FILM: Oblivion

[karelm 3,271]

Spoilers below!

I had high expectations for this film based on the evocative trailers. The movie is directed by Joseph Kosinski who also directed Tron Legacy and stars Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, and Andrea Riseborough.

The story is complicated with some plot holes.

Overall, the plot is something like Tom Cruise (Jack) and his romantic partner, Andrea Riseborough (Victoria), are the last two people on earth after an alien attack resulted in the destruction of the moon and the subsequent nuking of the planet some sixty years earlier. “We won the war but lost the planet”, Cruise says in his opening monologue. These two basically spend their day making love in a spectacular sky tower house three thousand feet above the wasteland and fixing drones that protect the last resource collectors from any alien (scrap) invaders that remain. As the two fixers, Jack and Victoria are at the tail end of their five year mission then will join the rest of humanity on titan. Their boss, Sally, is stationed on an orbiting space station called the Tet and monitors their progress and stays uncomfortably involved in their personal affairs always asking if they are still effective as a team. Despite an erased memory, Jack often relives flashbacks of the world before the invasion where he sees a beautiful woman he seems to recall.

One day, a spacecraft with human occupants crash lands on earth. Jack goes to investigate against his directives and is surprised to find the woman from his flashbacks in hibernation along with several other crew members. The survivors are killed by a drone which Jack believed would protect them but instead kills them. He intervenes before it kills the woman from his flashback. When Jack returns to the sky tower, Victoria, does not let him in with his wife. Victoria tells Sally that they are no longer an effective team. Sally responds by having Victoria killed by a drone and tells Jack to go to the Tet with his wife.

We learn this woman is in fact his wife and that Jack and Victoria were astronauts going to investigate the Tet/alien mothership 60 years earlier. A team of human survivors, led by Morgan Freeman, kidnaps Jack and his wife telling them that the "Tet" is actually the alien mothership and all humans are dead (none are on Titan). Jack goes to the forbidden radiation zone and discovers a clone of himself monitering another sector. This new knowledge that Jack is in fact a clone results in his siding with the humans. They devise to send a captured drone with a nuke up to the Tet to destroy it with Jack’s help. Unfortunately, they are discovered by a drone assault and many are killed. Jack decides to go on a suicide mission with the nuke and deliver it to the Tet himself resulting in the destruction of the Tet.

The positive side of the movies is the stunning visuals. It is clear that director Joe Kosinki has a design background. It is also nice to see an original concept and something that has ambition rather than just being a rethread of old ideas. There are clear nods to sci-fi classics such as “Planet of the Apes”, “Independence Day”, and other last man on earth films (“Omega man”). The music by M83 (Anthony Gonzalez) and Joseph Trapanese is innovative and expertly conceived but at the same time, slightly retro. Some of it feels like Blade Runner with a large orchestra blended in. I believe the composers strongly believed in the concept of this film and worked tirelessly to achieve the directors vision.

On the negative side, you have a powerful alien/robotic enemy that becomes dumb at the end. Considering the enemies advanced power and knowledge, how did they not realize Morgan freeman’s character was on the ship at the end or an armed nuke bomb was there as well? Why was Victoria so upset to lock out Jack and claim them no longer effective? Why was she killed for doing so? Why did Sally want Jack and his wife to return to the Tet? This seems slightly like a coincidental convenience that could have been explained in the plot somewhere. Perhaps there is additional footage that was cut for the theatrical release but will be released on DVD with some more exposition. At first when Tom Cruise sees his other self, I thought it was a time travel wrinkle rather than a clone. In some ways, some of this could have been better cleared up rather than remaining vague. I’m not saying everything needs to be spelled out, but it was confusing rather than ambiguous. I also wish the aliens looked intimidating but it was basically a southern woman. I really wish the evocative visuals extended to the alien ship but there was a minimalist design there with no real "wow". A bit of a let down.

Overall, this is an entertaining movie that is not perfect, but has a distinctive visual style, impressive score, and clever concept. The negatives are some of the story plot points and under developed secondary characters (Freeman). It strives to be a great film but doesn't quite coalesce the way timeless classics did (Planet of the Apes for example). For instance, there isn’t a sense of building discovery that merges into a final monumental moment but rather gradual reveals.

[King Mark 3,975]

So if Olga (Jack's wife) was still asleep in her pod when she got jetisoned into space and wakes up 60 years later...how does she know whats of the flight data recorder and why does she not react to Jack being with another woman (although she already knows he's a clone or something)

[karelm 3,271]

So if Victoria was still asleep in her pod when she got jetisoned into space and wakes up 60 years later...how does she know of the flight data recorder and why does she not react to Jack being with another woman (although she already knows he's a clone or something)

I don't think Victoria was asleep - she was the co-pilot along with Jack. The others (including Jack's wife) were jettisoned into orbit for 60 years prior to Jack and Victoria's capture and they came to earth after their signal was hijacked (or cut). Victoria and Jack were the clones because they were captured by the Tet so both had their memories erased. The jettisonned people did not get captured (for some reason).

[King Mark 3,975]

oops, I meant the Olga character

ok she knew Victoria as another crew member but still, when she wakes up she does not act as someone who sees her husband but acts suspicious right away as though she knows Jack and Victoria are not themselves

[karelm 3,271]

oops, I meant the Olga character

ok she knew Victoria as another crew member but still, she does not act as someone who sees her husband but acts suspicious right away

I don't think Victoria knew who Olga was until Olga revealed herself to be Jack's wife (Victoria was monitoring their conversation) and was clearly shocked by this revelation. I think it was the fact that Victoria and Jack were instructed by Sally NOT to investigate because the drones would take care of it. She tried to stop Jack because he was violating their mission objectives and basically going AWOL. I think since Victoria was a clone too, she also had memories erased so did not know who the woman was till we all learn it.

So what did you think of this film?

[King Mark 3,975]

yes, Victoria had her memory erased, but Olga was in hypersleep in the shuttle. How does Olga know about the flight data recorder and why doesn't she treat Jack as her husband right away when she wakes up

I'm not sure I liked the movie all that much. It was boring and took to long to tell whatever it was trying to tell. Sometimes they can pull it off if the actors are great but Tom Cruise is still the same Tom Cruise. Morgan Freeman is also acting similar in all his roles lately. Olga Kurylenko is nice to stare at though.

[karelm 3,271]

Well, I can't deny anything you said. All fair points. I think it tries to be smarter than it actually is but it's at least good to have a sci-fi film that aims to be smart. It's been a long while since I've seen such a thing.