Release date: 4/19/13
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Andrea Riseborough, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Melissa Leo, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
The Plot: Earth’s moon was destroyed in a preemptive attack by aliens, creating devastating earthquakes and tidal waves that do a fantastic job of destroying the infrastructure of the planet. In a last ditch move, humanity sacrifices the planet by nuking it to rid itself of the the alien “scavengers.”
Some 60 years in the future, only a few humans remain to oversee the mostly automated harvesting of the Earth’s water supply. Its a tough and lonely job for the human team of “Jack” (Tom Cruise) and “Victoria” (Andrea Riseborough), who work together as an “effective team” to maintain attack drones that protect the huge harvester machines from the last vestiges of the aliens who survived the nuclear attack.
The Earth’s landscape is barren, with striking visuals of a world torn by massive shifts in gravity and war. The humans might have won the war, but the planet was trashed and the devastation is pretty much total. Humanity has been shipped off to one of Saturn’s moons to survive. Even though the “effective team” of Jack and Victoria have had the past five years of their memories wiped as a security precaution, their time on the planet is coming to an end. They’ll soon get to join the off world humans. Even though Jack is looking forward to leaving, there are still parts of him that wish to stay, and nagging dreams of a woman that plague him of a life filled with love. He can’t help but feel like Earth is his home, and who is this woman “Julia” from his dreams (Olga Kurylenko – Hitman and Quantum of Solace)?
The Film:
Based on a unpublished graphic novel passed around Comic Con Intl several years ago, Joseph Kosinski steps outside of the Tron Legacy world that he directed to create his own with Oblivion.
Kosinski overwhelmingly redeems himself with a strong combination of visually spectacular images and a traditional science fiction story that doesn’t have to rely on big explosions, fancy guns, or heavily designed aliens to enthrall audiences. Of course, it does have those elements, along with the post apocalyptic theme that is prevalent today, but it’s the story here that really drives the film. It’s not a Bladerunner, but it does evoke some of the same thoughts of “what if,” and what every good science fiction story should do, creates a sense of wonder and thought.
Moreover, the story does throw in a surprising bit of romance between Jack, Victoria, and Julia, which adds a nice element to this already strong plot. There are a few other human characters that we only get to see briefly, and you can’t help but wonder what their stories are, but to expand on them in the film (as many critics have complained of) would take us off track. Yes, I would have liked to see more of Morgan Freeman as “Beech”, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) as “Sykes,” but in all honestly, there just isn’t time if you want to keep the story moving. What the story does do well in relation to them is showing enough information that you can get a sense of their desperation and that there’s a whole other world existing out there, beyond just what Jack sees.
There’s a spectacular shot of “Victoria,” (Andrea Riseborough) entering a pool, naked with the sun shinning behind her. Was it CGI? Was it just her with well engineered lighting, or a combination of both? You won’t have time to wonder what’s real and what’s not, because the story will be moving you along with revelations and action sequences that are paced perfectly, to keep you guessing almost every step of the way.
Bottom Line:
As is common with every science fiction story, there are the standard plot holes that plague just about every film in the genre to date. However, all is forgiven, because in Oblivion, we simply don’t have time to dwell on them. The story is big, the visuals epic, and heck, it has Tom Cruise, who actually does a very good job of not being standard Tom Cruise, but “Jack” instead. Go see it in the theater and if possible, IMAX, because this is what IMAX was designed for. Oblivion is the reason you should get out from under your DVD/Blu Ray collection and head to the cinema. It’s well worth the ticket cost, and a second viewing for this writer.
Grade: B+
The soundtrack from M83 is magnificent. Listen to one of the commercial-free tracks below.
PG-13, 2 hr. 5 min.
