On one hand
I feel like I should be punishing “Oblivion” for a lack of originality as the
story will easily remind viewers of various other science fiction movies like
“Total Recall” (the original, not the remake), “Moon,” “The Matrix” and
“Logan’s Run” among many others. On the other hand, I found Joseph Kosinski’s
film to be a compelling piece of entertainment, and I very much liked how he
took various elements from those sci-fi movies and put them together to create
something that felt more original than I expected it to. While the story of
“Oblivion” is nothing new, the look of it is incredible and the film benefits
from a very strong cast, great visuals and a truly awesome music score.
Like many
science fiction movies, this one takes place in a distant future. The year is
2077, and sixty years earlier an alien invasion destroyed the Moon which in
turn decimated Earth and left it in shambles. Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) is one
of the last human beings left on Earth, and he and his communications officer
Victoria Olsen (Andrea Riseborough) spend their days helping to harvest what’s
left of the planet’s natural resources and repairing drones which help protect
it from anymore alien invasions. They are due to leave Earth in two weeks so
that they can rejoin the rest of humanity which has long since relocated to
another planet. Of course, we all know what happens when people say they only
have a few weeks before they leave Earth; they don’t.
Talking
about “Oblivion” from here gets complicated because I don’t want to give away
the story’s twists and turns and have it seem like a plot summary stolen from
Wikipedia, but I’ll do my best. One day, a spaceship crashes on Earth which
carries a number of sleeping capsules with astronauts inside. One of the
survivors is astronaut Julia Rusakova (Olga Kurylenko), and once she is awoken
from her deep sleep, she makes Jack see that he has a past that has long since
been denied to him.
That’s all
I’m going to say about the plot. Telling you more would be spoiling the fun.
Granted, I have seen many science fiction movies over the years so when the
plots twists and turns came, I wasn’t all that surprised by them. At the same,
I was still very much enthralled by all that was going on. Even if I had a
pretty good idea as of what was coming next, I was still glued to my seat
because I was eager to see what direction the film was going to head in next.
Much of the
success with “Oblivion” comes from its distinct visuals which are very striking,
and a lot of the credit for that goes not just to Kosinski but also his
director of photography Claudio Miranda. I’ve lost count of how many
post-apocalyptic movies which show Earth to have been obliterated beyond all
repair to where everything is all dark, grey and gloomy. Many famous landmarks like
the Empire State Building are shown to be either barely standing or covered up
with a lot of dirt in “Oblivion,” but this is the first movie of its kind I can
remember seeing that takes place mostly in the daylight. While Earth isn’t in
one piece in “Oblivion,” there is still a beauty to how it looks. Those snowy
mountains still look worth skiing on, and I found it rather comforting to see
that plants, grass and trees were still growing even after an alien invasion,
and that gives the movie an uplifting feel.
The other
thing I really loved about “Oblivion” was the architecture of the buildings and
the design of the spaceships. The Sky Tower which Jack and Victoria live in is
beautiful, and I would love to live in a place like that. It’s like living in the
world’s most unique condominium, and I’ve never seen anything quite like it
before. Also, it has the coolest swimming pool ever known to man, and it makes
me more excited about swimming pools than I have been in ages. I also doubt that I will see a cooler looking spaceship than
the Bubbleship that Cruise flies all over what’s left of Earth.
This is only
Kosinski’s second movie as a director, but here he seems to have found his
filmmaking voice in a way he wasn’t able to previously. His first film was “Tron:
Legacy,” and like many eagerly awaited science fiction events it was greeted
with an obscene amount of hype and a lot of fan indifference. But with
“Oblivion” he is not restricted to staying within certain boundaries that a
previous film or a long running franchise forces him to, and he also has a
stronger story (based on the graphic novel of the same name by him and Arvid
Nelson) to work with as well.
Kosinski
also benefits greatly from having Anthony Gonzalez of M83 and Joseph Trapanese
as his music composers here. Their score to “Oblivion” is much like what Daft
Punk’s was to “Tron: Legacy:” a beautiful combination of electronic and
orchestral music that sounds far more original than any other film score I have
listened to recently. On top of it adding so much to the striking visuals of
“Oblivion,” the music is charged with more emotion than you might expect.
Much has
been said about Cruise as a person these past few years, but I’m still happy to
defend him as an actor. His work as Jack Harper is actually quite understated,
and he never descends into that state of “grinning like an idiot every fifteen
minutes” (as Dougray Scott described him in “Mission: Impossible II”) for too
long. That grin does come along from time to time, but not in a way that ends
up annoying half the audience. On top of his strong performance in “Jack
Reacher,” he’s still a better actor than people tend to give him credit for.
Kurylenko is
also having a great time in her career right now with this film and Terrence
Malick’s “To The Wonder.” She has made the most of her time as a Bond girl in
“Quantum of Solace” and shows here that she is not just another pretty face. I
also very much enjoyed Riseborough’s performance as Victoria which was sweet
and yet somewhat devious, and I look forward to seeing more of this actress’
work in the future.
Then there’s
the great Melissa Leo who is kicking ass right now in this and “Olympus Has
Fallen.” In “Oblivion” she plays Sally, the mission control commander with the
thick accent who oversees Jack and Victoria’s work from afar. Just like in
“Flight,” she gives her character a sweet voice that is tinged with serious
intentions which leave the viewer on edge. As nice as she may sound, you can
tell that there’s some evil plot lurking behind her eyes. Some may see the role
of Sally as being a small one, but in Leo’s hands no role can ever seem small.
Oh yeah,
Morgan Freeman shows up as well as Malcolm Beech. To say more about his
character would be to give away certain plot points, but I can confirm he gives
the usual strong performance we always come to expect from him. Also, it was
really cool to see him shooting a heavy duty pair of fifty caliber machine guns.
I could
complain about the lack of originality in “Oblivion,” but then again most
movies that come out today are far from original. What matters to me is that a
filmmaker can take elements from the movies that inspired him/her and make them
their own, and I think Kosinski has succeeded in doing that here. I very much
enjoyed how “Oblivion” took me down the rabbit hole that films often do, and I
absolutely loved the visual look of it. It also benefits from a number of
strong performances and a fantastic film score that sounds unlike any we’ve
heard recently. When all is said and done, “Oblivion” is quite a cinematic
accomplishment.
If you can,
see it in IMAX.
* * * ½ out of * * * *
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