Review of Oblivion (2013) by Severedwing — 18 Apr 2013

Initially I was intrigued by the post apocalyptic landscape and high tech gadgetry, but soon I became confused. Large gaps were left in the plot and I began to wonder if we would ever get the story behind the madness. Eventually all was explained, but instead of giving you the information and allowing you to plot it out yourself, it is essentially completely explained, which makes the movie's twist less of a twist and more of a "wah wah". There are not a lot of actors in the film either, very little screentime is devoted to anyone who is not Tom Cruise, while its understandable given the nature of the film's plot, it leaves me wondering how much more they could have garnered from the story if there had been some stronger characters developing as well.

Overall Oblivion is a sci-fi action film that doesn't really deliver much in the form of action and the special effects seem mainly limited to the landscape and the flying ship. Without a strong cast or even strong action it seems to fall on its face more often than not. The movie tries to make itself serious through flashbacks and moments of tension, but these fall short because the flashbacks are confusing and the tension is never really there; they won't kill off the only character they ever even develop in the movie less than halfway through and the only other dramatic moment is solved by high tech medical gadgetry. I would have to rate this as a rental and not a theater worthy movie, it just doesn't deliver enough to warrant the expense or the effort.