I have read so many critics that, literally, beat this movie to death. This is such a mistake and it makes me think that a lot of these film critics that are out there don't, really, know much about film and film history.
I am not the greatest fan of Tom Cruise, anymore. He has done some good acting in the past and, still, stands convincing in his latest, Oblivion. Over the years some of what he has done, publicly, has bugged me, big time. Nevertheless, he's a pretty good actor and some of his qualities arise in this film.
Oblivion is a true science fiction movie based on the novel of same name that has all the trimmings of a futuristic, genetically-altered, Orwellian nightmare. Now, i realize in reading so many critics' reviews of this movie that smashed it to pieces that they probably never read Orwell and probably don't even know how to read. That is fine. I don't hate my ancestors because they lived in caves.
If I can use some 70's lingo, "this film is pretty neato." I'm not giving it an A+ but it was very engaging and if all you have to talk about as a critic is how much money they spent on a film and attack Morgan Freeman than you probably should study film a bit more before you continue writing any further. Like i said....not an A+ but definitely worth a look and, do so, on the big screen.
The cinematography, the scenery.....it's all very huge and ominous and draws you into the profound reality that there just may be life in the 168 billion galaxies they have found, so far, with Hubble. Again, if you don't know what Hubble is, quit, now, as you are better off collecting handguns.
The previews on the TV ads give us hints of dark, fast, monstrous creatures that attack our hero on this lonely planet earth, lost, and in the future. This is scary. This is cool.
But, what director, Joseph Kosinski does is set you up. Where Cruise starts as a simple repairman in a far and ruined future where fear resides in the dark trenches, Cruise is living in a lie. What is dark is light. What is light is good. What is bad is far more horrifying than the beasts that Cruise's hunter droids kill for him.
Do you like genetics? Evolution? Stem-cell research? Then, this film is for you. It is the test of science and the human will all that can go so very wrong in nature. Sure, the love scenes are a little hokey but everything is not what it seems. All that is natural and safe can get very Stepfordish, right away.
This film is a triumph of the human condition pitted against the very darkest of odds. Like an inexpensive syrah or shiraz, it is ripe and juicy but has depth followed by very profound meaning which I can relate to the finish of a good, mid-range wine. Much like the 2010 Terlato Shiraz, this film is, both, beautiful and provocative and finishes quite nicely on the palette and the mind.
Oblivion left me feeling like Charlton Heston on his knees, crying, when he thinks he's escaped the wrath of the apes and finds a broken Statue of Liberty sticking out of the sand on a desolate beach. As with humans, it seems, just as we find ourselves barely getting out of the worst of situations, something more dark and foreboding approaches. Have faith, heal, and enjoy wine....
