Matt Damon is hunted to the edge of the Earth in this amazing first trailer for Neil Blomkamp's ELYSIUM

The trailer for Elysium – ex-local boytjie writer-director Neil Blomkamp’s second film after the amazing District 9 – is finally here. Some lucky folks saw snippets of this at Comic-Con 2012 and promptly lost their minds. The rest of us have had to wait for that  honour as despite the fact that the film has been done, sitting on a shelf, for a while now, and should have been out last month already, the Powers That Be over at Sony, apparently decided that torturing us would be a better option and pushed the release date back to August (something about a “better release window”).

But the wait (for the trailer) is finally over, and all I can say is hold on to your fooking prawns!

In the year 2159 two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes (Jodie Foster), a hard line government official will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky Max (Matt Damon) is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that if successful will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.

And just like that, aided by an exoskeleton, Elyisum leapfrogs all the way to very top of my list of most anticipated movies for 2013. I mean, bloody hell, that looks good. Blomkamp has an amazing ability to make these futuristic, sometime alien worlds look completely and utterly real and lived in. I know he achieved that look on Earth by shooting in Mexico City and then just augmenting it with CGI, but I didn’t expect Elysium itself to look that good.

Also, I like that we only get a snippet of Sharlto Copley’s cyborg ninja. Based on reactions from last year’s footage, his reveal is going to be rather spectacular, so it’s good to hold that back for now.

And finally, am I the only one who now immediately wants to see Blomkamp do a Mass Effect movie?

Elysium breaks into cinemas on August 9, 2013.

Last Updated: April 10, 2013