[John Schmidt]

Elysium…so breathtakingly…awful…that I am embarrassed for the director and sadly writer Neill Blomkamp, who’s District 9 was such a thought provoking masterpiece.

What went wrong?

Cinematography, the hero of the movie is shot handheld while the villains are treated to smooth sweeping camera movements. This left me wanting to see more of the villains than the tortuous shots of our reluctant hero. At one point Trent Opaloch (the offending Cinematographer) actually thought it would be a good idea to combine handheld shots with strobe lights. By the end of the movie I had a headache as a result of this poor treatment, my wife was actually suffering from motion sickness. To say that I am disheartened to learn that Trent Opaloch is shooting Captain America: The Winter Soldier…would be something of an understatement.

SPOILER ALERTS
A story, so weak that it reportedly died of a coronary whilst trying to fight its way free of a soggy paper bag. The big take away in terms of our villains motivation well it is a theme and variation of, “Republicans want you to die quickly” (Rep Alan Grayson). The villains have these medical shuttles with medical beds that cure all your ills that they simply refuse to send down to earth. Does operating these medical beds consume vast quantities of resources? Not that we are led to believe or even implied. What is implied that these mega rich don’t want to share because they are evil.

Dialog, the best and most memorable line of the movie is the one in the trailer about what is in the bag “mostly hair care products” from our bald but reluctant hero.

Character development, sadly that was lacking as well, even more tragic given the acting talent that was present in this movie. I can only assume that Jodie Foster’s character refused medical assistance as she wanted off screen as quickly as possible from this unmitigated turd of a movie. Max, our reluctant hero, wisely chose to die at the end rather than suffer through a sequel.

As I walked out of the theater, I had this unshakable sense that I had just been mugged by the Neill Blomkamp for $8 and a 109 minutes that I will not be getting back anytime soon.

[Dragonslayer]

Saw the trailer and it looked like a political 'the rich are evil' movie.  Glad I guessed correctly and decided not to see, and I thank you for suffering on my behalf.

[John Schmidt]

I called up a friend that had mentioned he wanted to see it and warned him off. He asked me if it was as bad as Highlander 2, the measure of all bad movies for me. I told him it wasn't but it tried really hard to be nearly as wretched.

Fortunately, I have The Avengers, Blade Runner, and The Usual Suspects to cleanse the pallet. 

[Dragonslayer]

I called up a friend that had mentioned he wanted to see it and warned him off. He asked me if it was as bad as Highlander 2, the measure of all bad movies for me. I told him it wasn't but it tried really hard to be nearly as wretched.

Fortunately, I have The Avengers, Blade Runner, and The Usual Suspects to cleanse the pallet. 

All good choices.

[AJCarrington]

Wow, disappointing to hear. Out of curiosity, what did you think of Oblivion?

[John Schmidt]

Oblivion has a lot going for it, a solid script with a couple of interesting twists, good acting, character development, and cinematography that is a pleasure to watch. Out of five stars I would give it 4 stars.

The two things that worked against Oblivion was a lack of effective pre-release promotion and the off screen opinion of Tom Cruise. 

[Lysanderz]

Oh god, I hated Oblivion. But I figured Elysium would kind of be a turd....... Sad to hear my estimation was true.

[AJCarrington]

Thanks John - I have pretty similar opinions re Oblivion...seems like our "tastes" are similar. Unfortunately, that does not bode well for Elysium...

[Digital_Viking]

At least I can look forward to Thor 2.

It, Iron Man 3 and Pacific Rim are the only movies I wanted to see this year.  More that I would see, but those 3 were on my "Will Not Miss" list. Sad to hear about Elysium - I'm a big fan of Blomkamp and Copley.

[John Schmidt]

Oh god, I hated Oblivion. But I figured Elysium would kind of be a turd....... Sad to hear my estimation was true.

What didn't work for you with Oblivion?

[Lysanderz]

When I was watching the first half hour of the film and it felt like the first four hours of the film.

[John Schmidt]

When I was watching the first half hour of the film and it felt like the first four hours of the film.

That was a temporal anomaly, as Oblivion was not 4 hours long. Unless...you were watching the movie next to a black hole which is hazardous in and of itself. 

Seriously though, fair enough. 

[Lysanderz]

Yeah, it was just a timing and pacing thing for me. I was watching it, and suddenly oddly like I had been there for a long long long time. And of course with it being only 30 minutes in, the intrigue had barely just started. So it was probably just me.

[Parker]

Eh, Oblivion was okay.  Wasn't best of the cinema crop, but wasn't the worst.  Walked in with low expectations, (after all it was starring Tom Cruise ), and was mildly surprised in being entertained.  Heck, ya gotta admit.  Name a crappy film Morgan Freeman been in.  It was a remake of a '70s dystopian with the main protagonist dying.  Cloning and philosophical issues aside, not sorry I plunked down the money to see it.

[Crunch]

I couldn't disagree more.

Oblivion captured the heretofore impossible distinction of being a movie that featured Morgan Freeman in a cape shooting alien robots with his machine gun turret and still being as much fun as being hit with a bag hammers.