paradise lost: Oblivion

Title: Oblivion
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Andrea Riseborough, Olga Kurylenko
Metascore Critic Rating: 54
IMDb User Rating: 7.1/10
My Rating: 3.5/5

"A veteran assigned to extract Earth's remaining resources begins to question what he knows about his mission and himself."

I'm sure when you saw this trailer  in theaters you were thinking, "Wow, I bet that movie is gonna rock!" And then you never got around to seeing it. It's okay. You didn't miss too much.

Oblivion is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi adventure that follows the monotonous life of drone repairman, Jack (apparently Tom liked the name Jack this year), and his "effective teammate" Victoria. They live in a house in the sky and have a glass pool that they go skinny dipping in. By the way, Tom Cruise, not ageing.

Top left: Tom Cruise in 1986
Bottom right: Tom Cruise in 2013
Whatever he's on, I want some.

When the movie first began I got a strange case of deja vu. "Wow, I think I've seen this before..." And I sort of had. The director of this movie, Joseph Kosinski, was also the director of Tron: Legacy. So, needless to say, these visuals were stunning. Paired with a fantastic soundtrack, courtesy of M83, the movie managed to evoke some feeling.

Oblivion - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack from NoddingToMusic on 8tracks Radio.

The movie opens like Tron, the opening sequence a montage of killer visuals, epic music, and a wonderful voice over from Cruise. He explains everything you need to know before the opening title flashes across the screen.

Kosinski nailed the futuristic look...again. The entire set looks straight out of Tron: Legacy. The man knows how to shoot movies. He can evoke feeling without the use of dialog. He could make you cry just by panning a camera. Now if only he could find a better script (I would love to see what he would do with the script for The Matrix).

The film has very subtle nuances that you might miss while watching it:

Like the fact that there are canyons made from the streets of New York City.

Hey, look! The Library of Congress (I think). This feels like National Treasure...
*suddenly, Nicolas Cage*

"Just another day in [post-apocalyptic, radioactive, uninhabitable] paradise."

While the script for Oblivion is weak in the emotional department the movie makes up for it with some wonderful acting from the entire cast. It's been a long time since I've really enjoyed watching Tom Cruise at work. And of course Morgan Freeman was fantastic as always. His introduction is wonderfully thought out in the ever classic Freeman style. But I won't ruin it for you.

One of the other things I enjoyed about this movie was Tom Cruise's character. His quirkiness was perfectly portrayed by Tom. The baseball cap was a nice touch I thought.

Like I said above, this movie could have done with some more depth. So many possibilities were missed with this script. But there were enough twists to keep me interested. I feel like they could have drug out the suspense a bit longer. They spill the big secret before you're even halfway through.

I'd love to write a deeper review for this movie, but there's not a lot to go on here. So take of it what you may.

Check it out and tell me what you think :D