Is 'Elysium' a look into our very future?

Posted Friday, April 12, 2013 at 4:37 PM Central
Last updated Friday, April 12, 2013 at 4:37 PM Central

by John Couture

This week marked the debut of Elysium's first trailer and aside from scary pics of Matt Damon with a shaved head, this was our first true look at the upcoming film from Neill Blomkamp. The followup to his amazing SciFi thriller debut District 9, I think you will easily recognize Blomkamp's depressed view of our future planet.

I'm pretty sure that both films take place in separate timelines, but visually, they could be interchangeable for one another. It also doesn't help that Sharlto Copley plays a lead role in both films.

If you haven't seen the trailer yet, I've included it below and I highly recommend that you give it a watch. The general plot takes place in the year 2154 and Earth's population is separated into two classes, the very wealthy who live in a utopian space station called Elysium that orbits the Earth and everyone else who are basically forced to fend for themselves on the smoldering remains of once was the world's most opulent cities.

Yeah, it's one of those uplifting, feel-good stories.

Beyond the visually stunning views of Elysium which are only heightened when compared to what remains on Earth, there's a real undercurrent of politics that strangely (or not) mirrors many issues that we face today. In fact, you could say that Elysium is one of those rare films that preaches on the very real possibility that this is where we could actually be headed.

It doesn't take too much of a leap to label those who live on Elysium as the 1% in today's political climate and the rest who are trying to get to Elysium through any means necessary. There's even an interesting subplot featuring illegal immigration which also feels like it could have been ripped from today's headlines.

All in all, the trailer serves its purpose well. After watching it, my curiosity is piqued and despite it already being one of the films on my short list to see this year, I want to see it even more now. Elysium hits theaters on August 9.