Oblivion

in 2017, Earth was attacked by an unknown race. Pleased with no solution but our demise, these creatures destroyed our planet but lost to the overpowering human race. Although we won our planet, we lost our home. Now, some 60 years later, with Earth completely unfit for human survival, Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) and his partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) are sent down to dispose of Scavs, shadowed creatures who destroy every drone Jack and Victoria send out. With the sole task of destroying scavs and repairing drones, Jack looks forward to joining his people up in Titan, a moon of Saturn that is acting as a permanent home for all humans. Unfortunately for Jack, something awaits him in the wasteland that is Earth.

It's difficult to look at a film that is getting mediocre reviews like Oblivion and try to understand what they saw that you didn't. Perhaps it's the inverse of that and I saw something that they didn't. Whatever the case, Oblivion is being met with heavy criticism by some and what seems to be reluctant enthusiasm by others. Despite their thoughts on this, allow me to explain to you why I love Oblivion.

Oblivion is the second feature film directed by Joseph Kosinski, the first being the critical-toss-up Tron: Legacy, but it feels like it might as well be his eighth. Kosinski has his feet firmly on this film, whereas T:L (while I'm still a supporter of it) felt unstable. And it's not difficult to see how firm his feet are when the ground underneath is so solid. The story of Oblivion is half of the reason the film works so well. Unfortunately, it's almost entirely impossible to discuss without giving some inkling of spoilers away. So in the benefit of enjoying this as much as I did, I'd suggest to avoid any more trailers and walk into Oblivion as blind as possible. What I will say, though, is that it has been far too long since I've seen a sci/fi film with as much heart as Oblivion.

The main winning factor is exactly what has been wrong with sci/fi pictures of the last couple years. Why create an interesting and near-breath taking world if you never intended on visiting it for more than a few mere glimpses in passing? I'm glaring at you, Total Recall. Kosinski knows the world he created for Oblivion is beautiful and doesn't hold out on allowing his audience to take in the massive waterfalls and never ending desert landscape. Watching Jack ride a dirt bike underneath several pieces of the Golden Gate bridge is pretty damn pleasing to the eyes. Granted, it looks like Apple is the only business doing well in 2077, but everything Kosinski has created here fits the bill near perfectly and causes Oblivion to soar up to one of the better sci/fi films I've seen in years.

Say what you will about his personal life, but Tom Cruise has once again proven that he is still one of the greatest action stars in the game. It's great to see an actor who takes his action scenes as seriously as his dramatic ones. Most people are fine with bad acting as long as the action sequences are decent. Seeing that nothing was phoned in on Oblivion is refreshing and earns respect on this fact alone. Cruise isn't alone, either. Andrea Riseborough's Victoria is sincere and full of wonder, but knows when to turn on the heat and make for some great tension. Freeman does his usual work of using his natural voice to convince audiences that it's good acting. It works well for a minimal role such as this so it's not a loss. Olga Kurylenko really sells mystery with her role as Julia. She keeps the story grounded when things begin to get a bit complicated, which isn't always an easy task. Julia is an extremely important part to get right and Kurylenko doesn't disappoint. Melissa Leo does her usual work of making you never realize that Melissa Leo is Melissa Leo until end credits or IMDB say otherwise. She's a phantom, that woman.

There are two big factors that really help sell Oblivion: it's soundtrack and impressive IMAX release. Similar to what he did with Tron: Legacy and Daft Punk, Kosinski asked electronic artist M83 to create the soundtrack to his world of Oblivion. At times, it sounds a bit familiar to Daft Punk's score, with even a hint of Hans Zimmer's The Dark Knight Rises, but it does enough to secure itself as a dynamite soundtrack with attention grabbing rhythms and a powerhouse end credits song. Speaking of powerhouse, IMAX is really the only way to see Oblivion. After experiencing Kosinski's beautiful wasteland on that towering of a screen, I couldn't imagine downgrading to a regular sized screen. I'm unaware if this was shot with an IMAX camera, but I'd be surprised if it you could achieve as perfect of a shot as Kosinski does on an IMAX screen with an IMAX specific camera. With M83's exciting soundtrack blasting through the massive speakers in IMAX theaters, Oblivion is going to be a fantastic experience for many people this weekend.

Courtesy of a great vision, breath taking visual effects, a phenomenal soundtrack, and a beautiful IMAX experience, Oblivion is a fantastic sc/fi adventure that will tear audiences in half with their opinions. But if you enjoy Tom Cruise's work and thought Tron: Legacy had a great vision amongst an unstable story, Oblivion will cripple the competition.