When I went and decided that I was going to watch Oblivion, it was pretty much on a whim. I wanted to see something sci-fi, so I searched the list of new releases and somewhere in the back of my head I remembered that this flick had come out during early summer. So, to hell with it, I sat down and prepared to be thoroughly disappointed. As it turns out, I really enjoyed this film and have trouble understanding why the critics were so hard on it.
The story is set in the not-so-distant future - 2077 or something like that. The world has been at war with some aliens and the Earth got trashed. So humans moved to Titan and now extract resources from the planet while hunting down the remnants of the alien enemies - the Scavs. Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) and his wife are in charge of repairing the local patrol drones and keeping everything moving along effectively.
When Jack discovers a downed Earth ship, however, things start to go bad. A drone comes in and begins executing the human survivors, forcing Jack to put his life on the line to save the one girl left. He wakes her up and begins to discover that the world is not as it seems. Eventually, Jack has to face down the Scavs (sort of) as well as fighting the good fight against the alien menace.
I can’t speak too much about it without giving away the twists and turns, but this movie is not one of those M. Night flicks where you watch for 2 hours before being told what the “twist” is. In fact, almost everything is laid bare before the movie even reaches its halfway mark. This is one of the things I really loved about this flick - that it was telling a complete story and not trying to hinge on one gimmick. Movies rarely have the balls to do that, especially modern ones, so I was pleasantly surprised.
The other thing I loved about Oblivion was that it was visually amazing. Contrasting between high-tech cleanliness and the gritty remnants of the old world, this movie reminded me a lot of what a movie like Road Warrior might look like with today’s technology. Director Joseph Kosinski (the man behind Tron: Legacy) created a world that was beautiful and believable to the eyes.
Also, the action sequences were a step above most movies. There were more than a few action scenes, but they were generally quick and to the point. Nothing stretched out beyond the immediate needs of the script, a far cry from Tron: Legacy where the action scenes dragged on for days and almost overlapped each other with their frequency. In this regard, Kosinski has gotten way better at his craft. They were also the kind of action sequences that weren’t clean and pretty. Things bounced around and banged off of each other and the combat didn’t look choreographed so much as chaotic and improvisational. Again, it reminded me a lot of Road Warrior in this regard - quick, ugly, messy and gratefully realistic.
The main complaint people have of Oblivion was that it took its material from other, better movies. To those critics I would say that all movies steal from their predecessors. It’s all in how you present it. There may have been no truly unique ideas here, but the execution of those ideas was done well and the end product very enjoyable. The only thing that really annoyed me was the soundtrack - that noise overwhelmed the film and pulled me out of my immersion over and over.
I think that the jaded critics of Rotten Tomatoes have their heads up their asses when they give Oblivion a meager 54/61%. I would recommend this movie to any lover of sci-fi, even if you’re like me and dread watching anything with Tom Cruise in it. Particularly those that enjoyed Tron: Legacy should give it a shot. Kosinski is in fine form and, in my opinion, proving that he’s a brilliant director of films both visually compelling and thoughtful.
Photo Credits -
Oblivion courtesy of theislamicmonthly.com
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