As anyone who has seen District 9 knows, writer/director Neill Blomkamp enjoys filling interesting sci-fi worlds with big ideas. But he also has a penchant for comedy sprinkled into the mix. The first clip from his latest, Elysium, finds Matt Damon’s Max De Costa dealing with an unsympathetic, bureaucratic robot.
Elysium takes place in a future where the ultra-rich can afford to leave the squalid, ruined Earth behind and instead enjoy the comforts, pleasures and cutting-edge technologies of the eponymous orbital space station.
A place where diseases – including cancers – can be dealt with, it’s strictly guarded and snooty overseer Secretary Rhodes (Jodie Foster) ensures that only those she deems worthy can get access.
Max, on the other hand, is a former criminal trying to live on the straight and narrow, who is blasted with radiation at work and discovers he doesn’t have long to live. Unless, that is, he can find a way to crack into the station. But he’ll need some illegal help and real cunning to pull off the trick, not to mention avoiding cruel mercenary Kruger (Blomkamp regular Sharlto Copley).
Some new images from the film, including a new one-sheet and two Mondo posters, have also come online.
With Alice Braga, William Fichtner, Talisa Soto, Diego Luna and Wagner Moura also in the cast, Elysium is out on August 21.