Elysium

     It's very rare that a movie comes out that's not only visually entertaining and stunning, as well as thought provoking.  Neil Blomkamp's Elysium is definitely one of those greats.  I recently watched the scifi action thriller about a damned man, set in the future, and was absolutely blown away by the film.  Matt Damon's character, Max, accidentally gets irradiated at his job and must get to Elysium, the space habitat orbiting earth where the privileged live.  On Elysium, his radiation poisoning and all injuries can be cured, however, getting to Elysium is not so simple.
     As mentioned before, I loved the film.  It had great action, an intense storyline, and social commentary to make your brain think for days.  Blomkamp's film is a commentary on the socio-economic inequality the world (especially America) is suffering from.  In an interview, Blomkamp describes an incident he had in Mexico, where he spent the night in a jail.  He stated how odd it was that he could literally see America, but could not touch it.  He was in an essentially third world country, and just over the fence was his "Elysium."  I loved the social commentary in the film, as I love to be mentally intrigued and challenged.  The last film to really do this was District 9, again directed by Blomkamp.
     The main thing that I really admired about the film was it's budget.  It's no secret that movies these days have outlandishly bloated budgets.  Disney spent upwards of 400 million dollars on The Lone Ranger, alone this year.  Elysium has the blockbuster look and feel, with great actors and great special effete...and the budget was only 90 million dollars.  Now, yes, that's a lot of money, but for a hollywood studio movie, that's quite humble of a budget.  Blomkamp's last film, District 9, only cost 30 million dollars, and made upwards of 210 million in the box office.  I quite admire this, as I don't believe a movie should cost an outrageous amount.  Studios these days are burning through cash with these giant budgeted movies that don't make back what they cost.