Elysium - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Elysium



Movie:
4K Video: :
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


​

Movie
Well, with Elysium we finally get Neil Blomkamp’s sci-fi trilogy complete on 4K UHD with what is known as the weakest of the trilogy. Chappie was quirky and odd, but still a lot of fun, while District 9 being considered his masterpiece. Elysium was the one film that just dipped heavily in quality as Blomkamp dove deep into preachy discussions about the evils of greed and the “wokeness” of immigration and the people who want to keep others at bay. It was a solid concept, and one that was well suited to Blomkamp’s experiences in the world of South Africa and their corrupt government, but he came across as just a bit TOO preachy here. Combine that with a little too much Matt Damon and slick polished CGI and it feels out of place with the rest of his South African sci-fi trilogy.

In the future the world is fractured beyond repair. The Earth has been relegated to a veritable slum, with the masses living in abject poverty as they work for giant corporations helmed by rich suits who don’t live in the same ghettos as the rest of humanity. Police duties have been pushed off to artificial intelligence robots who enforce zero tolerance policies without understand or emotion. However, there are the wealthy elite who live up in Elysium, a satellite space station orbiting Earth where technology exists that eliminates disease, there are no poor, and said wealthy people liver in veritable paradise.

The people down below desperately want out of their hellish existence and dream of reaching to the stars and joining the ranks of the elite, only to be shot down (sometimes quite literally) time and time again. However, with Max (Matt Damon) gets dosed with an accidental dose of radiation his dreams of getting to Elysium seem over. The only thing that could save his him a dip in the miracle machines up on Elysium, which forces the ex con’s hand to go on a mission in order to gain a forged Elysium ID card, allowing him access to a cure up in paradise. But as these things do, things go sideways really quickly, and the information that is found during the raid begins to unravel the mystery and real TRUTH about what happens up there in paradise.

The reason that Elysium was such a controversial film in Blomkamp’s library was because it was SOOOOO politically charged. In fact, Blomkamp made a statement 8 years ago that it was probably the most politically motivated film of 2013. It deals with immigration, healthcare, a police state that can’t seem to understand human emotions and rules without regard for it, elites trying to use people as expendable workers, and general class warfare. In that I have no problem with it, and on the surface it makes for an interesting watch. The problem is that Blomkamp lost any attempt at subtlety or nuance in Elysium and lays on the political commentary as thick as chocolate frosting. Every immigrant is a pitiable being who is being stopped by mustache twirling elite villains who have no soul, just Armani suits and billions of dollars. They even have a scene where immigrants break into Elysium to get access to medical equipment and all of the “I come from the Hamptons” bystanders are running in terror from the mongrel crowd of starving immigrants. It comes across as kind of cringey and overly stereotypical. Something Blomkamp got criticized quite heavily over back in 2013

That aside, Elysium is a solid sci-fi thriller. Damon does a good job at portraying Max, and and Jodie Foster plays an absolutely devilish villain. I have to admit that I really was stuck on Sharlto Copley (who’s pretty much in ever Blomkamp film) and William Fichtner, both of which are great character actors (Fichtner especially) and ham it up every chance they get. The action is fun, the visuals are absolutely stunning, but I do think that the over preachiness of the film and the lack of subtlety make it off putting for a vast majority of people. It’s good, but definitely not one of the South African director’s best films.




Rating:

Rated R for strong bloody violence and language throughout




4K Video: Video:

Elysium came with a stunning 5 star transfer 8 years ago on Blu-ray and it is a hard disc to beat. However, the new 2160p 4K UHD disc certainly does that in spades in both HDR color handling and the upgraded resolution. The resolution uptick is nice, but it’s not massively different from the stunning Blu-ray in terms of actual lines of resolution. The up close facial details are definitely better, as is the slums of Los Angeles as well. You can pick up actual score marks and dings in the metal armor of the robot police force that I can’t on the Blu-ray. HOWEVER, it’s the use of HDR that really pushes this disc way above the Blu-ray. The colors are just so rich and vibrant that my jaw was hanging down to my knees the whole time. The reds of the guard bots, the whites of the Elysium structures, or the blistering blue of the Earth when looking down from the space station. It’s all just so rich and shockingly well saturated. The black levels also gain a hefty boost from the HDR, allowing for better shadow detail and more clarity even in the darkest of shots. I couldn’t detect a hint of banding or crush, and even though the film is digital, I didn’t notice much digital noise in the dark scenes.






Audio:

The Dolby Atmos track is a nice track, even though it’s not really that much different than the 7.1 DTS-HD MA track that the Blu-ray had (and the 4K UHD retains that DTS-HD MA track as a complimentary track alongside the Atmos mix on the 4K UHD disc). The track is sonically powerful, filled with shockwaves, gunshots, and a really harsh sounding score. The overheads are really the only meaningful addition to the already great 7.1 mix, with helicopter blades thudding overhead and the rumble of a shuttle during liftoff coming out of the top end. Bass is still crushingly powerful, and surrounds are never at a loss activity. An all around great mix.





Extras:

4K Features
• Exoskeletons, Explosions and the Action Choreography of Elysium
• The Hero, The Psychopath and the Characters of Elysium
• The Art of the Elysium Miniatures
• Bugatti 2154
• Theatrical Trailers

Blu-ray Features
• Collaboration: Crafting the Performances in Elysium
• Engineering Utopia: Creating a Society in the Sky
• Extended Scene
• Visions of 2154 – An Interactive Exploration of the Art and Design of Elysium
• In Support of the Story: The Visual Effects of Elysium
• The Technology of 2154
• The Journey to Elysium
-- Envisioning Elysium
-- Capturing Elysium
-- Enhancing Elysium

Final Score: ​

Elysium isn’t the best of the Blomkamp trio, but it’s a solid contender nonetheless. The new 4K UHD is gorgeous to look at and the Atmos track is a nice (if not slight) upgrade over the Blu-ray. What’s also nice is that the legacy special features from the Best Buy disc are included, as well as all of the , making for one nice package. Fans of the movie will definitely be pleased.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna
Directed by: Neil Blomkamp
Written by: Neil Blomkamp
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), English, German, Italian DTS-HD MA 7.1, Catalan, Czech, French, Hindi, Hungarian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish (Latin), Spanish (Castilian), Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian DD 5.1, Korean DD 2.0
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Arabic, Cantonese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish
Studio: Sony
Rated: R
Runtime: 100 minutes
Blu-Ray Release February 9th, 2021

Recommendation: Solid Watch

 

[Sonnie Parker]

It was just okay, but District 9 was the worst for me... extremely boring.

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I will see it once it is on amazon prime/netflix.