Oblivion

Oblivion, the latest film from visionary director Joseph Kosinski is the first film that is as wild a roller coaster ride as one could imagine with practically no cast. How Joseph is able to make and keep this movie interesting is a testament to his story telling skills and his imaginative eye. It's because of that alone, I give Oblivion three and a half buckets of Killer Korn.





Oblivion is that kind of film that once you start speaking about the plot, you instantly give too much away. That can make it hard to review the movie, which is probably why I disagree with the critics that have reviewed this film already. They claim this movie fails to deliver the goods, which makes me wonder just what movie they were seeing. Oblivion delivers the goods in every way as well in ways you would never even consider. This compelling story telling at it's finest and for all those Tom Cruise haters, if you decide to skip this film because of him, you're doing yourself a disservice. Tom plays Jack Harper and yes, Tom is in pretty much every frame of this film, but he's damn good in those frames.

Starring alongside Tom is the amazing Morgan Freeman who plays Beech, the leader of the resistance, Olga Kurylenko who plays Julia, Andrea Riseborough (who is on one pretty impressive streaks as far as movies she's been in. Welcome to the Punch, Disconnect, and now Oblivion) who plays Victoria, Oscar award winner Melissa Leo who plays Sally, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (famous for his portrayal of Jamie Lannister the King Slayer in Game of Thrones) who plays Sykes, Beech's second in command. That's it, that's pretty much the entirety of the cast with speaking parts and needless to say the performances were all impressive.

Tom's Jack Harper Tech 49, is a drone repairman. The drones are there to protect the Hydro-Rigs that are there to turn ocean water into energy that is then transferred to Titan, where mankind relocated after the earth was invaded. According to Jack, we won the war but when the alien invaders destroyed the moon, setting of cataclysmic events on earth like earthquakes, tsunamis, land slides and the like. Then the invasion began and mankind repelled the invaders but our world was destroyed so we evacuated. Jack and Victoria are scheduled to leave and head to Titan in two weeks and Jack doesn't want to leave. He doesn't think it's fair that man has to leave earth behind after winning the war. After seeing a ship plummet to the surface, everything Jack has ever known changes forever.

Oblivion is visually stunning and a joy to look at. It's a film of fine lines and great costumes. Director Joseph Kosinski was the man at the helm of the 2010 Tron Legacy and this movie takes many of the cues from the look of that film. When you look at this film is almost hard to believe that this is just Kosinski's second film. Claudio Miranda, the cinematographer who worked on Kosinki's first, Tron framed every scene masterfully and his scenes are greatly enhanced by the score. Crafted by Anthony Gonzalez and Joseph Trapanese aka M83, the music to Oblivion is simply beautiful. I was hooked on this score two weeks before the film hit the theaters and much in the way a score by John Williams can tell a story the same thing applies here.

I highly recommend seeing this movie because it is definitely worth the price of admission. You will not be sorry, even if you are a Tom Cruise hater and I'll see you at the theater.