Sci-fi spectacular melds with character driven mystery in Oblivion, Joseph Kosinski’s stylish follow up to Tron: Legacy that stars an in form Tom Cruise.
As proclaimed numerous times on this website, the last several years has seen the sci-fi genre reach new heights with every new release. It’s the result of talented filmmakers influenced by the likes of Kubrick, Spielberg and Lucas, properly utilising the best and brightest in visual effects and production design, creating new era sci-fi classics where character is just as important as exposition.
Oblivion is another example of this most welcome of trends (or should it now be labelled a movement?). While it’s not on the same level of Moon or Inception, it’s a welcome reprieve from the usual muck released during this time of the year: stylish, well written, with a compelling lead performance by Tom Cruise who (we should all know by now) doesn’t commit to a project unless he thinks it’s a winner (or at least a spirited runner-up).
Oblivion opens with a loaded backstory, with Earth decimated by the double whammy of an alien invasion and its subsequent nuclear war, the human race now colonised on a distant moon. Cruise stars as Jack, a technician who – along with partner Victoria (Andrea Risenborough) - undergoes a mission to salvage Earth’s precious last resources.
It’s when Jack questions the mission and his very existence that things get complicated. What follows is a story that sucks you in with every reveal, Kosinski setting the right pace for the numerous twists and turns to have their proper impact, as Cruise delivers a compelling performance that plays to his strengths as both superstar leading man and fine dramatic actor.
The real star of Oblivion is Darren Gilford’s outstanding production design, the art direction of Kevin Ishioka and his team, and the visual effects from the Pixomondo and The Third Floor effects houses. Considering Kosinski directed Tron: Legacy is shouldn’t be a surprise to find such detail put into these sleek, wonderfully created sets and gadgets, including an impressive flying vehicle that Cruise’s hero whisks above, around and across this post-apocalyptic world, with a dogfight sequence evoking Cruise’s Top Gun days.
Cruise’s forays into sci-fi has ranged from the great (Minority Report) to the above average (War of the Worlds). Oblivion rests comfortably in-between. It isn’t by any means a game changer, but it has the performances, the story and especially the look to make a trip to the cinema worth it. |