Oblivion Review

It’s rare these days to see a science fiction movie come along that actually shows some originality, instead of being a sequel to a previously established franchise.  It seems that for every District 9 or Inception that comes out, we have to sit through an entire Transformers trilogy until a breath of fresh air comes along.  Oblivion is that breath of fresh air, but it falls just short of being the modern science fiction classic that lies within it.

The setup for Oblivion is brilliant: In the not too distant future, the Earth has been ravaged by a war with an alien race.  The aliens, known as the Scavengers or “Scavs” for short, destroyed the moon, causing worldwide natural disasters, before invading Earth.  Earth fought back with nuclear weapons, winning the war but leaving the planet’s surface virtually uninhabitable in the process. 

Oblivion takes place a few years after the end of this war, where teams of humans are sent by a corporation to harvest what’s left of Earth’s natural resources, while also repairing drones that deal with the remainder of the Scavengers.  One of these humans is Jack Harper (Tom Cruise), who along with his assigned partner Victoria(Andrea Riseborough) are about to finish their service time and rejoin the human survivors on Titan, a moon of Saturn.  However, Jack is haunted by dreams of the past, and of a woman he once knew, despite having a mandatory memory wipe prior to the events of the movie.  Jack and Victoria’s seemingly routine life is interrupted when a capsule from 60 years past crash lands, containing Julia (Olga Kurylenko), the woman Jack has been dreaming about.  To make matters more complicated, Jack is captured by an underground colony of human survivors, who seem to know more about Jack’s operation than he does.  From there, a conspiracy is uncovered, the real villains are revealed, and Jack must find out who he can trust and piece together his past if he is to ensure the survival of the human race. 

Like I said before, the premise and setting of Oblivion is excellent.  The actual story, however, is a bit of a letdown in comparison as it quickly goes into been-there-seen-that territory.    The complexity of the story also creates more questions than answers, leaving quite a few aspects of the plot unresolved.  Not that this kills the movie or makes it any less interesting.  Oblivion definitely held my interest and kept me guessing throughout, but I can’t help but find it a little frustrating when the story starts off really strong but never reaches those same heights for the remainder of the movie.

The selling point for Oblivion  is its visuals.  The movie is directed by Joseph Kosinski, who previously helmed 2010’s TRON: Legacy, and the visual flair from that film seems to have carried over to Oblivion.  This is a movie that begs to be seen on a large theater screen.  Oblivion is gorgeously filmed and almost every set piece is borderline awe-inspiring, from the crumbled remnants of the moon to the barren wasteland that is Earth and what remains of its landmarks.  Joseph Kosinski has proven that he can successfully juggle his actors on top of his fantastic scenery, and I feel that if he was given a stronger script to work with, Oblivion could have been much more than it already is.

Another strong point of Oblivion is the performances of its lead actors.  Love him or hate him as a person, Tom Cruise has proven to be a great actor, and it certainly shows here.  The leader of the human colony is played by Morgan Freeman, and though he isn’t given much to do, he makes the most of his character and is clearly enjoying the role.  The other actors do fine, but the focus is mainly on Cruise, and they are mainly kept in the background.

There’s a fantastic science fiction film in Oblivion, it just isn’t fully realized.  The setup is wonderful, the performances solid, and the visuals outstanding and close to jaw-dropping.  However, it’s all hindered by a story that is littered with a sense of familiarity and is sometimes too complex for its own good.  For my money, though, I was pleased with what I got.  I don’t know if I would buy the movie when it comes to home video, but I can definitely see myself returning to Oblivion sometime in the near future.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars