IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR REASONS NOT TO SEE OBLIVION, THIS IS ONE REVIEW FOR YOU TO READ. IF NOT, SKIP IT.
64 years in the future, Earth is a wasteland after the moon is destroyed by an invading alien army and the war that follows. We won the war but the planet "was ruined." A few humans have stayed behind to maintain the water that is left, which is being used for the rest of the human race that relocated to a space station (called Tet) orbiting Earth, or to Titan, a moon of Saturn.
Now, depending on your movie taste, that synopsis either makes you roll your eyes and groan or makes you want to hear more. Somebody thought it was a good idea and it became Oblivion. But sometimes a good idea doesn't realize its potential. Such is the case here. It does well through the first half or so. Tom Cruise is Jack (of course) Harper who is a "drone maintenance tech (so far as he knows)" left on Earth. Drones fly around protecting, or so Jack is told, these giant water-collecting machines that are sucking all of the planet's seawater and converting it into fusion energy (although it is not made clear how this energy is transferred to Tet)I was never sure. From Tet, a NASA operative named Sally runs the pod show. Jack even has a lovely redheaded British live-in assistant Vicka who's a sort of dispatcher/eye-in-the-sky. Of course, they also provide each other with companionship. So when a transport pod full of sleeping NASA people (just happens to) fall from the sky within sight of where Jack has a secret cabin by a lake, leaving one survivor (the rest are killed by a drone—more on that later), his WIFE, things get complicated. The movie also starts coming apart at its weak seams.
Many conventions of sci-fi are present here: The future. Aliens. Apocalypse. Space travel. Delta-sleep. Machines that seem to have their own vengeful personalities. A rag-tag band of survivors who've begun an insurgency against the oppressive aliens (and have a nuke dammit, and are ready to use it). Memory wiped. Clones. The moon destroyed. I'm sure there's more. Which is all fine, as long as it's crafted into a good movie.
Not long after we meet Julia, we meet the aforementioned insurgents, led by Beech (Morgan Freeman, who is in every other movie made). Explosions and drone chases through the post-war landscape ensue. It all culminates in a secret plot to sneak a nuclear bomb inside the alien mothership (which turns out to BE the giant triangle above Earth that was supposed to be Mission Control) using one of its drones, reprogrammed. As I said, there are MANY oft-used elements of sci-fi here. Some are PLOT elements seemingly lifted from other sci-fi movies like, say, the (gulp) superior Independence Day. That brings me to my main question about the movie's climax: How is it that these aliens who have radically advanced technology and can detect who a person is just by their DNA and detect their emotions from the inside of a spacecraft—can't detect the 10 nuclear fuel cells it knew were missing on board the ship as well? Just wondering. ID4's nuclear endgame has similar issues but at least it has a sense of cigar-smoking humor about it.
And as far as Oblivion goes, "F—k you, Sally." That's the best line you could come up with? Really?
Bottom line here is that I was disappointed with Oblivion. It's based on a graphic novel and offers striking visuals (SFX and sound design really are great here, the only thing earning it a 5-star rating from me). Its footage makes for a good trailer. Futuristic action and explosions always do. And movie staples like Cruise and Freeman (too bad they needed to ruin the mystery of the Scavs by showing Freeman in the trailers).
One thought occurred to me watching Vicka interact with Sally. The story could be an metaphor for how lower-level employees in large companies feel about their bosses. These mysterious, distant, unfeeling pencil and numbers pushers who care nothing for the real work going on in the trenches. They see everyone as the same people (in Oblivion's case, literally) and easily replaceable with the next sucker who comes along.
64 years in the future, Earth is a wasteland after the moon is destroyed by an invading alien army and the war that follows. We won the war but the planet "was ruined." A few humans have stayed behind to maintain the water that is left, which is being used for the rest of the human race that relocated to a space station (called Tet) orbiting Earth, or to Titan, a moon of Saturn.
Now, depending on your movie taste, that synopsis either makes you roll your eyes and groan or makes you want to hear more. Somebody thought it was a good idea and it became Oblivion. But sometimes a good idea doesn't realize its potential. Such is the case here. It does well through the first half or so. Tom Cruise is Jack (of course) Harper who is a "drone maintenance tech (so far as he knows)" left on Earth. Drones fly around protecting, or so Jack is told, these giant water-collecting machines that are sucking all of the planet's seawater and converting it into fusion energy (although it is not made clear how this energy is transferred to Tet)I was never sure. From Tet, a NASA operative named Sally runs the pod show. Jack even has a lovely redheaded British live-in assistant Vicka who's a sort of dispatcher/eye-in-the-sky. Of course, they also provide each other with companionship. So when a transport pod full of sleeping NASA people (just happens to) fall from the sky within sight of where Jack has a secret cabin by a lake, leaving one survivor (the rest are killed by a drone—more on that later), his WIFE, things get complicated. The movie also starts coming apart at its weak seams.
Many conventions of sci-fi are present here: The future. Aliens. Apocalypse. Space travel. Delta-sleep. Machines that seem to have their own vengeful personalities. A rag-tag band of survivors who've begun an insurgency against the oppressive aliens (and have a nuke dammit, and are ready to use it). Memory wiped. Clones. The moon destroyed. I'm sure there's more. Which is all fine, as long as it's crafted into a good movie.
Not long after we meet Julia, we meet the aforementioned insurgents, led by Beech (Morgan Freeman, who is in every other movie made). Explosions and drone chases through the post-war landscape ensue. It all culminates in a secret plot to sneak a nuclear bomb inside the alien mothership (which turns out to BE the giant triangle above Earth that was supposed to be Mission Control) using one of its drones, reprogrammed. As I said, there are MANY oft-used elements of sci-fi here. Some are PLOT elements seemingly lifted from other sci-fi movies like, say, the (gulp) superior Independence Day. That brings me to my main question about the movie's climax: How is it that these aliens who have radically advanced technology and can detect who a person is just by their DNA and detect their emotions from the inside of a spacecraft—can't detect the 10 nuclear fuel cells it knew were missing on board the ship as well? Just wondering. ID4's nuclear endgame has similar issues but at least it has a sense of cigar-smoking humor about it.
And as far as Oblivion goes, "F—k you, Sally." That's the best line you could come up with? Really?
Bottom line here is that I was disappointed with Oblivion. It's based on a graphic novel and offers striking visuals (SFX and sound design really are great here, the only thing earning it a 5-star rating from me). Its footage makes for a good trailer. Futuristic action and explosions always do. And movie staples like Cruise and Freeman (too bad they needed to ruin the mystery of the Scavs by showing Freeman in the trailers).
One thought occurred to me watching Vicka interact with Sally. The story could be an metaphor for how lower-level employees in large companies feel about their bosses. These mysterious, distant, unfeeling pencil and numbers pushers who care nothing for the real work going on in the trenches. They see everyone as the same people (in Oblivion's case, literally) and easily replaceable with the next sucker who comes along.