Official Synopsis For Elysium

Based on his short films Yellow and Alive In Joburg and on 2009s sci-fi, apartheid-mirroring, alien-transforming genius film District 9, I am very looking forward to Neill Blomkamp’s next film Elysium.

Since day one the film has been draped in mystery and secrecy and all that has been seen of it is a viral video promoting a company called Armadyne that tells you nothing about the plot and some set pictures of the star, Matt Damon, with a shaven head. All that we do know really is that it will another merger of sci-fi and political ideas, I am hereby coining the phrase sci-litical.

But we now have an official synopsis and here it is:

In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes (Jodie Foster), a hard the government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky Max (Matt Damon) is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that if successful will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.

Sounds very interesting indeed. A classic sci-fi story with more themes of segregation and class war. Matt Damon is an excellent leading actor and I cannot wait to see him and his bald head take on the elite class orbiting the Earth.

The idea of an ‘overpopulated, ruined Earth’ also sounds incredibly visually exciting and I’m sure will be great to see on the screen, especially with the much bigger budget that Blomkamp has been given. If he has proven anything it’s that he really knows how to create believable and creative sci-fi worlds.

The film is due for release March 2013 and I am excited.