Synopsis:

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. Criticism 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.

Intentions:

Originally just another "Evil guys in the sky" movie that won’t win many points for originality or logic. But, 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 resonance 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 underprivileged were treated in regards to vaccines in third-world countries.

Change List:

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. Criticism 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.

Special Thanks:

INightmares, Bored@3:00am and JasonFlippy for early previewing and giving great feedback!