Oblivion
treads familiar themes, but the special effects and art direction are enough to
give any avid sci-fi enthusiast a reason to enjoy.
Cruise
is back in action and as always, is his best when saving the world is his prime
objective. All his patents are here:
running, sliding, shooting, driving, and fake-flying—he even has time for some
see-through sky-pool space-sex. (Not
really space sex, but it flowed, so work with me here.)
"Yep." *spits* "Sky-pool space-sex...it's what I do. Also, did I leave the stove on?"
STORY:
Jack
(Tom Cruise) spends his days with a lovely British helper (Andrea Riseborough)
way up above the clouds in a sky house.
When he's not having sex, picking rejected flowers or reminiscing about
the good old days, he's fixing spherical flying protector drones. It's a living. Jack though, has two problems: a nagging
dream of a beautiful women and a strong love for the good-old-days. When both
problems collide, crazy space antics and rehashed sci-fi themes from every
story, ever told, ensue.
THOUGHTS:
There's
been some (actually overwhelming)
bitching about this movie having plots and ideas from other works, mashed up
and thrown in at the end. Well, I can't
lie—a bunch a writers came together, stuffed old plot lines in a hat, and since
they couldn't choose just one, decided to put them all in here. Is that a bad thing? Not if you're looking for a fun, popcorn
movie that's a breathtaking spectacle to watch.
Mr. Cruise offers up his own house in the clouds for this shot.
Not too far from where his mind currently resides.
The
special effects: the bubble ship, drones, landscapes and architecture are so
well done, that at certain points I was just digesting their magnificence, and
completely forgot there was a story happening.
Oops. The machines are so well
thought-out that a simple turn in mid-flight direction is something of
genius. These are the real stars of the film. If you’re into technology, space,
electronics, and killer machines, then you'll feel right at home.
This proves my theory: mosquitoes will dominate the earth by 2077.
The
problem comes in the middle, when Morgan Freeman's character withholds
knowledge, telling Jack to discover it on his own. Basically the writers are simply prolonging
the inevitable, which by this point, you can pretty much speculate and be
balls-accurate. The film's ending scene
though (which is actually a prequel
scene, explaining everything) is almost perfection in film making. It ties the whole movie together and makes
the entire story worth it. I do wonder
if that scene was shown first, would the movie have made a little more
sense? Allow me to ponder, while I
inhale a bag of hot-fries.
ACTING:
Cruise
is superb. These types of roles—where
his ego is almost satisfied by having his face featured 90% of the time—he can
perform without even waking up. Action,
drama, suspense, and naked swimming pool whoopee—he nails it. Nothing more and nothing less.
"Weeeeee...I do my own stunts! Weeeeeee!" Mr. Cruise, we've had this shot for days, it's time you
let Mr. Freeman get some screen time.
Andrea
Riseborough (Welcome to the punch) as
Victoria is a perfect balance of sexy and by-the-book. She helps balance out Jack's fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants and screw
the system attitude. For being the
lowest name on the acting ladder, she sure did hold her own next to Cruise,
which can't be said for another female actress.
Who am I taking about?
"Please...tell me you didn't hire Olga for the part of your wife."
Olga
Kurylenko. Olga, Olga, Olga…I've loved
you ever since your full frontal and rear nudity in Hitman. Why can't you just go back to portraying a
work of art? Other reviews complained
about her attempting to mimic a finely carved block of wood, and I just want to
clarify that she is an excellent—oh forget it…they're right. But listen, I'm going to go out on a limb
here and say that she wasn't hired for her acting ability. I know it's crazy and all, but someone had to
say it. So there it is: she's just an
ornament. A beautifully crafted
ornament, but an ornament nonetheless.
It's okay though, because she doesn't have too many lines or world
saving action sequences. So just focus
somewhere else while she's attempting to cry, like on the shiny flying plane,
or on the gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe.
Kurylenko displays confusion, because the director has asked her to keep all her clothes...on.
Morgan
Freeman on the other hand, got the shaft.
Not much more to say than that.
He was underused, under-appreciated, and probably only had about a solid
15 minutes of screen time…maybe. Well,
it is a Cruise film, so what the hell did you expect?
"But I want to push a little boy out of a window!" *Stomps feet and pouts*
ACTION...OR NOT:
If
you're thinking there's a bunch of shoot-out scenes, where Cruise is shielded
behind a wood crate from flying bullets, and wild monkeys are running a mock—you'd
be dead wrong. The trailer makes you
think there might be a lot of that going on, but there's just one scene. And you've seen it. Most of the action comes in form of running,
flying, and sliding.
"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap...SPIDER! There's a huge spider on me!"
THE MUSICAL
SCORE:
For
the first time I noticed the music. Is
it because the film really wasn't doing much in some spots? *Shrugs*
Good question. But what I do know is the
music did make mundane scenes cross the threshold into masterpieces. The movie also squeezes in songs by both Led
Zeppelin and Procol Harum by having Jack play them on an ancient record-player
(that's a device that goes round and
round, magically producing music, for you youngsters out there). To me, almost all songs thrown in movies
today are either something you’d hear on a Pop or Rap station, so well done.
Most people are looking at this and saying: "Who?"
>>>SPOILERS
& PLOT BLUNDERS: (read at
your own risk, you've been warned)
Throughout
the film, there were times when I turned to my better half and asked stupid
questions regarding the current scene.
For instance: the first hole Jack climbs in, leading to the library; his
rope is cut right before the action, but when it's all over, they just show him
climbing out—you want to tell me how?
His frigging bike is gone, and I didn't remember seeing any other rope
or special Batman weapons stashed in a fanny pack on his person. Guess it's just easier to assume the audience
is not paying attention.
Then
the whole clone thing happened. If
there's one giant plot-hole in the movie, it is this: If the machine in the sky
has (what looks to be thousands?) of
Jacks ready to go, why even make drones and repair Jacks. Wouldn't it be easier to just send thousands
more battle-ready Jacks to take out the rest of the human race? Why even put up the fake front? The machine is just trying to suck our
resources, and doesn't need any more humans running around. So why even have repair Jacks? It seems as though the most powerful pyramid
in space is a little stupid when it comes to common sense. But it's better to not let that one linger
inside your noggin. Just go home and
remember all the pretty space ships and drones instead.
>>>END
OF SPOILERS
"Easy boy. I'll throw the ball again, just try not to aim your lasers at my genitals this time."
CONCLUSION:
Trampling
old ideas tends to suck, but no matter how many stories have the same idea it's
the unique writer voice that allows every story to be fresh and inviting. This of course was not the case with
Oblivion, since the writing seemed used, but we did get a pretty cool bubble
ship and Olga's (Tom Cruise's for the
female version of the review) lovely face, right? Oblivion won't sit on the shelves with
masterpieces, but it will hold a permanent spot in great sci-fi. If you're a fan of the genre and love
futuristic machines, homes, and products, then definitely put this on your
"to-watch" list.
3
out of 5 stars (minus a star for Olga’s
performance and another for the rehashed ideas)
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