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This Joseph Kosinski science-fiction mystery film was released nationwide on April 19,
2013 - and quickly recouped its 120-million dollar budget. The second feature from the
Tron: Legacy director is similarly a visual masterpiece: the imagery of a desolate war-torn
Earth, with the remnants of a ruined lunar rock circling in orbit are beautiful and stunning.
An intriguing cold open narrated by leading man Tom Cruise introduces us to the year 2077:
where mankind attempts to rebuild off-planet, while he and Andrea Riseborough stay behind
as the "mop up crew", lamenting on the outcome of a violent alien invasion: "We won the war...
no we have to leave." The age-less Cruise is endearing, charming, and entertaining as
the last man on Earth; convincingly demonstrating emotional range even in the thickest of action
sequences, or when he's questioning his very existence. His on-screen chemistry with Riseborough
falls entirely flat though, which although a product of the story itself, made an early
love-making scene in a floating swimming pool less romantic than it could have been. Without
giving much away, the PG-13 dystopian story also features Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman,
and Melissa Leo in supporting roles: and although they're all great, I'd be lying if I said
their performances were memorable. While Tom surveys oceans of dirt for broken drones in
his extremely sleek space ship, the mood is hopeful and nostalgic, yet it remains consistently
haunting. The original, and atmospheric score by electronic pop band M83 is a loud and ominous
one... beating like a heartbeat as our hero outruns a pack of scavengers in a destroyed,
underground library. As the mystery broods during this 124-minute adventure, many of
the major plot twists and reveals aren't very surprising - especially if you've seen Duncan
Jones' "Moon" - a sci-picture I reviewed here on Movie Night with an extremely similar setup.
As fascinating as it is, the story here really is the weakest component: overshadowed by
marvelous effects and thrilling action sequences: particularly a flying drone chase through
a rocky canyon littered with waterfalls. Famous New York landmarks are visited, but their
state of decay after 60-years seems curiously uneven from place to place: MetLife stadium
is all but gone, but the telescopes on the Empire State Building are in pristine shape.
And why does Tom's fancy sky-mansion have three chairs in the dinning room? Plot holes
aside: this is a slow-paced experience that blends inspiration from "Beneath The Planet
Of The Apes", "Independence Day", "2001", and the aforementioned "Moon" - resulting
in a fun and attractive picture that isn't nearly as intelligent as it set out to be.
"Oblivion", "Beautiful visuals, but rarely engaging." Now let's check out what you had
to say in the YouTube comments.
Our scores for "Oblivion": two SEVENs. Mixed opinions here, and many faulted the plot for
being dull, complicated and familiar, while unanimous praise was given to the breathtaking
visuals, ranking it COOL. While the music and effects were top-caliber, it's a shame
the story puttered along with unoriginal elements. I thought it was COOL as well.