Movie Review: Oblivion

I did make an attempt to purchase a copy of this comic prior to watching the film, but I couldn’t find a copy in a frantic and grueling five minute Google search, so I gave up. But it's okay because it was never published!  Either way I watched it, it is “based” on a comic and therefore I will review it.

This movie is hands down the best thing that Tom Cruise has been in since that last terrible movie that Tom Cruise was in.  In all honesty, the film wasn’t terrible.   I’m not clamoring for my money back, however I don’t plan on watching it again anytime soon, or ever. 

I’ll quickly run through the basics. The acting was okay, Morgan Freeman is always a pleasure, but like all the characters in the film lacked any sort of depth.  Tom Cruise was Tom Cruise, and the supporting cast was just as bland as the rest of the movie.  The cinematography was adequate, nothing terrible.   The special effects were solid, hardly groundbreaking; honestly technology has reached a point where you have to actively work to have horrible special effects. The futuristic weapons reminded me of any number of accessories available for the Wii.  There is also a foldable dirt bike that looks flimsy and ridiculous.  The soundtrack on the other hand, was bad enough that it was distracting… oddly reminiscent of the original Tron movie.  I did not expect a film set 70 years in the future to make me feel like I was smack dab in the middle of the 80’s.  If the music wasn’t some horrible synthesized-orchestra hybrid, it was the Inception style wWWwaAAaaaAaaaaWwa (it sounds right in my head).  

My largest complaint however is that the entire storyline seems to be a compilation of several other (really good) movies. SPOILERS START HERE: The inside of Tet (the mother ship) is a direct rip off of Independence Day, the doors, the tunnels all identical.  Tom Cruise even uses an alien ship to work his way into the heart of the mother ship, where he detonates a nuclear war head destroying it (sound familiar).  The “Scavs” must have directly stolen their costumes from Water World.  In one of the predictable big twists, it is revealed that Jack (Tom Cruise) is in actuality a clone of the original, just like Boba Fett. The alien stripping earth of its’ resources is a sentient computer that takes the form glowing talking red dot, oddly reminiscent of HAL, and when I say reminiscent, I mean it is an identical glowing circle.  At one point in the movie Jack (who is a pilot) gets involved in a dog fight with three alien drones (space ships). In the resulting chase scene Jack loses the alien ships by flying into a canyon, and out maneuvering them.  The whole scene is a combination of Independence Day, and Luke Skywalker destroying the Death Star.

Final analysis: The film is watchable but unoriginal, if you absolutely have to see this movie go ahead, but I would recommend waiting for the Blu-Ray, or skipping it entirely.   You aren’t missing anything. 

Score: 2/5

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Studios: Universal

Release Date: 4/19/13