Director: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Andrea Riseborough, Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo
Running Time: 126 Minutes
Certificate: 12A
Synopsis: A veteran assigned to extract Earth’s remaining resources begins to question what he knows about his mission and himself.
Director Joseph Kosinski made his name lately after he was given the coin to restart the futuristic TRON franchise, originally from 1982. His TRON: LEGACY wasn’t faultless by any means but it did look and sound astonishing. In OBLIVION, Kosinski has moved a step forward and created a focused narrative. It’s a futuristic, reflective piece of work that’s also action-packed and encourages us to take another look at the possibilities of humanity.
OBLIVION sets us up in 2077, 60 years after the world was attacked and even though the human race won, we were forced to flee after we set the nuclear weapons on our own Earth to rid us of the invaders. Humans now live in a giant space-craft above our blue planet and are gradually being re-located to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, to recolonize. However, two people are kept on Earth in the form of Jack (Tom Cruise) and Victoria (Andrea Riseborough), who are glorified maintenance workers that manage and protect giant ocean machines that create energy for the space station above.
Kosinski has fashioned a striking addition to epic science-fiction, the landscapes and the visual nature create the world of OBLIVION with impressive assurance and set it aside from your standard sci-fi affair. There’s also the improvement here of a cohesive storyline with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing throughout. Tom Cruise is the quintessential human-spirit lead, but his character is struggling with the understanding of his role in this desolate world but once again, he’s the perfect man for the challenge. It’s also enormously promising to see rising Brit star Andrea Riseborough in such a high profile role. Her character Victoria radiates a perfect combination of sex appeal and control, she’s impressive as is Olga Kurylenko, proving that there’s life beyond Bond with an assured and captivating performance.
Furthermore, the film is aided by a sweeping score by M83 that somehow creates an atmosphere of those classic 80’s action epics but still keeps it current. When you add in strong action scenes, which include a robot drone similar to Hal from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY but on a psychopathic Patrick Bateman-style rampage, you’ve got an impressive epic with a story to tell, right from its heart together with enough explosions to keep that balance of entertainment.
OBLIVION also features one of the best hands-on fighting between two characters in recent times, plus (thankfully) it’s not in 3D and looks spectacular in IMAX. It may not be that runaway hit of the year but Kosinski has all the right elements in place and it certainly deserves to be seen.
OBLIVION is out today in the UK and on April 19th in the USA.
andrea
Apr 10, 2013 at 9:49 am
Andrea Riseborough is fantastic, a brit star rises in W.E. and Shadow Dancer…she deserves all attentions!!!
Dan Bullock
Apr 10, 2013 at 11:27 am
Completely agreed.
I’ve seen her recently in Shadow Dancer, Welcome to the Punch and now this, in which she’s stunning. In all senses!
bfg666
Apr 11, 2013 at 1:42 am
There’s something of a discrepancy here: you have nothing but good things to say about the movie yet you rate it only 3/5. WTF?
Dan Bullock
Apr 11, 2013 at 6:54 am
Correct but there’s no discrepancy, just honesty.
It’s a spoiler-free review to begin with, plus a film doesn’t have to be 5 star if it’s good. Hence the final paragraph regarding it’s longevity in the year, over other films I expect to have more of an impact.
I liked it, it looks and feels amazing and it has incredible elements in place…but it won’t live on like others I expect to, unless they’re all rubbish of course!
😉
bfg666
Apr 13, 2013 at 3:17 am
Maybe 5 star grades lack some nuances… The way I see it, something you enjoyed deserves better than the average grade, which should be destined to movies that you’d have roughly equally good and bad things to say about.