OBLIVION micro review

Get ready sci fi fans, 2013 is gonna be a good year for you.  In the next few months we have Star Trek Into Darkness, Pacific Rim and Elysium to look forward to; but every feast needs a good appetizer.  Tom Cruise and director Joseph Kosinski (Tron Legacy) are here to serve us the blooming onion of sci fi appetizers with Oblivion.

Now where's that damn waiter with our drinks?

It's 2077 and the Earth has been destroyed by a war with an invading alien race; we won the war, but destroyed the planet in the process.  With the exception of technician Jack Harper and his partner/FWB Victoria, all human life has been relocated to Titan (Saturn's moon).  Jack and Victoria spend their days boning, repairing defense drones and making sure the remnants of the invasion force don't screw up plans to convert Earth's ocean water into hydrogen fuel for the colony on Titan.  In good sci fi fasion, the validity of this premise is a little shaky.

Though it does give Cruise a chance to go into his default "saving the world" mode

As is usually the case, Tom Cruise is a monolithic presence here and the rest of the movie just seems to orbit around him.  He delivers the sometimes clunky exposition with conviction, does stunts that most actors even half his age wouldn't consider and generally anchors the movie quite well.  The rest of the cast include great actors playing roles they could do in their sleep.  It's not to say that actors like Morgan Freeman and Andrea Riseborough don't bring it, they just didn't NEED to bring that much of it.

It's ok guys, just hang out.  Tom's got this.....

Most sci fi fans will be a little torn on this one due to its story.  Oblivion plays like a collage of other sci fi films; it cherry picks from films like The Matrix, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Bladerunner and Planet of the Apes without skipping a beat.  Granted, the film weaves these elements together quite well but you'll get a sense of "been there done that" throughout most of the film.  This also leads to the story feeling predictable if you're familiar with the source material.

Who wants to skydive to work?

Where this movie truly excels is the visuals and production design; this movie is GORGEOUS.  The world of the future looks like it was made by Apple; it's sleek and minimalist yet still has a lot of personality and looks shockingly liveable.  The house that Jack and Victoria live in is an amazing, fully automated compound suspended hundreds of feet in the air complete with a glass bottom swimming pool.  The tech in the movie is all very cool from the weapons (flying killer drones that look like Apple products) to vehicles (including the awesome portable dirtbike, also an Apple-like design).  Despite how futuristic it is, it still feels like we could be living with this stuff in the next few decades; a hallmark of GOOD sci fi production design.

Apple you need to get on this IMMEDIATELY!  

And I want it to sync to my ipod damnit!

So here it is sci fi fans, your appetizer before the feast.  Oblivion isn't the best sci fi movie ever (and it's definitely not the most original) but it is a very entertaining palette setter; the fried calamari of sci fi epics if you will.  If you're a hardcore sci fi snob, then don't bother with this derivative flick; your time would be better spent at home, blogging about whether or not Benedict Cumberbatch is or is not actually playing Kahn in the next  Star Trek.  To those people i say "live long and prosper", to the rest of you looking for a fun time, I say enjoy this appetizer (mozzarella sticks!) and prepare yourselves for the nerdy feast to come.