OBLIVION | Spoiler Free Review

Where do we begin with Oblivion? Tom Cruise is a heavyweight by his own standards in Hollywood. Whether or not that star is waning among film goers remains debatable… That brings to mind one statement made by a fan after watching Oblivion, but that shall follow later 😉 Let’s get into it shall we…

REVIEW

General Plot

Oblivion in short tells the story of a desolate earth, with both civilization and structures ravaged by a past alien invasion.  Whatever was left of humanity escaped and now live out of the earth in space aboard a ship. Jack Harper’s (Tom Cruise) task, aided by his partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) is to oversee large machines, called Hydrorigs, that suck up water to send up to the humans in space. That plus other of earth’s resources.  In the midst of all that, Jack Harper is always under threat of attack from the remaining aliens on the earth known as Scavs… That’s the general plot.  But since this is a spoiler free review, all we can say is expect twists and turns 😉

The Bad

As usual, to end on a positive note, we’ll start of with the negatives.  First off the bat; it takes one whole hour before we finally get to see Morgan Freeman. In that one hour, we see the same message and theme repeated and stressed over and over again; earth is desolate, Jack and Victoria have one boring mundane monotonous task.  We got it the first few minutes (and the minutes after), there was no reason for that point to be reemphasized over, and over and over again through some painfully slow and stretched out scenes…

Finally getting to see Morgan Freeman after one hour isn’t just a complaint centered on the actor, it’s a complaint that hits at the film’s main flaw; it drags on for far too long, unnecessarily for the greater part of it.  That drag causes boredom to sneak up on you, and with that lack of interest. A movie may have great scenes and parts within it, but if they are too far apart you run the great risk of losing the audience’s interest in the middle. Specifically to sleep.  Just when you think there’s a climax coming, the build up dwindles out to another painfully slow part of the story… And that’s just it, the story may have been great on paper, but it lacked the weight, the thrill and climax, as seen in the trailers, when finally on the big screen.

The Good

The acting pedigree is above average given that Cruise and Morgan (can we call them Cruisey and Morgy? No? Ok 😉 )  so no worries about not being convinced by any of the emotions on display.  The sense of mystery and ‘there’s more to the story than you think’ feel and hints do come out quite well for some parts of the film.  The visuals are really really good. The color tones, the drones, the wasteland that was once civilization are convincing. Enough to not want you to be anywhere near earth, such a desolate waste…

Overall

Oblivion is an ok to  good film, could have been way better with probably fewer cliche sci-fi genre related drags and over-emphasis of certain themes. Don’t expect as much action or ‘danger’ as the trailers promised. Expect more of a ‘suggestive’ film; meaning it’s more about your thoughts and feelings rather than watching dramatic scenes and engaging build-ups.

Ratings

Rotten Tomatoes: 56%

IMDb: 7.2/10

With a budget of $120 Million and currently grossing at &201 Million, Oblivion is a fair success at the Box Office, ‘fair’ because reviews are generally mixed.  But it’s safe to say there is no sequel in the works 😉

Movie Jabber rating: 6/10

Go on and watch it and share your thoughts, constructive disputes are welcome 😉