Oblivion

20 April 2015

Oblivion 2013

• Director: Joseph Kosinski
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Tom Cruiser, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Melissa Leo, Morgan Freeman
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Tom Cruise – Valkyria, War of the Worlds, Eyes Wide Shut, Born on the Fourth of July, Rain Man, Cocktail
• Olga Kurylenko – Quantum of Solace
• Andrea Riseborough – Brighton Rock, Never Let Me Go, Happy-Go-Lucky
• Melissa Leo – Frozen River, Veronica Mars, 21 Grams, Homicide Life on the Streets, The Ballad of Little Jo
• Morgan Freeman – Transcendence, the Batman films, Gone Baby Gone, The Contract, Million Dollar Baby, Bruce the Almighty, Levity, Along Came a Spider, Nurse Betty, Amistad, Kiss the Girls, Moll Flanders, Seven, The Shawshank Redemption, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Glory, Driving Miss Daisy
• Why?  Sci-fi. Morgan Freeman
• Seen:  April 17, 2015 

The year 2077. We won the war but lost the planet. Humanity survives on the moon Titan.

‘Earth is still my home,’ says Jack Harper, maintenance/surveillance macho sentimental book-loving baseball-loving hunter of the alien scavengers that continue to threaten Earth.

It’s a bit James Bondy, with chases and heavy weapons and male cockiness. It’s a bit Star Warrish with lots of spaceships and laser drones and weapons and things.

Jack and his partner/lover Victoria have hovered over the Earth in their space station for some time, keeping an eye on things.   In two weeks they will leave Earth for Titan, their mission accomplished. She wants to go. He doesn’t. 

There’s a threat but it’s mysterious.  Who? What? They don’t know.

Jack is haunted by dreams/memories.  He’s a maverick and disobeys orders. He finds survivors on dead burning exploding Earth.  One is the woman of his dreams/memories, Julia. She has been in Delta sleep since before the invasion, war and destruction of Earth.

After almost an hour of build-up the film becomes interesting. Enter Morgan Freeman. There’s a resistance movement on Earth. But who are they? And what or who are they resisting? What are they defending?

There’s a lot of 2001 a Space Odyssey too.

As is often the case in films like this the logic doesn’t necessarily hold up to scrutiny and it sails too close to emotional clichés to be gripping but it’s exciting at times and not without conceptual interest.

2 ½ * of 5