Elysium

ACTION/ADVENTURE, DRAMA

The Haves and the Have Nots

8.0 out of 10 | MOVIE OR DVD

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Rated: R Strong bloody violence and language throughout
Release Date: August 9, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes

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Director: Neill Blomkamp
Writers: Neill Blomkamp
Cast: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, Wagner Moura, William Fichtner, Brandon Auret, Josh Auret, Emma Tremblay

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SYNOPSIS: Set in the year 2154, where the very wealthy live on a man-made space station while the rest of the population resides on a ruined Earth, a man takes on a mission that could bring equality to the polarized worlds.

REVIEW: District 9 writer/director Neill Blomkamp return for his second film in the dystopian sci-fi near-future genre. Impressing critics and audiences alike with the refugee alien film, Blomkamp sets foot into a similar soil to present how the near-future is not unlike what the world is like today.

In the year 2154, the richest of the world's population has escapes from the overpopulated and blight-ridden planet to live on a lush orbiting satellite habitat named Elysium. Max (Matt Damon, Promised Land) has grown up in poverty and in an orphanage in Los Angeles, dreaming of the day he could buy a ticket for the habitant. He steals and scraps away with an existence with the single purpose to get him and his best friend Frey (Alice Braga, The Rite) in mind. When an assembly line accident leaves Max with only days to live, he contacts a man from his old life, Spider (Wagner Moura, Father's Chair), for a favor and a ticket on a transport to space. Instead, Spider gives Max a suicide mission... taker the bank and account codes out of the head of a Elysium 'citizen' named John Carlyle (William Fichtner, The Lone Ranger). What Max can't anticipate is that John Carlyle has critical data that concerns Elysium, its defense minister Delacourt (Jodie Foster, Panic Room), and a sleeper agent named Kruger (Sharlto Copley, District 9).

Neill Blomkamp is a master of creating near-future societies that mirror and echo the socially relevant of today. In District 9, he dealt with class structures, racism, and the politics of refugees. In Elysium, he writes and directs, essentially, about the 1%. Just like in today's society and economy, the richest of us live outside the confines of a normal life, controlling and directing the mechanisms of power. And, like in today's world, the desolate and downtrodden are a scourge to be hidden out of sight. What better way to live a conscious-free life than to look down on a ruined Earth from a place in the heavens.

Elysium continues Blomkamp's mastery of creating a real-world environment that meshes seamlessly with gritty and polished CGI special effects. The barren landscape of Los Angeles could be any number of modern day impoverished locales around the world. Add in a little decoration of blowing paper and burned out vehicles and you have a world bereft of hope beyond looking to the stars at the orbiting ring in the sky. The robots, the Elysium habitat, the set design, the shuttles and the weaponry are beautifully rendered and woven into the visual spectacle of the story. Unlike the CGI-heavy Star Wars franchise or the fantasy look of the Lord of the Rings films, Blomkamp balances the practical and visual effects perfectly!

Elysium is the perfect followup for District 9 for the director. It has the same style as his first film while delivering a completely different message. I do still like District 9 better. Copely was such an underdog character in that film that it was heartbreaking to watch his struggle and physical changes. Matt Damon's Max, while also an underdog, carries with him a spark and drive that leads the audience to believe that he cannot fail. Copely returns as the sinister and off-center Kruger, shedding his waif self in  favor of the semi-bionic breaded mercenary. I did also enjoy the performances by Alice Braga as Frey, Wagner Moura as Spider, and Diego Luna as Julio. Jodie Foster's Delacourt is abrasive, coarse, and sinister as Elysium's power hungry defense minister, but she could have played the part with a little more fake courtesy.

Elysium is a smartly written, poignant sci-fi drama that most fans of the genre will appreciate. I marveled at the story and the cinematography. Just the tiniest bit disappointed that I was not more emotionally invested in the characters, I still found plenty to enjoy!

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Casa De Mi Padre

Onza for the Money

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Rated: R  Language, drug use, bloody violence and some sexual content
Release Date: March 16, 2012
Runtime: 1 hr 24 mins

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Director:  Matt Piedmont

Writers: Andrew Steele
Cast:  Will Ferrell, Diego Luna, Pedro Armendariz, Jr., Génesis Rodríguez, Efren Ramirez, Adrian Martinez, Gael García Bernal

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SYNOPSIS: On the Alvarez ranch, two sons find themselves at odds with each other and with a murdering drug lord bent on expanding his territory.

REVIEW: Matt Piedmont, writer for several seasons on Saturday Night Live and director of dozens of Funny or Die Presents webisodes, clears the way for Will Ferrell to do something he has never done before - namely a Spanish speaking indie comedy. Helped along by a script from The Ladies Man writer Andrew Steele, the finished film is a semi-timeless homage to Mexican westerns and soap operas.

Rancher Armando Alvarez (Will Ferrell, Everything Must Go) takes care of the family's cattle with his trusty ranch hands Esteban (Efren Ramirez, Gamer) and Manuel (Adrian Martinez, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close). Not considered very bright by his own widowed father Miguel Ernesto (the late Pedro Armendáriz Jr., The Legend of Zorro), Miguel looks to Armando's younger brother Raul (Diego Luna, Contraband) to save the ranch. Bringing with him a beautiful fiancee Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez, Man on a Ledge) and a trail of drug smuggling, Raul catches the notice and disapproval of both his brother and the Mexican drug lord Onza (Gael García Bernal, Blindness). Soon, Raul's pride and greed places the entire Alvarez family in mortal peril.

Will Ferrell is a master at creating, selecting, and starring in off-beat projects, from buddy action comedies like The Other Guys to subtle dramas like Everything Must Go. This time around, Ferrell decides to learn a little Spanish and get up in the saddle for his latest flick. Set as a Mexican western with all of the dramatic flare of any telenovela, Casa De Mi Padre is a strange steer to wrangle.
Completely immersing itself in the culture of several decades, Armando and his sidekick ranch hands initially look like something out of the 1970s, with golden fields and epic camera shots. As Armando and his pals race for home, they come across the drug lord Onza. Hiding behind obviously studio staged rocks and shrubs with a Bonanza-styled matte painting in the background, Armando, Esteban, and Manuel look down on a brutal scene filled with an execution and recent model Cadillac Escalades. Retreating back to the ranch, modern vehicles mix with dated clothing mix with traditional Mexican servant wear. All bets are off as Ferrell and director Piedmont mix and match almost every decade since the 60s. Even the 80s get a mention as DEA agent Parker (Nick Offerman, 21 Jump Street) crosses the border from Los Estados Unidos to try and pit the local policia against Onza against the Alvarez family.

Will Ferrell is his usual naive, corny self, his Armando character's eyes squinted like a younger version of his George Bush impression. Diego Luna's Raul is slick and slimy as he tries to become the new premiere drug lord of Mexico. Not to be outdone, Gael Garcia Bernal's Onza displays a knowing smugness in his position and power, so powerful, in fact, that he can smoke two cigarettes at the same time. Adding a bit of sensual and secretive curves to the screen, Genesis Rodriguez does her very best to harness the Spanish spirits of the past and present in Sonia.

Casa De Mi Casa is filled with obvious bad edits, horribly obvious scene staging, trotting fake horses that go nowhere as film crew extras slide tree branches across the set, a white puma (the true Onza) created from Jim Henson's creature shop, and more. Aside from that, Ferrell and Piedmont make every effort to bring together as much of a homage and parady to a tried and true cultural and national style of filmmaking as they possibly could. As successful as the film is on one front, it does unfortunately fail as a comedy. There are some laughs, but nowhere near what we have come to expect from Ferrell's films. The original music is pretty cool, though. Audiences will probably not 'get' it but it is certainly an interesting cinematic attempt.

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WORTH: Rental

Contraband

The Panama Job

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Rated: R  Brief drug use, violence and pervasive language.
Release Date: January 13, 2012
Runtime: 1 hr 50 min

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Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Writers: Aaron Guzikowski, Arnaldur Indriðason and Óskar Jónasson (film Reykjavik-Rotterdam)
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Giovanni Ribisi, Ben Foster, J.K. Simmons, Lukas Haas

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SYNOPSIS: Although trying desperately to leave his life of smuggling behind him Chris Farraday is forced back into the 'life' in order to protect his brother-in-law from a drug lord, traveling to Panama to score millions in counterfeit bills.

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REVIEW: One of Iceland's most popular and critically acclaimed actors, Baltasar Kormákur has made an even bigger name for himself as a director (Inhale, A Little Trip To Heaven). Newcomer screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski adapts a script to Americanize a new version of the film Reykjavik-Rotterdam by Arnaldur Indriðason and Óskar Jónasson.

Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter) enjoys life as a security specialist with his own company, loving wife Kate (Kate Beckinsale, Underworld) and two young boys. Behind him are the days of smuggling, stupidly walking in his father's footsteps (William Lucking, 'Sons of Anarchy'). With his father now in prison, Chris has straightened his life out, taking his smuggling sidekick Sebastian (Ben Foster, 3:10 to Yuma) with him. But times change when Kate's younger brother Andy (Caleb Landry Jones, X-Men: First Class) takes a run from Panama for local drug lord Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi, Gone in 60 Seconds) but has to dump the drugs overboard when customs agents come aboard for a random search. With Briggs still wanting his money, Chris is forced to make the decision to get back into the smuggling trade for one last score to 'balance the books' with Briggs. Assembling a team of smugglers for the job of 'importing' counterfeit super bills, Chris reteams with Andy, just married Danny Rayner (Lukas Haas, Inception), Tarik (Kevin Johnson,The Philly Kid) and Igor (Olafur Darri Olafsson, Children) and get papers to board a container freighter captained by an all too suspicious Captain Camp (J.K. Simmons, Juno). When everything does not go according to plan, Chris needs to make some tough decisions for the job, and for his family.

Unfamiliar with the original film, I cannot compare the two. But what I can tell you is that Contraband packs quite a suspenseful wallop. Mark Wahlberg does what he does best. He kicks ass, knows how to puts a plan together, and holds to a moral center in an immoral trade. Imagine The Italian Job without all of the slick antics. The summary storyline and the inclusion of Giovanni Ribisi may make you think of Gone in 60 Seconds, but the similarities end there. Giovanni may still be sporting the scraggly, not-all-there beard, but his character's Cajun accent and brutal methods erase any thoughts of the younger brother of a boosted car ringleader. Ben Foster, as versatile as ever as Sebastian, plays opposite ends of the spectrum with equal efficiency as Chris's former sidekick, protector of Chris's family while Chris runs the job, recovering alcoholic, and building site contractor. Kate Beckinsale is beautiful as ever as Mrs. Farraday, but only pulls out her big guns once or twice when her family is threatened. When the crew hit the open waters, J.K. Simmons Captain Camp is a wiry cat suspicious of Chris and quick to show Chris who the captain of the ship truly is. And once the crew hits the streets of Panama, Chris and crew face an assortment of crazy smugglers and drug lords that make Chris's work so much tougher. New boss Gonzalo (Diego Luna, Milk) may be the same as the old Jeffie, but loco en la cabeza.

The action is slow to start, honing in on the customs agents boarding the freighter and Andy losing the drugs he was to deliver to Briggs. Then the story tilts to Chris and Kate enjoying a wedding reception for their friend Danny, proving that his legitimate life IS all its cracked up to be. Even the time aboard the freighter only holds preparation and confrontations between Chris and the captain. But once Chris and crew step foot on the soil of Panama, the story is a non-stop roller coaster ride of gun fights, close calls, double crosses, and uncertainty. There are even some laughs thrown in for good measure. One thing that Wahlberg is good at is being the straight man with the best funny one liners. The other things he is good at is throwing a good punch and getting himself out of tight spots.

Gritty, dirty and out-of-focus at times, Baltasar Karmakur keeps all the slick sharp perfectly centered action where it belongs - not in the film. He uses New Orleans and Panama as perfect rough backdrops to match the his style of filmmaking. The fight scenes are bloody and up close, a la Ryan Gosling's Drive, and there are enough twists, turns and surprises along the way to keep everyone white-knuckled and entertained for the entire second half of the film.

Slow to start, but accelerating quickly and sustaining high speed throughout the rest of the film, Contraband may be an Americanized remake, but stays away from the traps of the glitz and glamor that Hollywood adds to most of its big budget action films. The villains are ruthless or crazy, keeping Wahlberg's Chris in uncertain peril throughout and keeping the stakes at an all-time high. Smuggling may be the wrong side of the law, but you do root for Chris for the work he has to complete to keep his family safe. The ending may not be picture perfect like in Wahlberg's The Italian Job, but definitely worth the time - for Wahlberg fans and gritty action drama cineasts.

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WORTH: Matinee or Rental