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After director Joseph Kosinski turned Disney’s long-awaited TRON sequel, 2010’s TRON: Legacy, into a good-looking mess, sci-fi fans weren’t exactly pushing for a follow-up. But, with Oblivion, Kosinski proves that TRON: Legacy wasn’t the high point of his career.
Oblivion takes place in 2077—60 years after an alien invasion destroyed the moon, leaving Earth uninhabitable. While the surviving humans have moved to a new colony on one of Saturn’s moons, Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) has been brought back to Earth to maintain the machines that mine the planet’s resources while protecting them from alien Scavengers.
With just two weeks to go before Jack and his communications officer, Victoria (Andrea Riseborough), are scheduled to conclude their mission and join the rest of humanity on Titan, things begin to go wrong. First, a drone goes missing. Then, after a ship crashes nearby, Jack rescues a survivor from a drone attack—and he soon learns that what he’s been told about his mission might not be the truth.
Like TRON: Legacy, Oblivion is a striking film. But instead of flashy, futuristic 3D graphics, it’s filled with sweeping shots of desolation and devastation as Jack makes the rounds of a deserted planet. Kosinski may have chosen to skip the gimmicky 3D for his second film, but it’s clearly not necessary. The IMAX footage alone is pretty impressive.
The effects, too—while relatively low-key—are quite stunning. From the ship that Jack uses to scan the planet to the drones that hunt and kill enemy Scavengers, these eye-catching effects help to create a bleakly beautiful—and believable—futuristic world.
The story, however, isn’t exactly original. Though it’s well written, with some interesting twists, one of the film’s biggest twists seems to have been borrowed from a sci-fi indie that made its way to theaters a few years ago. I can’t say which one—because I don’t want to spoil anything—but I will say that the similarities are obvious enough that all of the critics sitting around me made the connection.
Meanwhile, as is often the case with science-fiction, the story has its share of flaws and holes and nagging little issues—like the fact that Jack and Victoria seem to have no qualms about having participated in a “mandatory memory wipe.” Or the fact that a valuable piece of evidence seems to appear wherever it’s most convenient at the time. But, thanks to the gorgeous settings and Cruise’s most natural performance in years, it’s easy to overlook the flaws and get caught up in the film’s action and suspense.
It isn’t quite summer yet—and Oblivion isn’t quite a summer blockbuster-level sci-fi thriller. But it’s a worthwhile warm-up for bigger, flashier things to come.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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