So I gave into Joseph Kosinski's new feature film, Oblivion, wondering if he would be able to redeem himself after the travesty that was Tron: Legacy. To be fair, Konsinski does redeem himself, but with mixed feelings.
Oblivion sky-rocketed to the #1 spot at the box office upon release. There was little doubt in this to begin with since, hey! It's Tom Cruise, right? I seriously doubt that people actually paid the ticket price to see this unpublished graphic novel on the big screen with its marvelous concept. 80% of the audience was probably there to watch Morgan Freeman deliver moving speeches and Tom Cruise's symmetrically proportional close-ups.
Based on an unpublished graphic novel, Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion is a blend of what we've already seen and a few high-octane moments here and there. You may find that I'm degrading the film here a bit but to be quite honest, if you've seen enough science fiction films, you'll notice stark similarities here. It's not easy coming up with unique ideas, and re-imagining semi-dystopian worlds every time, so I'll cut Joseph Kosinski some slack here. Oblivion was shot with the latest Sony cameras that were decided upon just 2 weeks before shooting began, and what can I say? Konsinski knows the lens as the film is gorgeous to look at; it features some breathtaking environments that really capture the post-war feel on an epic scale.
Tom Cruise plays Jack Harper - a repairman of the future keeping Earth secure. Or what's left of it. In a sense, he's Wall-E in human form. He lives with his partner in a floating penthouse above the clouds and his day job is to fly down to the surface and fix broken drones so they can fight against the 'Scavengers'. Aliens that invaded the Earth and sucked it dry while the rest of the human population fled to a planet called Titan for survival. Throughout the movie Harper emphasizes that "we (humans) won the war," which I thought was complete bull because had they won the war, they wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. But this mystery sees itself to a conclusion by the end of the film, as with all other questions the audience may or may not have.
Oblivion is extremely well-structured and the pacing is just about right. I had tons of questions of by the last act of the movie but I should have known that Kosinski wasn't the type to leave lose ends. All of your questions, no matter how primitive are guaranteed to be answered by the end of the film's predictable conclusion. Well...at least it was predictable for me. This was due to the fact that I had just seen Duncan Jones' popular sci fi flick Moon and Oblivion appears to borrow from it at various instances. There's also a bit of 2001: A Space Odyssey in there as well.
Did Konsinski mean to borrow from these movies? I don't know.
Does Oblivion give sci fi fans something new to ponder? No it does not!
Is Morgan Freeman badass in this movie? Yes, as in every movie he's in.
How are the visual effects? Much better than what you've seen in the trailers, trust me.
Is it worth the ticket price? Despite the whole movie being just a big 'Been there, done that,' I would say Yes. It's as much fun to watch Tom Cruise fly and engage in dog fights as it was in Top Gun.
What did you think of the Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion? Comment below - Let me know!
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