Oblivion

When I first saw the trailer for Oblivion I was underwhelmed. It looked real pretty but it didnt look like it would hold my attention and that it was just another Hollywood cash grab. I let it fly under my radar knowing that I would eventually see it and probably give it a middle-of-the-road score using the terms "average", "uninspired", and "forgettable" somewhere within the review. 

And then I saw that it was directed by Joseph Kosinki and it was essentially his brain child (it's based on his unpublished graphic novel that goes by the same name). My interest piqued. For those of you that don't know, Kosinki directed Tron: Legacy. That movie, in my honest opinion, is one of the most underrated movies in the last decade. I won't go too much into detail, but it is still the best looking 3D movie I have seen (tied with Avatar), had fun characters, an intriguing albeit a little far fetched plot, and one of the best original scores ever. So, I had a little bit of hope for Oblivion. It had an interesting premise, a couple big name actors, and a director who's last film I've seen into the double-digit realm of viewings. It just didn't have a very captivating trailer. 

So which is it? Average and skip-able or a surprise much like Tron: Legacy was? This should probably give you a clue:

Oblivion is currently one of my favorite movies of this year. Once again, Kosinki delivers and once again, he is grossly underrated. 

Absolutely stunning. I sincerely wish I would have seen it in IMAX.

We will get the obvious out of the way first. Oblivion is gorgeous. In fact, I would go as far as to say that it might have the Rath Award for best special effects on lock. Given the big movies that are coming later this year, that should be a statement in and of itself. But seriously guys, once I realized how good the effects were, I got really anal...I wanted to find every little detail that suggested green screen, CG human beings, etc. I couldn't find a single one. I'm actually still pretty impressed by it all. Oblivion doesn't have any big army vs. army scenes or HUGE action setpieces, but for the action that it does have and for the visuals effects it does have to use; they are absolutely flawless. Hand in hand with this is the fact that the world, at least for the tight realm of the story, is fully realized. From the trailer I was worried that this would be just another sci-fi movie that had some fancy gadgets that had no purpose and were just there to make you believe it was in the future. Oblivion's myth is fully realized and while the length of the timeline of events was somewhat unbelievable, I was sucked into the fact that this was our Earth 60 years after an alien invasion and war. 

He's gonna get on his motorcycle then make like a Tom and cruise. Haha get it? Because he's Tom Cruise.
No? You guys suck... 

God and Jamie Lannister! Or in other words:
I watch too many movies and too much TV.

There has been a lot of talk about the story for Oblivion. I thought it was superb. Of course, this review will be spoiler-free as always, but there were essentially two big twists. The first one I guessed about 15-20 minutes in and the second floored me. I've heard a lot of movie goers say that they saw everything coming and I say BS to that. Oblivion pulls out the twists successfully and even better, it tells its story in a fun manner. Rather than revealing all of its cards up front, it saves some crucial plot points until the middle and the end which may frustrate some, but I loved it. Unfortunately, I've also heard talk about the characters being insufficient and fairly one dimensional. For starters, this is a sci-fi movie with a lot of ground to cover plot-wise. If you want to know what drives a character to pour their milk in a bowl before the cereal, go watch a character drama! (May I suggest last week's fantastic film, The Place Beyond the Pines). Frankly, in a sci-fi movie I'd rather know...oh I dont know... maybe why the Empire State Building's observation deck is now at ground level?! Regardless of this, I loved the three main characters and I found their struggles and relationships to be very well done. Cruise plays Jack Harper who is a drone repair man and his partner is Victoria, played by Andrea Riseborough. The beautiful Olga Kurylenko comes in about midway through as Julia and I ended up becoming truly invested in her and Harper's relationship. I really can't give anything away, but it simply just works. Or at least it did for me. And I think that might be what I'm so impressed with. A lot of movies just have a bunch of twists for the sake of having twists. Oblivion earns its twists and fully explains them. 

Really the only big complaint I have about the film is Morgan Freeman's character. For as iconic as Morgan Freeman is, you don't just have him in your movie to deliver a couple lines. But honestly, that's about all he does. If you watch the trailer below, at least a third of his screen time is in it. It's hard to say how it could have been changed, but I really just think it should have been a different, less important actor. With Morgan Freeman, you automatically assume, "Oh, this is significant character.". In Oblivion he wasn't and it just kinda felt awkward. 

Speaking of purrrty...Olga Kurylenko

I'm really not sure why critics were somewhat disappointed with this movie. People are always complaining about a lack of original ideas in Hollywood, movies that are meant to be made into trilogies, and action-heavy films with little meaning. Now, I love most all of those types of movies, but Oblivion is none of them. It's out to tell a single story and it accomplishes that. If I'm being honest, it's pretty light on the action save for an exciting chase sequence and a few smaller scenes. But it is a sci-fi film through and through. It creates its world, it believes in its world, it sets the characters in motion, and it reveals its story little by little. 

I didn't find it "average", "uninspired", or "forgettable". 

I found it fantastic. 

Pros:

• I'm going to have to keep my eye out on Joseph Kosinki from now on. The dude makes movies that I like and I'm super impressed that Oblivion was his original idea. He's got my vote for most underrated director in Hollywood right now
• The special effects are some of the best I have EVER seen and I don't say that lightly. Granted, there are no thousand-person-army battles or Avengers-like city destructions going on at any time, but when it does use effects, I dare you to find any issue with them
• I thought the story was fantastic and by the end I was not only intellectually engaged but emotionally engaged. Its twists were well worked into the plot and explained after their reveals. I'd be willing to bet money that you dont see the second one coming
• While the acting required of Cruise and gang is certainly nothing challenging, they all give solid performances. Cruise may live his personal life in the tabloids, but he lives his characters onscreen. It's always a delight to watch him
• A fantastic Tron-like original score. It's nowhere near as much of a masterpiece as Legacy's score and I probably wont purchase it to listen to it in my free time, but it was always very fitting and it was fun to hear some of the same styles that Tron: Legacy used

Cons:

• Morgan Freeman's character is basically used to attract movie-goers. He serves little purpose and that's not OK when it's Morgan freakin' Freeman
• The movie could have benefited from an additional, prolonged action scene. The ones present are great, but I would have enjoyed to see more of those effects kicked into high gear
• I personally appreciated all of the scenes in the final cut, but there were certainly some that could have been removed
• The timeline and geographical scope of the plot seem kind of unrealistic having seen the film from start to end
• Would have been better with a smidgen of humor. But just a smidgen, not a dollop...

Rath's Review Score: 9/10