Oblivion

Movie Review

by Michael Bradley

Oblivion is the latest Tom Cruise science fiction movie.  I have never really cared for Tom Cruise or his acting, and special effects tend to be overdone in his movies, so that was my expectation entering the dark expanse of the theater.  I was in for a refreshing surprise.  Yes, there is Tom Cruise strutting, shirt off, close ups of his face as in all his films, and there are special effects full of eye candy, but there is also a fascinating sci-fi story as well.  This makes Oblivion definitely worth seeing.

The role of Jack Harper is portrayed by Tom Cruise, who gets nearly all the screen time as well.  Andrea Riseborough, an English actor portrays Victoria and does an outstanding job.  Olga Kurylenko, the Ukraine born woman who played the Bond Girl in Quantum of Solace, plays Julia.  Morgan Freeman, as always, plays himself, but the character is named Beech.  They are the only four with significant airtime.

The story starts out with flashbacks and narration by Jack Harper that let you as an audience know that aliens called Scavengers, or Scavs, for short, attacked the planet.  Earth won but was destroyed, so the people went off to Titan, but they have to harvest the seas for energy.  Jack and Victoria are left behind to fix the patrol drones and keep the harvesters safe from the remaining Scavs who are bent on causing them troubles.

I hate the fact that movie trailers reveal too much.  I have to confess that the first couple of “twists” in the story I had already guessed from the trailers.  It is impossible not to see them in this mass media world we live in where they spend almost as much marketing as they do filming.  Still, the movie takes several turns and some were not expected at all.  The movie moves along at a good pace, revealing things one at a time, not making you wait to long, but having you reassess what is going on along the way.

A few caught me unawares, which is what I really enjoy.  Oblivion is not a movie that you will talk about for weeks.  It has no deeper meaning to it.  However, it is a refreshing bit of eye candy, action film, that is not mindless, but actually tells an interesting tale as it goes and you use your mind a bit to keep up.  I would like to comment on a few things that did not work as well, but I won’t.  They would require spoilers, and I won’t duplicate a movie trailer by giving too much away.