Review of Oblivion (2013) by Hugh R — 07 Mar 2015

When you have seen as many movies as I have you tend to become jaded. You wonder if an original blockbuster-type movie will ever be made with genuine effort and a non-ironic purpose, especially in the sci-fi genre. You fear the day will never come. It is nice to be proven wrong.

Oblivion is not a fantastic movie by any means. It has its problems. There are some inconsistencies and goofs here and there, but you can tell from the first few minutes that genuine thought and effort was put in to this movie, and that more than makes up for its other issues. There is a style and an atmosphere to it. In a time when green-screen rooms are substituted for real sets so often that you begin to worry for the livelihoods of studio carpenters, here is a film which "feels" real. These are sets and locations that, though parts of them were C.G., there was a seamless blending with the real that is a treat for computer weary eyes.

Tom Cruise plays Jack Harper, a technician responsible for the maintenance and security of huge reactors that supply power to off-world colonists. Earth has been nearly destroyed by an invading alien force and, though humanity won the war, the planet is a wasteland. This is explained by a helpful (if annoying) voice over/scroll at the beginning of the film. Jack's only company is his communications officer Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) with whom he occasionally gets frisky. Their memories are periodically erased to protect vital off-world information in case of capture by the remnants of the alien force which they call "Scavs". In spite of their memory wipes Jack has flashes of his life from before the war, which worries him because the war ended sixty years ago, well before he was born.

His companion tells him to focus on his work and not to worry. After all, they are leaving for the new colony in two weeks and they don't want to ruin their chance to rejoin humanity. The work continues as usual until an encounter with the Scavs and the discovery of a crashed spaceship shake everything Jack thinks he knows.

From here we would enter into spoiler territory, so I will dispense with the exposition. Suffice it to say that what follows, while not perfect, at least shows true effort at the writing, acting, directing, and effects levels. The actors really care about what they are doing and it shows. Tom Cruise, of course, can only play Tom Cruise. His range is limited, but here it is well used. The mystery of the plot, while a little predictable, at least doesn't insult the viewer's intelligence. In a limited fashion the movie brings up questions about what it means to be human and what our purpose really is in the world. Though these issues are not delved into too deeply, it was nice to see them actually dealt with and not just used as cheap set pieces. The set designers and the director take care to create a world we can dive into and almost touch and taste. The sterility of Jack's base really contrasts with the grittiness of the devastated world below.

The only items I would change are relatively minor. One is the opening scroll/narration. Opening scrolls may have been cool in Star Wars a few decades ago, but now they are a little dated and annoying. They are especially grating when read aloud to us and doubly so when you divulge the exact same information with dialogue not too long after. The other change would be to distinguish between the female leads physically a little better. Because of the washed out color scheme of the movie it is hard to tell the two women apart at times and it gets distracting. Is that her? No, wait. It's the other one. The fact that the two women are usually in different styles of clothing and in different locations helps, but it takes a while to get there.

This is a movie well worth the effort put into it. It is good sci-fi with good execution and no franchise to prop it up. The studio went out on a limb by not playing it safe and finding something to reboot or a big name to tag a sequel onto. Here's hoping this movie gets a lot of attention and maybe we will see more of its kind in the future.