'Elysium' starts off brilliantly, showcasing two opposite environments: the old Earth, which has turned into a huge ghetto where people live like cattle, and Elysium, a high-end space station where all the wealthy people from Earth have moved to establish their home. Neill Blomkamp burst out of the scene in 2009 with 'District 9', a very similar project in several regards, and blew audiences away with a clever mix of documentary-style filmmaking, explosive action, and the refreshing implement of an obvious social commentary. Films like 'Children of Men', 'Looper', and 'The Road' have greatly contributed to this sub-genre which, in reality, is not really new, but is constantly being redefined and given different treatments : 'Children of Men' was an ode to life, 'Looper' felt a lot like a modern-day western, 'The Road' was a classic tale of a father-and-son relationship, and now, 'Elysium', a thriller/action film/social commentary about disparity between the rich and the poor. In my opinion, it has to be one of science-fiction's most important sub-genres, since it leaves so much room to contemporary concerns (the environment, pollution, wars, immigration, etc.). I tend to be curious every time a talented filmmaker gets to direct a film set in a pessimistic future/post-apocalyptic era : visually, it's the perfect setting for desolated landscapes and amazing images of urban chaos story-wise, it's the perfect occasion to insert social commentary and establish more or less subtle metaphors about our current way of life, our current values, and extend in a fictitious way many assumptions that we have regarding the fate of mankind and our very own planet.

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