ELYSIUM with Matt Damon I like science fiction. I write science fiction, so there you have it. This is my disclaimer, so the gentle reader knows going in that I am wildly biased in favor of good sci fi. ELYSIUM is good sci fi. In fact, it's quite good. B+ good. Matt Damon is an inherently likable, imperfect hero who harbors shadows in his past. He's on probation. Right away we see him as a child, being tender with a lovely girl his own age. And then we see him as a tattooed man, getting creamed by a grotesquely unfair system. Did I mention how hot Damon is? I'm biased that way, too, because he reminds me of a hot guy I dated in college. There weren't a lot of those, so I tend to prize them. The movie was fast-paced and visually interesting. It didn't break new ground but it did tightly hold my attention. The characters were well drawn--Jodie Foster was an excellent evil rich protector--and the movie was well structured. I have three rules for writing novels which I discuss openly: 1, story is how your protagonist does NOT get what he or she wants; 2, every story is an argument for a specific value; and 3, what are the stakes? This movie sinuously answers all three of my rules. Matt Damon never gets all of what he wants. I don't want to include a spoiler here, so I won't say what that means. I will simply say that I admire the movie creators for not letting go of the story for a Hollywood ending. The value that is being argued for is an excellent one: the value of all human beings regardless of their net worth. And the stakes in the plot were always well defined. I enjoyed this movie. I recommend it. It was a fun flick to see in the theater, and it would be an awesome rent at home.