In 2009, the well-known South African director Neil Blomkamp with his new feature film "District Nine" returned to theaters with his new work "Elysium", and he will surely receive expectations.
This sharp young man who is good at telling science fiction stories observes the society with a unique perspective, challenged sensitive subjects in the spirit of being born with a calf and is not afraid of tigers, and won a lot of box office and word-of-mouth results. The small world and big pattern of "District Nine" now seems to be memorable. In fact, there is no shortage of good movies in the current film market, but good movies with individuality.
For Neil Blomkamp, too much personality makes him bound to succeed. However, it will also bring him a short-lived crisis. The starting point is too high, and it becomes difficult to surpass. In particular, the thickness of the film's core is a risk that is unavoidable for differentiated themes.
When filming "Elysium", the director chose to continue his own style of themes and content, only to amplify the pattern, and then use the stars to increase the selling point of the film, looking forward to a higher level of "hardware", so that the quality of the film will not be lower than that of his own. Set steps. This is considered a conservative approach and will not cause unreliable confusion in the film. The only place where there is a crisis is whether the story point can hold the set pattern, and whether the familiar scenes are not fresh.
It must be admitted that the director's four years of silence have not been completely white. The plot of the first hour of the work has been tempered to be quite proficient, without obvious flaws, and the details have been polished to look good. If you want to talk about shortcomings, the story is still clichéd. Although the styles are different, there are always some shadows like movies, and no new ideas are given. This kind of design will have problems in the past. If other aspects cannot be supplemented, the work can only be ordinary.
Fortunately, in terms of technology, the director has done a great job. Although it is a virtual confrontation, the realism of the picture is no less than that of realist themes. In "District Nine", Neil Blomkamp had already demonstrated his talent in special effects, making science fiction films extremely convincing.
But the biggest problem comes from the following 50 minutes, the part of the rhythm where the protagonist finally starts to resist becomes chaotic, and the plot tends to get out of control. The lonely hero I thought was still a fear of death, selfishness, and lack of rules and wisdom; I thought it was a revolution in class struggle, but it was actually a struggle for fame and fortune between a few black-hearted boys. Even the final sacrifice of the male number one is strongly self-seeking.
At the beginning of the film, the director clearly hinted that there is no pure justice hero in the role, and the male character does not have the consciousness of being a savior from the beginning. His role as the leader of the revolution in the end was nothing but the result of a collision of skillful coincidence and helplessness.
If you follow the routine of "Black Mirror", such a conception will be more speculative. The protagonist's appearance is a enslaved and once disturbing legend. The latter part of becoming a complete slave or turning into a pure hero will make the delinquent who has been in prison for four years become more vivid and more attractive. Regrettably, this character is not strong, always hesitating between black and white, just like a "girl" who has never seen the market, and his partner is more dazzling with positive energy.
It is hard to say that the failure of the actors in this work is the director, screenwriter, or their own responsibility. However, the performance of the male number one in the film should really embarrass the people who love him. Matt Damon’s sluggish eyes, seemingly sturdy but somewhat soft figure will not make the audience question how this severely exposed worker survived to the end, and was there no radiation side effects at the moment of his last sacrifice Impact?
The other protagonist of the film, the senior black careerist and politician played by Judy Foster, is too flat in character design, which is a waste of Aunt Judy's talent for interpretation. As for the character's IQ, there will be no big mistakes, but it is indeed too low compared to the qualities that the character should have.
Neil Blomkamp is ambitious about this work, otherwise he would not choose to follow the American preferences from the storyline to the movie. However, when utilitarianism is mixed with enthusiasm, it often makes the texture of the work no longer pure. Various problems have also arisen one after another, becoming the shackles of creators. Not only does this problem exist in "Elysium", it is also the same in other movies.
In these repeated successes and failures, we can see the immutability of laws and principles. For high-level newcomers to enter the circle, if they want to continue successfully, not to let their debut works, they can only continue to precipitate themselves and make their works more pure. Relying on commercialization is difficult to create good works with unique personalities.
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