There are bad movies and then there is Elysium.  

You know how 90% of Netflix streaming is crappy movies? Elysium is a high budget version of one of those crappy Netflix streaming movies. 

It's dreadful. 

The story centers around a felon, Max (Matt Damon) who is trying to stick to his parole obligations, yet finds himself in a desperate situation when he has an accident at work. Max lives on earth, which in the year 2154 is a horrible place, riddled with disease, poverty and crime. Above Earth is the colony of Elysium, a perfect place and where all of the wealthy citizens have moved. Elysium has technology capable of healing any disease and Max makes it his mission to find a way to get to Elysium to be healed. 

Naturally, his road to Elysium is a bumpy one. In exchange for illegal passage to the colony, Max makes a deal to go on a dangerous mission to recover information that can destroy Elysium's elitist society. In his attempt to complete his mission, he finds himself in the path of multiple villains and he is reunited with a childhood friend.

I don't know which element of this movie is the worst. 

Clunky and implausible story? 

Sluggish pacing? 

Never-ending dull action sequences? 

Jodie Fosters bizarre accent and over-pronunciation of every word? 

Bad dialogue filled with cheesy one-liners? 

Overly dramatic and intense film score? 

Sharlto Copley as the most unconvincing movie villain ever? We spent the entire car ride home throwing out movie lines in his South African accent. The movie was bad enough, but casting him in the role of Kruger, an insane agent for Elysium, was just terrible. He was impossible to take seriously.  

Matt Damon in a role that was clearly intended for "The Rock"? 

It's abundantly clear that writer/director Niell Blomkamp intended Elysium to be a serious film and a social commentary on the haves and have-nots in the world. Somewhere in the film making process, this movie just fell apart and I would guess that the end result was nothing like the story that Blomkamp originally conceived or what was probably pitched to the stars involved. I very much enjoyed Blomkamp's movie District 9 and unfortunately, Elysium is a pitiful follow-up. 

There is no reason that anyone should waste time or money watching this film. The only measurable entertainment value was ripping it to shreds on the ride home.