Oblivion (2013) Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough Movie Review

Oblivion (2013)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Tom Cruise in Oblivion (2013)

Only Popcorn Will Remain

When Earth was abandoned to the Scavs a mop up crew was left behind to make sure the drones and water systems remained working. Jack (Tom Cruise) and Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) are the last two known humans on the planet who in two weeks will finish their time and will be leaving for their new home on Titan. Whilst Victoria is looking forwards to getting off the planet Jack has reservations as between sudden memories off what the past was like tied in to some strange events he begins to question what is really going on starting with whether the Scavs are the enemy he has been told they are.

The older I get the older the movies become which I prefer to watch as much of modern cinema leaves me bordering on the disappointed whilst also bemused by how popular some of these movies are. Take "Oblivion" a movie which for nearly the entire first 40 minutes is a showcase for two things; the computer experts who create this futuristic vision of Earth and for Tom Cruise to show that even in his 50s he is in great shape. Okay so through an extended bit of narration we learn as to what is going on on the planet whilst also discover that Cruise's Jack has deeper feelings towards how the planet use to be but these opening 40 minutes end up little more than a talent showcase.

Morgan Freeman in Oblivion (2013)

It is not until those first 40 minutes are up that suddenly the attention switches to a storyline which seems to me to be a case of every sci-fi idea going weaved together. So we have those Scavs who are supposedly the enemy maybe actually being anything but, then we have everything is not as it seems, we also have memory flashbacks as well as the arrival of a woman who may be the key to unlocking what is really going on. Oh and remember whilst all this is going on we get more CGI extravagance along with Tom Cruise showing he's still an action hero whilst we also get Morgan Freeman because he is a box office draw.

Basically what I am saying is that "Oblivion" is made for the sort of audience who pick their movies on look, cast and action. And truth be told there is nothing wrong with that as there was a time when "Oblivion" would have been the must watch movie I would have been eager to see in the cinema. But as I said those days are all but gone as I want more from a movie than looks and frankly noise and it didn't deliver not even when out of the blue it presented us with another sci-fi cliche.

What this all boils down to is that "Oblivion" is an okay movie, a good movie for a modern cinema going audience whose movie choices are guided by the cast, cgi and action. But for those who have grown out of cliches chopped together as a vehicle for visual entertainment "Oblivion" is likely to be a bit of a slog through the familiar.


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