Tom Cruise returns to science fiction in Joseph Kosinski's latest. But just like Kosinski's first feature TRON: Legacy (2010), Oblivion is all surface.
The year is 2077. Humans have been at war with an unspecified race of Aliens. We won the war but lost the planet. The aliens destroyed the moon, causing tsunamis and earthquakes shortly before our nukes took care of the rest. Mankind has taken refuge on Titan, a moon of Saturn. All that remains on Earth are a handful of alien scavengers, and Jack (Tom Cruise) and Victoria (Andrea Riseborough). Huge machines float on the oceans inhaling the sea water to be taken to Titan, and it is Jack and Victoria's job to make sure they go unscuppered. As a maintenance team, they look after drones that patrol the landscape, eradicating any alien leftovers.
With two weeks left until Jack and Victoria can join the rest of mankind, to live out their days on Titan, drones start losing parts and alien activity increases. Things come to a head when Jack discovers a human survivor crash landed on the planet’s surface, and begins to question his blind loyalty to his assignments and 'Mission Control'.
The scorched Earth is an enticing setting in which this sci-fi tale unfolds. There is a beauty in its emptiness. Jack spends a lot of time traversing the landscape and these moments of quiet exploration work as some of the film’s better moments. Kosinski has built a believable world with incredible art design. From the buildings and spaceships, to the interiors and clothing, everything is chrome and white, clean lines and beautiful shapes. It works well and gives the world a real sense of character, even if it does look like Apple has designed it all. The weaponry and technology all seem appropriate within the world and the future of 2077 looks suitably and believably, well, futuristic. This glossy sheen does little to hide the fact, however, that we are watching a film more content with referencing its contemporaries than attempting anything unique.
Once the plot starts to twist in ways you see coming one hour previously, the film becomes a never ending checklist of sci-fi homage. With a running time of 126 minutes (despite feeling twice this), the film feels laborious and extremely cold. None of this is helped by a cast that looks as un-engaged as we are.
There was potential with the cast. The film’s central duo makes for one of the more interesting bits of casting in recent years. Riseborough is a real up and coming star and is already a critic favourite, whilst as lead actors come, you still can’t get much bigger than Cruise. It is clear that Cruise still has what it takes, and is as much the star as he ever was. At a time where ‘80’s action stars are now pastiche fodder, he is still a commanding presence and you forget that he is now 50. He’s proved he can do this stuff. Minority Report (2002) and War of the Worlds (2005) show that he’s capable of better in the hands of a more accomplished director. It just makes his effort here all the more disappointing. Similarly, Riseborourgh is far from the actress we’ve come to expect, and there is such little chemistry between the two. “We are still an effective team”, Victoria assures Mission Control. You’ll leave the cinema disagreeing.
Cruise’s and Risebourgh’s performances are indicative of the problem; Oblivion is a film with no bite. It’s so derivative of the genre that despite being an original concept, you feel like you’ve seen it all before, and done considerably better. The ingredients are all there, if only everyone would have just tried a little harder.
The year is 2077. Humans have been at war with an unspecified race of Aliens. We won the war but lost the planet. The aliens destroyed the moon, causing tsunamis and earthquakes shortly before our nukes took care of the rest. Mankind has taken refuge on Titan, a moon of Saturn. All that remains on Earth are a handful of alien scavengers, and Jack (Tom Cruise) and Victoria (Andrea Riseborough). Huge machines float on the oceans inhaling the sea water to be taken to Titan, and it is Jack and Victoria's job to make sure they go unscuppered. As a maintenance team, they look after drones that patrol the landscape, eradicating any alien leftovers.
With two weeks left until Jack and Victoria can join the rest of mankind, to live out their days on Titan, drones start losing parts and alien activity increases. Things come to a head when Jack discovers a human survivor crash landed on the planet’s surface, and begins to question his blind loyalty to his assignments and 'Mission Control'.
The scorched Earth is an enticing setting in which this sci-fi tale unfolds. There is a beauty in its emptiness. Jack spends a lot of time traversing the landscape and these moments of quiet exploration work as some of the film’s better moments. Kosinski has built a believable world with incredible art design. From the buildings and spaceships, to the interiors and clothing, everything is chrome and white, clean lines and beautiful shapes. It works well and gives the world a real sense of character, even if it does look like Apple has designed it all. The weaponry and technology all seem appropriate within the world and the future of 2077 looks suitably and believably, well, futuristic. This glossy sheen does little to hide the fact, however, that we are watching a film more content with referencing its contemporaries than attempting anything unique.
Once the plot starts to twist in ways you see coming one hour previously, the film becomes a never ending checklist of sci-fi homage. With a running time of 126 minutes (despite feeling twice this), the film feels laborious and extremely cold. None of this is helped by a cast that looks as un-engaged as we are.
There was potential with the cast. The film’s central duo makes for one of the more interesting bits of casting in recent years. Riseborough is a real up and coming star and is already a critic favourite, whilst as lead actors come, you still can’t get much bigger than Cruise. It is clear that Cruise still has what it takes, and is as much the star as he ever was. At a time where ‘80’s action stars are now pastiche fodder, he is still a commanding presence and you forget that he is now 50. He’s proved he can do this stuff. Minority Report (2002) and War of the Worlds (2005) show that he’s capable of better in the hands of a more accomplished director. It just makes his effort here all the more disappointing. Similarly, Riseborourgh is far from the actress we’ve come to expect, and there is such little chemistry between the two. “We are still an effective team”, Victoria assures Mission Control. You’ll leave the cinema disagreeing.
Cruise’s and Risebourgh’s performances are indicative of the problem; Oblivion is a film with no bite. It’s so derivative of the genre that despite being an original concept, you feel like you’ve seen it all before, and done considerably better. The ingredients are all there, if only everyone would have just tried a little harder.