Watch The First Trailer For Neill Blomkamp's ELYSIUM

The expectations placed on Neill Blomkamp's Elysium are staggering. On the back of his debut feature, District 9, Blomkamp has been widely hailed not only as a visionary but something far more difficult: A director who can mesh mass entertainment with social conscience. A new Spielberg aiming to challenge and educate as he entertains. So, yeah, no pressure there at all. The thing is, though, he was up to it with District 9 - a film that stands up to all the praise heaped on it - and early signs are that he'll deliver again with his sophomore effort, Elysium. Cue the first trailer.

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. The people of Earth are desperate to escape the planet's crime and poverty, and they critically need the state-of-the-art medical care available on Elysium - but some in Elysium will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve their citizens' luxurious lifestyle. The only man with the chance bring equality to these worlds is Max (Matt Damon), an ordinary guy in desperate need to get to Elysium. With his life hanging in the balance, he reluctantly takes on a dangerous mission - one that pits him against Elysium's Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) and her hard-line forces - but if he succeeds, he could save not only his own life, but millions of people on Earth as well.

To put it simply, yes. I'm a fan. To me Blomkamp captures an awful lot of what is right about the studio system when its resources are properly applied - ironic given that he has yet to actually make a movie within the studio system, but you get what I mean - in that he his work has vision and scope that goes well beyond what could be accomplished on micro budget and yet his stuff is actually about something. Blomkamp is a guy who could turn out Transformers movies in his sleep - and they'd be damn good ones - but he's too socially aware for that and too insistent on producing work that might actually stand the time.

And also he likes robots and makes things blow up real good.

But enough of my rambling, the Elysium trailer is out and it's pretty damn impressive. Check it below.