Oblivion Film Review

Film review by Tom Hunt

Note: The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of RetoxMagazine.com

Oblivion

Right off the bat Oblivion grabs you, traps you in a head vice and forces you (by choice) to give your undivided attention to the screen. The voiceover that accompanies it perhaps isn't essential, all the information that was given could have been left until later in the film when it's explained again. From a visual stand point the opening 10 minutes is mesmerising (as is the whole film, really). It feels nostalgic, like a nod to all the classic Sci-Fi films, with shades of Star Wars coming to mind; added to that the beautiful music, which sounds very Hans Zimmer-y with his 'The Dark Knight Trilogy' score - with a more spacey edge to it, and Oblivion provides a glistening example of how exactly a film should open!

Oblivion film poster.

Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) is one of the few remaining humans on Earth. Essentially he's a repairman, along with his communications officer, and romantic partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough). They have 2 weeks left before they get to leave Earth and go to a human colony on Saturn's moon, Titan. They live in a Sky Tower and report to 'The Tet', a station orbiting Earth. Jacks job is simple - he must go out, every day running routine checks and fixing any broken automated drones that have been attacked by the 'Scavs' – the alien race who are still on Earth after their battle, which resulted in Earth being all but destroyed. The Moon was destroyed by the Scavs and the humans decided to nuke the planet to win the war. Most of Earth is now engulfed in radiation and Jack has very limited places where he can go to remain safe. Things aren't what they seem though, and when a human ship crash lands Jack has to stop the drones from destroying the humans (who are in a state of sleep). The only survivor is the mysterious Julia (Olga Kurylenko), and we sense there's more than what she's telling us. Jack and Julia are quickly captured by a small group of humans who appear to have survive the war, and they try to reason with Jack, to show him the truth and ultimately get him on their side. Morgan Freeman is Beech, the head of this group and is a reasonable but desperate man. The audience are with Jack through the whole ordeal, unsure who to trust and waiting for any sign to give the big reveal.

Tom Cruise is back to his best with this Science Fiction adventure after a couple of years of flops and disappointments. There was a worrying time when this film felt like it was going to have the 'Knight & Day' effect – starting well but fizzling out – luckily this wasn't the case and the film only really disappoints with its ending. Without spoiling the plot, the film has shades of a very popular modern Sci-Fi but takes the idea and goes bigger and darker, and it all works until the final 10 minutes which simply weren't needed and undid the films good work up to that point. Do not be fooled by the trailer this film is an all out Sci-Fi with only bite size chunks of action - rather than what the trailer suggests. It takes the well known story about our hero being lied to, being manipulated and spins it on it's head.

It's not hard to see why director, Joseph Kosinski, has been rumoured to helm one of the new Star Wars films. He's a man who seems like he'd be right at home with it, and one of the very few who looks like they have what it takes to bring the Star Wars world back to life with modern CGI, without going completely overboard and making it look like a joke. Olga Kurylenko looked a bit out of her depth as Julia. There wasn't a lot of chemistry between herself and Tom Cruise, which isn't to either was at fault, sometimes chemistry just isn't there, but their story, their relationship just wasn't believable. Andrea Riseborough as Victoria - Jack's colleague and lover - appears to have much more presence with Cruise and could have been slightly more believable as Julia rather than Kurylenko.

There's some questionable camera work in there from time to time but it's so sporadic that you can allow leniency. There's also a couple of corny action hero-y moments and lines, but this all happens around the half way point so there could have been pressure to make it a bit more exciting and flashy by the producers. The film gets back on course though and brings home a film that most Sci-Fi fans should be happy with.