Well, that wouldn't really be so surprising. After all, I heard quite a lot of people accusing Cameron of ripping off "Pocahontas" with "Avatar" (haven't seen the movie to form my own opinion, yet).

It's more of a rip-off of "Ferngully", but I digress. ^_^

Aside from there being an elite caste high above the earth and a garbage pile beneath, there are few parallels between Elysium and Gunnm.

But isn't the point of the story that a person is given a super-powered body which they use to try to go to the sky city and bring equality to the people below? Sure, they're not playing roller ball in "Elysium" but the over-arching plot seems to be the same as "Gunnm". I'm willing to admit I'm wrong, but the trailer sure seems to imply that this is the case.

Well, he got the same people for cinematography and editing, so the film has the same "feeling" which counts to its pluses, imho.


Not sure I follow - is the problem that he used that manga series, or that he used it before Cameron did? I'm not particularly familiar with manga, so that was a no-issue for me, and I don't see why Cameron can't realise his vision anyway; whether people think it's a rip-off or not will depend on that. JMO.

Yeah, pretty much - but thats also the plot of much of the folklore surrounding Laputa - which Gunnm was partially inspired by.

Edit: so you could say Gunnm stole the plot of an age old bit of folklore - or any number of preceeding anime / manga

The problem is that Neill Blomkamp just silently used the idea whereas James Cameron wants to make an official adaptation. If Neill Blomkamp credited "Gunnm" and/or Yukito Kishiro, then I wouldn't be so..."salty" as the kids say. :P

True. However, as I've seen both Laputa and seen/read Gunnm, I've never once thought one was ripping off the other. From the moment I saw the trailer for "Elysium", all I could think of was "Gunnm". So, I guess what bothers me is when a story borrows from another too much or too blatantly. As Neill Blomkamp said, in interviews, that the antennae on Chappie's head were inspired by the antennae on the head of Briareos from "Appleseed", we can assume that Blomkamp might also have seen or read "Gunnm" and used that as his inspiration for "Elysium". However, unlike with Chappie's antennae, he has not made this inspiration known to anyone. As a creative person myself, I think it is very important to give credit where it is due. "Elysium" doesn't do that, thus it receives my ire.

Haha....thats very true, I remembered watching FernGully when I was a kid and then viewing Avatar was like deja vu. :)

I said the folklore - not the Miyazaki movie.

Edit: "classic" example is its use in Gullivers Travels : https://hollowtreetales.wordpress.com/2010/06/24/thursday-myths-legends-101-laputa/ - though it predates even that.

Bingo. I hate that little fucker.

Personally i think UEFI was created exactly for this (someome in Fort Meade have given Intel and some other Companys a litttle kick in this direction) - there is even a networkstack implemented in this "Basic Input Output System"...
Also this one is proof of such nice things which are already hidden deep in the firmware itself

Agreed, and Chappie is a step back up again :)

I am glad to know so, thanks for sharing that as I was hesitant to watch it in the theater based on critics reviews but since a couple of people here have vouched for its quality I am going to check it out tomorrow. :)

One of the main criticisms appears to have been about Die Antwoord's (Ninja & Yolandi Vi$$er) performance. Most of those criticisms appear to have come from people who wanted to see a Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver mindless action flick. What many fail to realise is that the movie was written for them! Their music and art are displayed throughout the movie, and Die Antwoord are a dichotomous rap rave group in terms of their recepetions. i.e. loved or hated. Thea and I thoroughly enjoy their music, so are probably a little biased in our viewing of their performances.

The movie is far from mindless, and being the sap I am, I found myself tearing up when Chappie asks "Why do you humans do this? Why do you lie?" It is a mostly action movie, that reminded me of Robocop (especially the Ed-209 look-alike robot) with a dash of intelligence and philosophical investigation into the nature of "humanity" and consciousness. Dev Patel's performance was brilliant and Hugh Jackman's haircut was worth the price of admission :P