- IMDb page: Oblivion (2013)
- Rate: 7.2/10 total 24,253 votes
- Genre: Action | Adventure | Mystery | Sci-Fi
- Release Date: 10 April 2013 (UK)
- Runtime: 126 min
- Filming Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
- Budget: $120,000,000 (estimated)
- Director: Joseph Kosinski
- Stars: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko | See full cast and crew
- Original Music By: Anthony Gonzalez (co-composer) M.8.3 Joseph Trapanese (co-composer)
- Soundtrack: Oblivion
- Sound Mix: SDDS | Datasat | Dolby Digital
- Plot Keyword: Drone | Alien | One Word Title | Shootout | Dream
Known Trivia
- Olivia Wilde, Noomi Rapace, Kate Mara, Olga Kurylenko, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Brit Marling auditioned for the role of Julia. Jessica Chastain was cast, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, so finally the role went to Kurylenko.
- Diane Kruger, Hayley Atwell and Kate Beckinsale were considered for the role of Victoria.
- The Oblivion project originated as an 8-page treatment written by Joseph Kosinski which was pitched in 2007 to Barry Levine and Jesse Berger at Radical Publishing as a graphic novel. The project was subsequently developed into an illustrated novella and is being held for release to coincide with the film release.
- Tom Cruise celebrated his 50th birthday on the set. To celebrate the milestone, director Joseph Kosinski presented the star with one of the futuristic motorbikes from the film. Tom also gave the director a present of his own. He gave him a die-cast model of the bubble ship in a glass case.
- The film features the Christina's World painting by American painter Andrew Wyeth.
- Initially, Disney had acquired the rights to Joseph Kosinski's script in a heated auction. However, they later realized that making a PG-rated film based on the script would require a lot of story changes. The rights were subsequently acquired by Universal Pictures.
Plot: A veteran assigned to extract Earth's remaining resources begins to question what he knows about his mission and himself. Full summary » »
Story: One of the few remaining drone repairmen assigned to Earth, its surface devastated after decades of war with the alien Scavs, discovers a crashed spacecraft with contents that bring into question everything he believed about the war, and may even put the fate of mankind in his hands. Written byBlack Dahlia
Synopsis: In the year 2070, Jack Harper (Tom Cruise), lives in a futuristic house above the clouds, with his assigned partner, Victoria/Vika (Andrea Riseborough). They are the last people left on Earth after it was destroyed by aliens known as the 'Scavs', who wanted Earth's resources. They had destroyed the moon, which lead to a series of natural disasters until the humans declared war on them. In the end, the humans won, but had lost the Earth. The entire human population have moved to a large spaceship called the Tet, ready to go to Titan, Saturn's moon.
Jack goes down onto the surface during the day to repair the 'drones' that are able to detect and kill remaining Scavs on Earth, while Vica stays inside the cloud-house to keep an eye on him, as his co-ordinator. They get their mission objectives each day from Sally (Melissa Leo), the main commander from the Tet.Jack repairs the drones in the gridded area in what looks like New York/Manhattan. He repairs a No. 166 drone one day in the Superbowl Stadium, and reminds Vika that he would've loved to have watched the last game in 2017. He encounters a dog, and is able to send it away before Drone 166 fully recovers. He then goes on to repair another drone, inside the New York Public Library, but it is revealed to be a fake, and is actually a trap set up by the Scavs. Luckily, the drone from earlier, 166, saves Jack from the encounter. Jack finds a book, and decides to take it home. He remembers a verse inside it about Horatius.
Jack goes back to the cloud-house for the night again and has dinner with Vica. She is excited to be able to go to Titan in another two weeks, while Jack is unsure, as he doesn't want to leave yet. He gives her some flowers, but she drops it out of the house, as she was worried that it would contain "thousands of toxins". They later go for a swim, and during a kiss, Jack sees Vica as his old girlfriend, Julia (Olga Kurylenko). He is startled, as he was given a memory wipe before, but occasionally he gets flashbacks.
The next day, Jack goes back to Earth and is told to stop a signal being beaconed from the Empire State building. He believes it is a job of the Scavs. He then tells Vica that he's going on a perimeter check, but really he is visiting his secret house by a lake, hidden away from view. He falls asleep by the river, and awakes to see objects being parachuted down from the sky. He goes to investigate it, and finds that they are people in delta-sleep. Drones come, sent by Vica, and believing that they are Scavs, go around shooting at the people. Jack finds that they are from a spaceship called the Odessy, and is able to save one last team member before the drone gets to it. He realises that it is Julia, his former girlfriend. He takes her back up to the cloud-house, much to Vica's jealousy.
Julia awakes, and in the morning, encourages Jack to go with her to collect the black box from her crashed spaceship- she wants to know what happened. He goes with her, without Vica knowing. After they retrieve it, Jack is knocked unconscious by a Scav and is transported to their lair.Jack awakens to find himself captured and tied to a chair, and the Scavs reveal themselves to be human, not the alien species that had invaded the Earth. The real aliens are the ones inside the Tet, and the drones are to kill any remaining humans. Beech (Morgan Freeman) asks Jack for his help, they have a Drone that they can use and reprogramme to kill the real alien species, but they cannot hack into it and Jack is a skilled Drone engineer. Jack refuses to start with, but then they show that they have also taken Julia hostage. He still hesitates, and so Beech releases them and tells Jack to go into the forbidden "radiation zone" to find out the truth, and see if it would change his mind.
Their next stop is the Empire State buliding, where Jack leaves a message for Vica to let her know he's fine. On the balcony viewing area, Julia reminds Jack of who she really is. They were both from the Odessy, and she is his real wife, before he has his memory erased. He remembers, and they share an embrace. However, the ship that Jack flies has a camera, and Vica sees this. Jack and Julia go back to the cloud-house, and they witness Vica sending a message to Sally claiming that she and Jack are no longer an "effective team". This leads a drone to awaken from their house and kill her, and before it kills Jack too, Julia shoots it.
They fly away onto Earth, being chased by three other Drones. In an attempt to destroy them, they fly into a lightning storm, and into a desert. Julia was wounded in the process of destroying those drones. While destroying the last drone, they were forced to be ejected from their flight as they had unwillingly entered the radiation zone.There, Jack encounters a clone of himself (Jack 52) and they fight. Julia starts walking towards the Jack 49, and the moment she is close enough, she realizes that there is another Jack (Jack 52). But before she could say anything she fells unconscious due to the injury during the process of fighting the three drones. Jack uses 52's plane to go to 52's cloud-house to collect a med-kit for Julia, and there he sees a clone of Vica.After saving Julia, they take refuge in the lake-house, and later decide to help the human resistance. Jack helps them to reprogramme the Drone, and using a bundle of fuel cells instead of one, makes it a nuclear weapon. However, during this time, Sally has set yet another three drones on Jack by tracing his DNA. The drones arrive and attack all of the humans, leaving few survivors. Beech is also mortally wounded, and the reprogrammed drone is no longer functional. The fuel cells remain intact though, and they decide the only way that they can kill the aliens is by taking the fuel cells into the Tet and blow it up.
Julia realises that Sally would like to meet her, and decides to use this as a way of getting into the Tet. Jack drives his plane towards the Tet, with Julia in delta-sleep in the back.On the way, he listens to the black box that they had recovered from the Odessy, and it is revealed that Jack was once the pilot of the Odessy, Vica the co-pilot and Julia one of the members of the crew. They were told to check out the Tet by the real Sally, a NASA coordinator, to see if it exposed a threat to Earth sixty years ago. On the way, the Odessy began to accelerate towards the Tet and in order to keep Julia safe, Jack released the back shuttle, leaving only him and Vica heading towards the Tet.
Jack, now at the Tet, enters it and finds millions of clones of himself and Vica. Sally is also only a large floating triangular stone with a red laser eye in the centre, the alien species. Angry that "Sally" has lied to him and was in fact the real reason why the Earth was a dry wasteland, opens the delta-sleep box. Inside is not Julia, but Beech. Together, they set off the fuel cells and the Tet is destroyed. Meanwhile, Julia wakes up by the lake house, and sees the Tet being blown up in the sky.
Three years later, Julia has given birth to Jack's daughter, and are living a peaceful life in the lake-house. They then see members of the human resistance- they had been searching for her all this time. A figure then walks out of the crowd, and it is shown to be Jack 52, which had spent all the time looking for Julia, as he has the same memories as the Jack before.
Jack goes down onto the surface during the day to repair the 'drones' that are able to detect and kill remaining Scavs on Earth, while Vica stays inside the cloud-house to keep an eye on him, as his co-ordinator. They get their mission objectives each day from Sally (Melissa Leo), the main commander from the Tet.Jack repairs the drones in the gridded area in what looks like New York/Manhattan. He repairs a No. 166 drone one day in the Superbowl Stadium, and reminds Vika that he would've loved to have watched the last game in 2017. He encounters a dog, and is able to send it away before Drone 166 fully recovers. He then goes on to repair another drone, inside the New York Public Library, but it is revealed to be a fake, and is actually a trap set up by the Scavs. Luckily, the drone from earlier, 166, saves Jack from the encounter. Jack finds a book, and decides to take it home. He remembers a verse inside it about Horatius.
Jack goes back to the cloud-house for the night again and has dinner with Vica. She is excited to be able to go to Titan in another two weeks, while Jack is unsure, as he doesn't want to leave yet. He gives her some flowers, but she drops it out of the house, as she was worried that it would contain "thousands of toxins". They later go for a swim, and during a kiss, Jack sees Vica as his old girlfriend, Julia (Olga Kurylenko). He is startled, as he was given a memory wipe before, but occasionally he gets flashbacks.
The next day, Jack goes back to Earth and is told to stop a signal being beaconed from the Empire State building. He believes it is a job of the Scavs. He then tells Vica that he's going on a perimeter check, but really he is visiting his secret house by a lake, hidden away from view. He falls asleep by the river, and awakes to see objects being parachuted down from the sky. He goes to investigate it, and finds that they are people in delta-sleep. Drones come, sent by Vica, and believing that they are Scavs, go around shooting at the people. Jack finds that they are from a spaceship called the Odessy, and is able to save one last team member before the drone gets to it. He realises that it is Julia, his former girlfriend. He takes her back up to the cloud-house, much to Vica's jealousy.
Julia awakes, and in the morning, encourages Jack to go with her to collect the black box from her crashed spaceship- she wants to know what happened. He goes with her, without Vica knowing. After they retrieve it, Jack is knocked unconscious by a Scav and is transported to their lair.Jack awakens to find himself captured and tied to a chair, and the Scavs reveal themselves to be human, not the alien species that had invaded the Earth. The real aliens are the ones inside the Tet, and the drones are to kill any remaining humans. Beech (Morgan Freeman) asks Jack for his help, they have a Drone that they can use and reprogramme to kill the real alien species, but they cannot hack into it and Jack is a skilled Drone engineer. Jack refuses to start with, but then they show that they have also taken Julia hostage. He still hesitates, and so Beech releases them and tells Jack to go into the forbidden "radiation zone" to find out the truth, and see if it would change his mind.
Their next stop is the Empire State buliding, where Jack leaves a message for Vica to let her know he's fine. On the balcony viewing area, Julia reminds Jack of who she really is. They were both from the Odessy, and she is his real wife, before he has his memory erased. He remembers, and they share an embrace. However, the ship that Jack flies has a camera, and Vica sees this. Jack and Julia go back to the cloud-house, and they witness Vica sending a message to Sally claiming that she and Jack are no longer an "effective team". This leads a drone to awaken from their house and kill her, and before it kills Jack too, Julia shoots it.
They fly away onto Earth, being chased by three other Drones. In an attempt to destroy them, they fly into a lightning storm, and into a desert. Julia was wounded in the process of destroying those drones. While destroying the last drone, they were forced to be ejected from their flight as they had unwillingly entered the radiation zone.There, Jack encounters a clone of himself (Jack 52) and they fight. Julia starts walking towards the Jack 49, and the moment she is close enough, she realizes that there is another Jack (Jack 52). But before she could say anything she fells unconscious due to the injury during the process of fighting the three drones. Jack uses 52's plane to go to 52's cloud-house to collect a med-kit for Julia, and there he sees a clone of Vica.After saving Julia, they take refuge in the lake-house, and later decide to help the human resistance. Jack helps them to reprogramme the Drone, and using a bundle of fuel cells instead of one, makes it a nuclear weapon. However, during this time, Sally has set yet another three drones on Jack by tracing his DNA. The drones arrive and attack all of the humans, leaving few survivors. Beech is also mortally wounded, and the reprogrammed drone is no longer functional. The fuel cells remain intact though, and they decide the only way that they can kill the aliens is by taking the fuel cells into the Tet and blow it up.
Julia realises that Sally would like to meet her, and decides to use this as a way of getting into the Tet. Jack drives his plane towards the Tet, with Julia in delta-sleep in the back.On the way, he listens to the black box that they had recovered from the Odessy, and it is revealed that Jack was once the pilot of the Odessy, Vica the co-pilot and Julia one of the members of the crew. They were told to check out the Tet by the real Sally, a NASA coordinator, to see if it exposed a threat to Earth sixty years ago. On the way, the Odessy began to accelerate towards the Tet and in order to keep Julia safe, Jack released the back shuttle, leaving only him and Vica heading towards the Tet.
Jack, now at the Tet, enters it and finds millions of clones of himself and Vica. Sally is also only a large floating triangular stone with a red laser eye in the centre, the alien species. Angry that "Sally" has lied to him and was in fact the real reason why the Earth was a dry wasteland, opens the delta-sleep box. Inside is not Julia, but Beech. Together, they set off the fuel cells and the Tet is destroyed. Meanwhile, Julia wakes up by the lake house, and sees the Tet being blown up in the sky.
Three years later, Julia has given birth to Jack's daughter, and are living a peaceful life in the lake-house. They then see members of the human resistance- they had been searching for her all this time. A figure then walks out of the crowd, and it is shown to be Jack 52, which had spent all the time looking for Julia, as he has the same memories as the Jack before.
Produced By:
- Tom Cruise known as Jack
- Morgan Freeman known as Beech
- Olga Kurylenko known as Julia
- Andrea Riseborough known as Victoria
- Nikolaj Coster-Waldau known as Sykes
- Melissa Leo known as Sally
- Zoe Bell known as Kara
- Abigail Lowe known as Julia's Child
- Isabelle Lowe known as Julia's Child
- David Madison known as Grow Hall Survivor
Production Companies:
- Universal Pictures (presents)
- Chernin Entertainment
- Ironhead Studios
- Radical Pictures
- Radical Studios
- Truenorth Productions
- BT Industrial Supply expendables
- Back Lot Music soundtrack
- Central Casting extras casting
- Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment camera equipment
- De Lane Lea ADR recording
- Digital FX camera equipment provided by
- Direct Tools & Fasteners expendables
- Dolby Laboratories sound mix
- Henry's International Cuisine catering new york
- Hollywood Rentals Productions Services lighting and grip equipment
- Hollywood Trucks entertainment transportation
- Intelligent Media international monitoring agency
- Keslow Cameras camera equipment provided by
- Kukl equipment provided by
- Legion Entertainment post-production facilities
- Let It Cast casting powered by
- Pictorvision Eclipse aerial camera system
- Pivotal Post Avid HD editing equipment provided by
- Prologue Films titles
- Radical Publishing publishing
- Scroggins Aviation aviation props provider
- Silver Screen Supply location equipment/rentals
- Silver Screen Supply portable power systems and cables
- Silver Screen Supply production rentals
- Transportation Resources transportation equipment
- Solar Entertainment (2013) (Philippines) (theatrical)
- Toho-Towa (2013) (Japan) (theatrical)
- United International Pictures (UIP) (2013) (Greece) (theatrical)
- United International Pictures (UIP) (2013) (Philippines) (theatrical)
- United International Pictures (UIP) (2013) (Poland) (theatrical)
- United International Pictures (UIP) (2013) (Singapore) (theatrical)
- Universal Pictures Canada (2013) (Canada) (theatrical)
- Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2013) (Germany) (theatrical)
- Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2013) (France) (theatrical)
- Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2013) (Italy) (theatrical)
- Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2013) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
- Universal Pictures (2013) (USA) (theatrical)
- Viva Films (2013) (Philippines) (theatrical)
- Zon Audiovisuais (2013) (Portugal) (all media)
Special Effects:
- Gentle Giant Studios (lidar scanning)
- Lightwave International
- Third Floor, The
Visual Effects by:
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, brief strong language, and some sensuality/nudity
Filmography links and data courtesy of The Internet Movie Database
I found myself forcing movement during this film to ensure I didn'tcollapsed out of my seat under the immensely slow pace that this filmgoes at. Not only that, but it's far too predictable & has more holesthan the Pope's socks! Sadly, it was a shocking film and I'm nowsearching to see how I can gain 2hrs of my back which were lostwatching this.
ReplyDeleteIt really was like plot thieves had come in and written a piece of workthat was sliced together from The Matrix, Moon, Independence Day &Terminator.
The only decent part of the film, or one that I did actually sit up andpay attentive attention to was at the end, while Cruise plays theflight tape recorded of the NASA flight that found the alien ship; nowthat, was some good five minutes of my life. Really enjoyed it andwould have liked to have seen more of that. Oh and be aware, there'sthe cheesiest entrance to this film that's like a very bad aftershaveadvert for "old man river's cent".
I'd wait until it's on Sky as it's so slow, it would help with thatSunday roast laze that happens to us all.
Coming out of the theatres following my viewing of this film, I wasconfused. I couldn't decide whether I liked it or not.
ReplyDeleteThe ending was rushed, clichéd and quite cheesy, that I was sure about.But I had enjoyed the film, more or less. The visuals are stunning. Thecinematography was truly impressive and I think it is thesePrometheus-esque visuals (in terms of quality) that successfully manageto distract you from what is actually quite an appalling film.
The storyline is shallow and the large majority of charactersundeveloped (I honestly don't see much point in Morgan Freeman'scharacter). Even after the real human faction is revealed and a groupof drones rampage around massacring everyone, you just don't feelanywhere near the amount of sympathy as you should do.
When the super villain is finally revealed, anyone who has seen 2001: ASpace Odyssey will have immediately recognised a blown up version ofHal. The (fairly predictable) clone twist is reminiscent of Moonalthough it is accepted by the characters after only a couple ofseconds of conflict.
The first twenty minutes however, were very good (minus the lightningscene). The setting of the post apocalyptic time frame was laid outbeautifully with a collection of scenes which almost reminded me of afuturistic version of I Am Legend.
Yes underneath the film is a very generic amalgamation of varioussci-fis that came before and it is definitely not a masterpiece initself, but to the open minded viewer it provides more than enough togive you an easy two hours of mild entertainment and pretty landscapes.
(Does anyone else question Tom Cruise's morals in stranding his wifealone in a valley for three years, thus forcing her to give birth byherself? Oh yeah and when did that happen? Hours after she was shot?Wait how did she recover?)
In the world of science fiction, there have been many stories that havebeen adapted to the point where we've just grown tired of the same oldstuff, but sometimes, someone comes along and re-creates that storywith great vision and excellence. Oblivion is one of these movies,offering different and unique plot points, fantastic acting, phenomenalvisuals and directing that is pitch-perfect. Following an alieninvasion, 60 years have passed, and Earth is now a wasteland. JackHarper (Tom Cruise), a member of team 49, goes around repairing drones,which canvas the planet and eliminate the aliens still there. But whenJack is captured by a human resistance leader on Earth (MorganFreeman), he is told that everything he knows is a lie, and thatsomething is very, very wrong. He sides with these mysterious rebels,and begins to fight for not just love, but for his home.
ReplyDeleteJoseph Kosinski, the director and co-writer, as well as writer of thegraphic novel the film is based on, creates a truly fantasticallyfrightening world with Oblivion. His direction in many scenes is sosmooth and crisp that you forget, this is only is second film. Theacting is superb, with Tom Cruise being at the height of his game afterdoing the well-made thriller Jack Reacher, based off of Lee Child'snovel. I can understand why people were upset with Morgan Freeman'sshort screen time, but at least he was in it. I still came to love hischaracter because he was an important one; he made Jack see reality.Olga Kurylenko was great in her role as the mysterious woman who knowsJack from his past. The visual effects, once again, were stunning, withthe post-apocalyptic Earth being truly remarkable and extremelydetailed. But the aliens were a true treat in the film, being veryunique and different. Now, while I see many people trying to find waysof lowering the rating for the film, like movie connections, I can say,the connections are incredibly vague and little. Those who claim thisis too close to "The Matrix", it's not. Humans were enslaved, and usedas batteries by machines. In Oblivion, we are nearly extinct, andaliens have come and gone. Jack Harper is a curious individual, whileNeo was content with "his" reality. Malcolm Beech was a leader, but hadlimits, while Morpheus had zero. I could keep going, but that justtakes away from the review. The music by M83 was just spectacular; amust-listen and own for anyone who appreciates musical soundtracks andscores.
Overall, Oblivion is a great addition to a constantly growing sci-fiuniverse that has had great additions in the past five years alone, andmore to come. This is not a film for everyone, being a straight-upscience fiction film, but for anyone who loves action, sci-fi or goodfilmmaking. Now, I do see a few award-worthy things about Oblivion,including Tom Cruise's acting, M83's musical score and the visualeffects, but mainly this is just one to be seen and acknowledged forits greatness for expanding the genre, and adding a fresh and creativevision to the mix, but not a contender for Best Picture, sadly, fallingjust short of that, but still a better film of the year.
9/10 Stars***
They don't make many science fiction films these days. This was apleasant surprise all throughout the film. Man did I like this film.
ReplyDeleteAnd in my opinion. Tom Cruise really likes what he does, and works athis craft as an actor very seriously. In my opinion 95% of Cruisesmovies in the last 10 years have been good choices. And I'm sick ofwhat the media says about his personal life.
I am one who went and saw Prometheus with an open mind. And listened towhat the director said about it NOT being an Aliens movie. And LOVEDIT. Good Sci-fi. Such as this film.
It definitely turned out to be something I wasn't expecting.
Excellent Job by Everyone involved. Nice work Cruise!
Here's a fine example of a film that may have an inconsistent and afamiliar screenplay, but still makes up for an exciting watch due toits director Joseph Kosinski's extra-ordinary sense of creatingspectacles that feel like breathing artworks. The effective backgroundmusic makes them feel even grander. I think Kosinski's creative processstarts basically from the music. It's essentially an orgasmicaudio-visual fair, just like Kosinski's previous and debut film-Tron:Legacy. He's more ambitious here, and more passionate. Although,you can't help but recognize the influences behind the story-which aresome sci-fi epics I won't name here-and feel deja-vu; it still neverstops being exciting and interesting. Oh, BTW I suggest to listen toOblivion OST by M83 (amazing shoegaze/electronica band) before goingfor the film. Really! M83's soundtrack feels like Hans Zimmer-DaftPunk-M83 all together at once. And that's effing awesome!
ReplyDeleteI wait for the day when Kosinski is handed an ambitious and promisingscreenplay. That day, I believe, he will make a master-piece worthsavoring for lifetime.
The new film from the director Joseph Kosinski who directed 2010's TronLegacy, has two things going for it, his brilliant visual style and abrilliant score this time provided by M83 rather than Daft Punk whoscored Tron Legacy. The film is rapturously beautiful, it was filmedwith 4K cameras which is definitely the way in which to see it as itwas stunning. The film stars Tom Cruise who can make anything watchable(as he did with Knight and Day, barely) and he brings a familiar facefor somewhere completely foreign territory, as the world has beendevastated by a war for earth. He is joined by Morgan Freeman who doesnot feature as much as the poster would have you believe, also AndreaRiseborough and Olga Kurylenko. The best thing about the film is theaction which works very well and we have a Texan Melissa Leo at missioncontrol who is a figure of mystery and plays to some of the moreinteresting parts of the film such as who creation and the feeling ofhome, which Cruise does. The film has the tag-line "Earth is a memoryworth fighting for" and this film is definitely worth seeing on thebiggest screen with the best projector possible.
ReplyDeleteI went to see this having read a few reviews, I also heard a reviewfrom a friend that Richard Wilkins on Australian critic had said itwasn't that good.
ReplyDeleteWell, I have no idea what film they saw, but it wasn't the one I saw.The start was a little slow, but still threw in some moments of concernto keep one on the edge. As the film settled on, it kept moving at agood pace. Story was a basic love story, mixed in with morality, butbasically, love story.
Cgi was amazing, cinematography was brilliant, stunning even. All themain characters were easy on the eye too, always making it easier towant to watch.
Plot wasn't sophisticated, probably described as feel good, butfrankly, it was perfect. I left a 2 hour film and wasn't bored for asecond.
Cruise, for all the press on him and his supposed kookiness, I don'tcare, he carried the film.....
GO SEE THIS, pure entertainment.
I SO enjoyed this movie - always LOVE to see a very entertaining sci-fifilm. This one really must be seen on a big screen. But don't letanyone tell you about the movie plot (which is excellent)!!! If theystart to do so, stick your fingers in your ears and hum! Don't betempted to read spoilers!
ReplyDeletePart of your fullest enjoyment of this film would come from everythingabout it being a surprise. If you like sci-fi, you will thoroughlyenjoy the plot line, the action, the actors, wonderful visuals ofearth, the music and the well-done special effects.
Just watch the trailer if you need to be intrigued. It is a well donerepresentation.
This movie is - without a doubt - one of the most visually spectacularthat I have ever seen, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in that departmentwith the likes of Watchmen, Prometheus, Sunshine and Kosinski'spreceding effort - TRON: Legacy. Also (like TRON) the soundtrack isexcellent and very well used throughout, enhancing the action andadding depth to some - at times - distinctly average actingperformances.
ReplyDeleteTom Cruise plays Tom Cruise but that's not a bad thing in this case, infact his natural charisma carries the movie through some of its slowersections. Morgan Freeman plays Morgan Freeman though he's really not onscreen for long enough to influence the movie one way or another. OlgaKurylenko's statuesque profile is unfortunately not matched by heracting ability and I often found it difficult to believe in hercharacter's actions and emotions. Andrea Riseborough turns in maybe thebest performance, convincing as the sad and confused Victoria,unwilling - or perhaps unable - to confront the disturbing truth.
At over 2 hours I think that it's too long by about 20 minutes. Ashorter cut would tighten up the story and eliminate some of the slowersections which I think hurt the movie's overall rhythm and flow.
Overall, I would definitely recommend going to see this movie in thecinema, on the biggest screen that you can find. It just won't be thesame on TV. The visual appeal alone is reason enough, but combined witha clever (if not entirely original) script, a thumping soundtrack andsome exciting action, you should be entertained.
If there is a soul, it is made from the love we share.
ReplyDeleteThere are many ways to describe Oblivion, but the softly spokenafterword by Tom Cruise's character really makes you feel the humanheartbeat of this sci-fi epic.
As always, the trailer is full of explosions and set pieces. Oblivionthe movie is an entirely different beast that values a human story andcharacters that are driven by common purpose. While the cast is tiny, Ifound much to enjoy from Cruise, Riseborough, Freeman and that Nordicguy from Headhunters who is showing up more frequently in Hollywoodblockbusters. Aside from unusually limited screen-time, Morgan andother supporting cast are effective and memorable.
The threads of the plot are well-woven and I won't give anything away,so what I will tell you is to prepare for a powerful journey into theunknown where nothing is what it seems. Explosive set pieces take abackseat for sci-fi philosophy with twists to spare.
Oblivion ticks all the boxes for correct use of literary devices andestablishes enough original cannon to stick in your mind long after thecredits start rolling. It is a distinct success among the largelyabysmal offerings of 2013 so far, don't miss it.