Oblivion: Movie Review

Rating: 3.75 stars out of 5

The year is 2077.  We won the battle against an alien race named the Scavs, but in the process we lost the Earth.  They didn't take it, but our Moon was attacked, leaving a volatile planet in its wake.  Humanity has left to live in a colony on Titan, a moon orbiting Saturn, and Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) with Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) have stayed behind to repair drones as Earth's remaining resources are gathered.  Then a mysterious object falls from the sky, and Jack soon learns that not all is as it seems.  What really happened during the war?  Who really won?

Oblivion is a movie full of beautiful visuals, which is no surprise considering that director Joseph Kosinski also directed the visual splendor TRON: Legacy.  Though not as imaginative as TRON, the movie industry is ripe full of post-apocalyptic flicks, the visual effects are still stunning, and the World interesting.  That can only go so far.

I did enjoy the mystery aspect of the film and found myself quite engaged in the storytelling, but it wasn't until I got home and started playing the movie in my mind that I started seeing all the flaws.  By movies end there are holes left that I would have liked filled, and not all questions are answered or explored.  Who were the Scavs?  Though the aliens are mentioned, and play a huge role with what's going on, they get left on the wayside.  What we do see is clichéd. The drones are supposed to be hunting them, but after a couple reveals some scenes suddenly become flawed (just got in a small debate over this during dinner, but I stand by my statement.)

The acting overall was quite good, and I really enjoyed Andrea Riseborough's performance which is full of great depth.  One of the major faults of the movie is the character Julia (Olga Kurylenko), who has a strong connection to Jack.  She was majorly two-denominational, and there's a lot of flaws surrounding her in terms of plot and story.

I did enjoy the ride the movie provided, and seeing it on the big screen is worth the experience, but one viewing is good enough for me.

MPAA: PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, brief strong language, and some sensuality/nudity.         

    
Okay, this is totally off topic, but thinking about TRON makes me lament the fact that Disneyland no longer has the People Mover ride.  I really miss it.