15 Most Disappointing Films Of The Decade (So Far)

15. Elysium

A low budget (by Hollywood standards) sci-fi with an allegorical story so in your face it makes Animal Farm just a fun creature story, District 9 defied expectation. Incredible creature design, uniquely presented, involving action, a strong story and, most surprising of all, an incredibly strong emotional resonance, it's one of the best sci-fi films since 2000.

How did Neill Blomkamp choose to follow up his film set in a gritty near future with a blatant slice of social commentary thrown in? By doing the exact same thing, only with a less well-rounded metaphor and more derivative sci-fi trappings. Elysium was a heavy handed and uninspired film that looked like it came from someone was trying imitate the South African director.

The big problem comes from a lack of development. While District 9 had years of gestation under the watchful eye of Peter Jackson, Blomkamp's later films have been rushed under a studio mandate and thus never really explored the idea fully. That's not a theory either - Blomkamp's actually come out and apologised for doing just that on Elysium, taking the basic concept of an upper class living isolated in an orbital ring and padding it with nothing.

This year's Chappie showed that Elysium was far from a one off, repeating the exact same tricks only with even less thought, although that hasn't stopped people getting inexplicably excited for his in-development Alien reboot. Now there's a film just destined to disappoint.