A science-fiction movie without a real science-fictions story. No wonder most people don't like this movie.
This actually is the first Neill Blomkamp movie that I have ever seen but I of course already was well aware of his reputation. Besides being a visual director, he also seems to be one that loves to say something with his movies. He puts messages in them, to make social statements, as he also clearly does with this latest film. Now, this of course is nothing new and something that movies set in a dystopian future always feature in them but in most other genre movies it works out far better and more effectively than ever is the case in this movie!
There are really several problems with the way how this movie is trying to set up its world and get its points across. First of all, it isn't providing us with enough back story, explaining why the world ended up the way as it did, as shown in this movie and why there is such a big segregation between those who are poor and have absolutely nothing and those who are rich and have everything. That brings me to another problem; the contrasts in this movie are just far too big. It's far from subtle all really and definitely goes at the expense of the movie its credibility and of the messages that it's trying to get across and the points it is trying to make.
And speaking of not being very subtle; this goes for all of its characters as well, especially its villains. Basically all of the characters in this movie are big stereotypes and more cartoon like than anything else really, which is an odd thing for a movie that's trying to tell a serious story, with lots of heavy handed messages in it. It all would have been fine, as long as the movie was going for a totally entertaining, blockbuster approach but this movie obviously is trying to be way more than just that!The problem with its main-story further more is that it really doesn't seem to fit a big science-fiction movie, such as this one is. Perhaps the problem with it is, is that director and writer of this movie Neill Blomkamp is only used to doing much smaller scaled movies. And really, this movie its story would have been perfectly fine for a smaller, more subtle, type of science-fiction movie, made with a much smaller budget, less star power involved and a significantly less amount of special effects.
Sure, the movie is great to look at but none of that really matters when a movie fails to grab you with either its story or characters. It makes the movie eye candy and nothing more but just eye candy. Even entertainment-wise the movie feels lacking, mostly because it's featuring such a serious main story. Some more fun and lightheartedness wouldn't have harmed this movie but unfortunately this wasn't the approach this movie was ever going for.
It ultimately is a very forgettable movie, which probably is the best way to sum this movie up.
6/10
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