Oblivion

Rating : 5/10
Release Date : 12th April, 2013
Time : 126 minutes
Director & Writer : Joseph Kosinski, based on the graphic comicbook, co-written with Arvid Nelson; Music : Anthony Gonzalez, M.8.3.
Starring : Tom Cruise, Andrea Riseborough, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Melissa Leo




Scavengers / Aliens attacked the moon, destroyed it and then attacked the Earth. Humans won that war but lost the planet. Earth ravaged first by the loss of the moon and the resultant quakes and tsunamis, then by the battle itself, becoming an inhospitable barren land. Now, in 2077, policed by a few humans, its only a source of energy for the human survivors on Titan, one of Saturn’s moons.



Tom Cruise is one of the technicians cum policemen. Flies around, locates drones which are missing, gets them back in action, avoids or fights the few remaining scavengers, as the case may be. Is haunted by memories of a past life. And is partnered with Andrea, both of whom are monitored by a controller on Titan, who constantly keeps checking if they are an ‘effective’ team. The big carrot is moving them from Earth to Tithe when their time there is up, and that’s just two weeks away. Andrea is very excited about that, is very particular about rules. Tom is not so sure he wants to leave Earth. Something holds him there, makes him yearn for the old times. And keeps seeing visions of Olga Kurlyenko, whom he has never seen before in his life.





The set up is good, mysterious. You always sense a surprise around the corner. Special effects, photography, sets are excellent, the best thing about the film. The pace is slow, probably a notch below what it needed to be. And when the surprises do come they fluctuate between being utterly confusing, utterly predictable or utterly incredible.



Tom Cruise comes across a bit flat in this one. Some touches of emotion but otherwise very soul-less. The others in the film, Andrea, Olga, Morgan Freeman don’t really have too much to do, making it a rather longwinded one man show.





Everytime I see a sci-fi film like this one, I realize how much I admire the Matrix, where they brought forth a mindblowing concept, yet kept the film very, very simple. Oblivion, on the other hand, left me distinctly underwhelmed and has every possibility of fading into its namesake.