( EW ) -- In `` Elysium , '' Neill Blomkamp 's shrewdly revved-up and exciting dystopian thriller , Matt Damon 's character , Max , spends most of the movie with a spidery black-metal exoskeleton implanted in his skull and spine . The surgically attached machinery serves several functions at once . It 's there to make Max strong — a boost he critically needs , since he 's been exposed to a dose of radiation that will leave him dead in just five days . It also allows him to download the contents of someone else 's brain . But the most important purpose served by that added hardware may be visual and symbolic : It transforms Max into a hulkingly damaged yet superheroic man-machine — a variation on the title character of `` RoboCop . '' And it has the unmistakable look of a cross that he 's been nailed to . Box office preview : 'Elysium ' may lift off faster than 'Planes ' Max is n't just fighting to save himself or his fellow earthlings . He 's a guy who 's been souped up into a post-apocalyptic , action-movie Christ . `` Elysium '' confirms the talent — for razory mayhem and shocking satire , for the crazed spectacle of future decay — that Blomkamp showcased in his amazing first feature , `` District 9 '' ( 2009 ) . I 've never forgotten that film 's images of gargantuan alien spaceships hovering in the air , or of droid wars as bloody and frenzied as a heavy-metal version of the Crusades . In `` Elysium , '' Blomkamp comes up with sci-fi conceits that sear themselves into your imagination . The film is set in 2154 , and much of it takes place in a crumbling shantytown Los Angeles . Earth has become a great big slovenly police state , with citizens kept in check by clanging robot officers programmed to presume that you 're guilty . Max , a former car thief who now works on an assembly line ( that 's where he gets zapped with radiation ) , is hauled before his parole officer , who turns out to be an old carnival mannequin that speaks like a voicemail menu and says things like `` Stop talking ! '' 'Elysium ' : EW Exclusive Action Shots . Suspended above this hellhole society is a twirling , man-made satellite called Elysium , where the elite live . From a distance ( it can be glimpsed in the noon sky ) , Elysium looks like the steering wheel of a '60s Chrysler . Up close , we can see that the vast metal rim contains a sprawling prefab suburban paradise — acres and acres of pristine lawns and McMansions . The people who live there have all they want , yet Blomkamp 's sly joke is that even the world that everyone on Earth covets is a paper-thin and almost virtual place . The key advantage of living on Elysium is that each home is equipped with a healing chamber that will cure everything from flesh wounds to cancer in five seconds . That 's why Max , joining forces with his old underworld cronies , will do anything to get there : It 's the only way his irradiated body can survive . `` Elysium '' takes off from a pure existential thriller situation ( which it borrows from the great 1950 film noir `` D.O.A . `` ) , and it 's been shot in an incredibly effective mode of raggedy , quick-cut anxiety . Yet apart from that health care allegory ( and the 1 percent -- versus -- 99 percent theme it emerges from ) , the plot is fairly basic . I wish that the film had more of the tasty futuristic detail promised by that dummy parole officer . I also wish that Blomkamp took us deeper into the world of Elysium . Max has to outwit the fascist politician who 's plotting to take over ( she 's played by Jodie Foster with angry clipped diction and not a lot more ) . But once he 's up there , Elysium turns into a virtuoso gun battle that might be taking place almost anywhere . What makes it matter is Damon , who has kicked butt before but never with this kind of underlying brotherhood-of-man melancholy . Grade : B+ . See the original story at EW.com . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved .
`` District 9 '' filmmaker Neill Blomkamp returns with `` Elysium '' The revved-up dystopian thriller stars Matt Damon . In the film, a group of people are sent to live on an orbiting space station called Elysium, where they have all been genetically engineered and trained for their roles in society.