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Oblivion, 2013
Jack (Tom Cruise) and Vici (Andrea Riseborough) man a sky-high station as the last humans on an Earth that has been devastated by an alien invasion. As a large spaceship prepares to transport the survivors to the moon Titan, Jack and Vici service the technology that allows the spaceship to collect energy from the Earth's oceans before the flight departs. But when Jack finds a human survivor, Julia (Olga Kurylenko) in the wreckage of a spacecraft, he begins to question what he's believed about his mission.
This is a really neat premise that succumbs again and again to tropes and half-developed ideas (some of which feel overly borrowed from other sci-fi properties). That said, solid performances and a steady pace of plot reveals keep it at least interesting to the end.
It's hard to talk about this movie without sounding like I'm damning it with faint praise. And I don't think that's entirely fair, as I did mostly enjoy the film. But frustratingly it feels like it's only about 65% as good as it could have been, leaving gaps in the story and character development that could have elevated the film as a whole.
A good example of this is the relationship between Jack and Vici. The two are seen to be sexually and romantically involved, though right off the bat you get the sense that (especially for Jack) this is more a matter of convenience than genuine love. Both Jack and Vici have had their memories erased, and Jack often sees bits of a memory involving a beautiful dark-haired woman. Later in the film, we get a hint that maybe Vici had some memories of her own that she kept concealed. Unfortunately, the film is more interested in using Vici as a plot point than a character, and the way that her relationship with Jack begins to erode after the discovery of the survivor never mines the interesting question of how she has understood their time on the outpost.
While staying very vague about specifics, I liked the overall direction of the film's plot. I was caught by surprise several times, which is always a thrill. There are moments when the film will introduce something only to push on with the plot without taking a breath to get into implications. There are many times where it feels like the film is afraid that if it slows down too much, it will lose its audience. It's a shame, because a nice story beat will happen and then it feels like there's a rush to get to the next chance to fire a laser gun or make something blow up.
Overall the film looks good. A lot of the space sequences are that sci-fi mix of beautiful and daunting.
I did get a bit tired of feeling like pieces of it were just taken from other films. (I'm mainly referencing visuals here, no spoilers!) A little bit of La Jetee. More than a small debt is owed to a certain late 2000s sci-fi film. It felt overly referential to me, to the point where it was a bit distracting.
There's also this, for lack of a better word, commercial tilt to the whole thing. It feels like two vibes are fighting here, and that becomes REALLY apparent in the last act, where the film wants to have its cake and eat it, too. It's unfortunate that the film has this tendency to undercut its own most powerful moments.
Decent sci-fi that too often gets in its own way.
Oblivion, 2013
Jack (Tom Cruise) and Vici (Andrea Riseborough) man a sky-high station as the last humans on an Earth that has been devastated by an alien invasion. As a large spaceship prepares to transport the survivors to the moon Titan, Jack and Vici service the technology that allows the spaceship to collect energy from the Earth's oceans before the flight departs. But when Jack finds a human survivor, Julia (Olga Kurylenko) in the wreckage of a spacecraft, he begins to question what he's believed about his mission.
This is a really neat premise that succumbs again and again to tropes and half-developed ideas (some of which feel overly borrowed from other sci-fi properties). That said, solid performances and a steady pace of plot reveals keep it at least interesting to the end.
It's hard to talk about this movie without sounding like I'm damning it with faint praise. And I don't think that's entirely fair, as I did mostly enjoy the film. But frustratingly it feels like it's only about 65% as good as it could have been, leaving gaps in the story and character development that could have elevated the film as a whole.
A good example of this is the relationship between Jack and Vici. The two are seen to be sexually and romantically involved, though right off the bat you get the sense that (especially for Jack) this is more a matter of convenience than genuine love. Both Jack and Vici have had their memories erased, and Jack often sees bits of a memory involving a beautiful dark-haired woman. Later in the film, we get a hint that maybe Vici had some memories of her own that she kept concealed. Unfortunately, the film is more interested in using Vici as a plot point than a character, and the way that her relationship with Jack begins to erode after the discovery of the survivor never mines the interesting question of how she has understood their time on the outpost.
While staying very vague about specifics, I liked the overall direction of the film's plot. I was caught by surprise several times, which is always a thrill. There are moments when the film will introduce something only to push on with the plot without taking a breath to get into implications. There are many times where it feels like the film is afraid that if it slows down too much, it will lose its audience. It's a shame, because a nice story beat will happen and then it feels like there's a rush to get to the next chance to fire a laser gun or make something blow up.
Overall the film looks good. A lot of the space sequences are that sci-fi mix of beautiful and daunting.
I did get a bit tired of feeling like pieces of it were just taken from other films. (I'm mainly referencing visuals here, no spoilers!) A little bit of La Jetee. More than a small debt is owed to a certain late 2000s sci-fi film. It felt overly referential to me, to the point where it was a bit distracting.
There's also this, for lack of a better word, commercial tilt to the whole thing. It feels like two vibes are fighting here, and that becomes REALLY apparent in the last act, where the film wants to have its cake and eat it, too. It's unfortunate that the film has this tendency to undercut its own most powerful moments.
Decent sci-fi that too often gets in its own way.