2013: The Year in Film: "Oblivion" Review

Tom Cruise is an interesting character, to say the least. Undeniably talented, incredibly charismatic, he's at once one of the last true movie stars and one of the single strangest people in all of entertainment. As an unabashed movie enthusiast I can say that I at once respect Tom Cruise's talent, shake my head at his oddball behavior and Scientologist beliefs, and wish he had the guts to take more chances with his career. He seems to only play traditional Hollywood "heroes" and leading men (with a few notable exceptions), eschewing riskier, more hard-boiled fare in favor of playing it safe, Will Smith style. There's not anything necessarily wrong with this. it's just that when your filmography consists of nothing but traditional box office draws it's tough to really gauge you as an actor.  Enter 2013's "Oblivion", a sci fi flick written and directed by Joseph Kosinski, who previously directed the great-looking but vapid Tron: Legacy.

It's 2077 and Earth has been decimated by an alien invasion and subsequent war. The moon was destroyed and most of the earth's surface is irradiated wasteland. Jack Harper (Tom Cruise, proving his career goal to play characters with only the most dull of names) is part of a two-person cleanup and maintenance along with his girlfriend/partner, Victoria. (newcomer and sure to be movie star Andrea Riseborough) Their day to day existence consists of maintaining and repairing the armed drones that protect the power stations seeking to transport energy to earth's population on an off-planet colony from the remnants of the alien invasion force. All is not as it seems as Jack continually has dreams of a mysterious woman and encounters other human survivors. The plot thickens.

The Good: this film plain and simply looks incredible. The sky tower, ships and futuristic technology is innovative and stunning. For his shortcomings as a filmmaker, Kosinski is certainly capable of some stunning visuals, which were the best part of Tron: Legacy as well. There is an interesting world and mythology created here that left me wanting more exposition. The flick also benefits from a strong lead performance from Tom Cruise and some great action sequences. A solid 2/3rds of the film consists of Tom Cruise on screen alone, either communicating with someone via headset or all alone and he manages to give his character a strong presence and really dominate the screen. Risborough is strong as well and serves as a solid counterpoint to Cruise. In addition, there are several twists that will surprise you if you manage to avoid spoilers and really drive the plot along. Nikolaj "Jaime Lannister" Coster-Waldau makes a welcome and unexpected appearance as well.

 The Bad: Former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko is pretty to look at but offers very little either as a revelatory character/plot device or love interest to Tom Cruise. She just sort of stumbles along with a dazed look on her face. Morgan Freeman is cast as the leader of the human survivors but is similarly given very little to do. Either the vast majority of his role was cut or he's hard up for money because his role is simply unbefitting an actor of his talent and stature. The plot, while smart in its own way, borrows heavily from sci fi tropes and classics and feels like part Planet of the Apes, part Terminator, part video game, part Wall-E, part Matrix and generally feels like something we've seen before with an M. Night Shamalan twist.

 Ultimately, this is a great-looking flick with a vintage Tom Cruise performance. However, the lack of strong character to match Cruise (and a total lack of chemistry between him and supposed love interest Kurylenko) leaves the flick feeling unfulfilled. The plot after the twists ultimately feels flat and the film is just too derivative to be anything special. Worth seeing in the theater for the visuals, but nothing memorable.. this can be added to the middling ranks of the sci-fi genre. Cruise certainly gives it his all though. 6.5/10.