Elysium - Class Warfare

Bad Movies Made Less Bad Presents:
Rich people just lose touch, man.

Elysium - Class Warfare

Originally this started as just a personal version of a great "No Dialogue" edit of Elysium I had seen a couple years back, with a bit more meat. But my OCD has pushed this edit much father and now I believe its unique enough to release on its own.  I mean , its still such a damn cool looking movie a decade later. 

The basic theme of wealthy being too far disconnected from real empathy for their fellow humans arguably has more resonence post-Covid as a somewhat accurate metaphor for the divide between the so-called "Third World" and the so-called "West." And honestly, people living in jury-rigged shacks right outside the walls wealthy gated communities - that's what an economy with little to no middle-class actually looks like, a few ultra-rich and a metric shit-ton of near subsistence poor. Think feudal lords and their peasants. Something like that is basically the bulk of human economic history. That's reality in most of the world, and the exact conditions that make a luxurious life in "the West" even possible. Suddenly, Elysium seems a bit less heavy-handed about portraying a reality that already exists (worse than in the movie) in a sci-fi setting. Even complaints about the Med Pods scarcity seem less effective after Covid - we saw how the underpriviledged were treated in regards to vaccines in third-world countries. 

The main goals here are to strip out the government in-fighting subplot aspects of this future version of our world, and many of the other distracting elements mentioned in the unfavorable reviews. Hopefully this will allow a simply "corporate overlords vs the disadvanaged" overarching theme to shine through. I felt the slim and simple plot meant the story needed to be told much quicker, so we've gone from 109min down to 79min for this edit. Short little sci-fi tale.

Secretary Delacourt's role is changed to simple the lead defender of the space station for the ultra wealthy. Her tactics and use of Kruger are questioned by no one. Critisism of her portrayal highlight her accent, so her dialogue has been extremely reduced. Kruger's arc is simplified as well as he is no longer fired, he is just a violent psychopath. John Carlyle is now simple "one of the rich", seen as simple uncaring and an easy target. Frey is no longer a love interest of Max - she is simply someone from his past he sees again. But he has no promises to keep with her. 

Changes:

• The intro of Earth in decay has new text removing the overpopulation and diseased aspects of Earth, and highlight the growing divide between the rich and poor. 

• Shots of Earth moving to shots of Elysuim is trimmed before shots of Max's childhood. Instead, we cut to the Elysium dinner party with the kids getting cupcakes, and the shot of the sunbather getting into the medpod. (Shot inserted here from the trailer of the medbay detecting trace amounts of skin cancer). This transitions with the Nun and Max on the playground swings looking up at Elysium and talking about how Elyisum is not for them.

• Max's interaction with the locals and the street kids are removed. The initial scene of the bag search keeps most of his dialogue, but reorders the robot lines to be better paced and have Max's joke about the hair products feel quicker and wittier. Tightened the slowmo shot of them breaking his arm.

• At the hospital, Max no longer asks Frey out for coffee. Rather, its just two old acquaintances running into each other. We keep just enough of their interaction so there would be still a reason that Frey takes Max into her home later.

• I moved a later bus ride shot to the space in between the hospital and the parole offices to give more of the "long, slow process of simply doing what is required to not get into trouble", and trimmed down the parole officer session quite a lot, to just enough to realize Max is hopelessly trapped.

• When Max gets to work, dialogue is trimmed down to only that his boss docking him a half day of pay, and his interactions with coworkers are also removed. Carlylye's internal office dialogue with investors is removed, he is simply a boss looking down on the factory from above.

• The Elysium entry attempt by the non-citizens sequence is tightened. Most of Delacort's dialogue is removed when possible, keeping her giving only a few commands and cutting some of her weird accents that are happening. Kruger's activation is now simply a part of completely normal process. (Shots immigrant shuttle pilots and their goofy glasses were removed as well, they just seemed distracting to the rest of the intensity.)

• First scene of Julio, talking to Max when he is coming home about what a legend he was, is removed. Julio is now simply a local that knows Max, a low level criminal himself probably. 

• In the factory, Max is not threatened by his boss to be fired if he does not go into the chamber, he simply tries to fix the error himself.  Carlyle's and his boss's dialogue outside the medical room are muted from Max's POV, so Carlylye just seems insensitive. 

• Scenes of Delacort being reprimanded are removed, as is Kruger getting fired (Used later as his next activation when Carlyle is attacked). The intent is that both these two work "within the system." 

• Frey's daughter is not staying at the hospital, so those scenes are removed.

• Max and Julio do not have the scene in Max's house about Julio's reservations about Spider. Instead, they go immediately to Spider. Max does not ask for his team or that the mark be Carlyle. Max getting the surgry tightened to remove Julio being worried.

• Scene of Delacort and Carlyle planning in secret removed. 

• Carlyle's data upload tightened, rushing his approving of the "Lethal" data into his head to seem standard practice. Now without Delacourt's subplot, it just seems like he is storing the EOD personal data of a very important person.

• Max and Team setting up for the heist tightened to cut excess exposition.

• Kruger's bbq scene added here as his next activation by Elysium. Delacourt's involvement now just seems like worry for an Elysium citizen.

• During the heist, removed: the quick but terrible "Video game 3rd person camera" shot, Max's gun doesn't jam, the data is not scrambled, and Sandro doesn't freak out and bail. Kruger's team just gets there and things go to shit. 

• Frey helping injured Max scenes tightened- we lose Frey realizing Max from childhood tattoo, and we lose Frey's daughter telling Max a story.

• Max returning to and confronting Spider tightened.

• On the Raptor, we lose Kruger's discussion about a "Wifey".

• Tightened Max, Delacort and Doctors scene so the data simes minimally important but Max hears that the data removal will kill him.

• Tightened Delacort confronting Kruger. Removed Kruger wanting Elysium to be his now, he is just insanely vengeful after the facial reconstruction.

• Moved Spider landing on Elysium to AFTER the "politicians" are killed and there is no one to catch them.

• Trimmed out that one "video game camera shot" in the final Max/Kruger fight.

• Just before Max uploads, he looks at the locket and we get the later reminder from the nun to never forget where he comes from. 

• Re-edited ending so the computer program simply reboots, (removed brand name that matched Max's factory name), and the system says "New Citizens >>> All". 

• Movie ends with distant shot of crowds entering the medbay ships. (Frey with locket removed.)