It says a lot about how incredible District 9 was that we're as excited as we are for writer/director Neill Blomkamp's Elysium. The young filmmaker's debut feature was an absolutely stunning mix of blockbuster action, brilliant visual effects, and impressive political parable that launched him on to just about everybody's "must watch filmmakers" lists. And judging from his sophomore effort's first theatrical trailer, which has debuted over at Yahoo!, he aims to live up to his promise in spectacular fashion.
Based on an original screenplay by Blomkamp, Elysium stars Matt Damon as Max DeCosta, a former felon living in a world heavily divided by class. While he lives on the Earth's surface with all of the other poor of the world, the richest and most powerful people of the world have shipped off to a space station known as Elysium, a perfect paradise completely devoid of all disease, pain, struggle and suffering. When Max suffers an accident, however, he learns that he has only five days left to live - and the only way that he can cure himself is to reach the space station. In a race against time, he is equipped with an exoskeleton that will allow him to maintain his strength while fighting against the forces that try to stop him from reaching the stars. The film co-stars Jodie Foster (as the head of the space station), Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, Wagner Moura, and William Fichtner, and will be in theaters on August 9th.
Want to find out more about the movie? Head over here to read our description of 10 minutes of footage revealed yesterday during a special presentation, and stay tuned for our conversation with Blomkamp, Copley and producer Simon Kinberg. And ead to the comments below and tell us what you think of the new trailer!
