrowing. When he gets trapped in that radiationy-chamber-thingy god I hated every human being on the planet at that moment! I love his character arc so much. The whole movie is very simple, but it's so beautiful and violent and horrible and bleak but ultimately good! I don't know where I'd rather live - Elysium or Earth - both were wretched!
And KRUGER. Fucking hell what a bad guy. When he strokes the face of Frey I crossed my legs so tight! Eeeek! He's the stinking cancer of the film and I looooooved him.
I loved the tech! My friends say that Elysium didn't have a 'holy fuck that's AWESOME mech' moment (just like D9 snooooze get a new line) but I argue that's because there's fucking awesome mech the entire way through! It's easy to ignore the police because they fit in so well but they're all ROBOTS! Yeeeaaaahhh! And the Exo suit hurt me to watch! So awesome!
Argh I'm so glad you loved it! I know I've been saying blah blah stop moaning its not D9 all the way through, but I have to say, it's not a D9 beater for me. But it's right up there. It was exactly what I was hoping and expecting! I love them both for different reasons but Wikus as a character trumps Max I'm afraid, and what happens to him is awful and tragic and awesome and enthralling and I saw it with no expectations and I think it will always be my favourite (Blomkamp) film! I just can't wait to see what he does next?! His ideas seem to come straight out of my own head. He makes these films for meeeeee! :D I wrote Elysium when I was like, 9. I bet we all did. But I never thought it could be so fricking awwwwweesome.
I wish I saw it with you! I bet the drive back would have been an excited conversation! :,) 

Ian:

Yep, in total agreement. Nothing wrong with Jodie Foster or her accent whatsoever. In the first scene with her ordering Kruger to shoot the ships down, there's a close up shot of her which looks like it was ADRed, and I think that might explain the issue, but after that it was all fine. I also think that her accent squarely identified her as of the elite classes of Elysium. Listen to William Fitchner also (the dude who plays the owner of the company that Max works for and who is a class actor in everything I've ever seen him in) and he also effects a similar accent. So for me, it was an 'in film' detail.
I also agree that Wikus is a more endearing/charming character (and yeah, I like him more than Max), but I like Max also. You see a charming side to him when he's asking Frey out for a coffee in the hospital. Obvs I love D9, but I think it's viewed with rose tinted glasses because it came out of nowhere to conquer us all. It was a total sleeper hit from an unknown director and with a great viral marketing campaign. An awesome underdog story and who doesn't love on of them. But D9 doesn't deliver a satisfying conclusion to me. I'm talking less about Wikus' fate and more about the thematic element - it did a great job of setting up this veiled idea of a racial divide and then made no comment on it whatsoever. Whereas I feel that the conclusion to Elysium rounds out both Max's story arc and the social commentary/class divide themes in a satisfying way at exactly the same time.
Also, the shift from surveillance footage in D9 to normal film/shot construction threw me when I saw it in the cinema, but the filmic techniques in Elysium were spot on. I loved the intense shaky cam during the fighty/action sequences. Like a dose of adrenaline it made me feel like I was the one in the fight. I can understand why people complained that they couldn't keep up, but would you be able to keep up in fight with Kruger/droid/person/firefight etc etc? If all you can see reliably is the occasional detail - i.e. a hand reaching for a blade, a fist coming at you - amongst a blur of confusion, then I'd say that's a pretty good approximation of the panic of a conflict. So that technique really worked for me.
Anyway D9 is still an unbelievably awesome film, but Elysium irons out those one or two minor issues I had with D9, to make it perfect. Love love loved it!

END.

If you agree or don't agree, I'd love to hear! One of the most fun things I did was put an opinion about Prometheus on Facebook that sparked such an amazing discussion! I love talking about what I like and don't like with others. It's so much fun :D