Oblivion, 2013.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski.
Starring Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Melissa Leo and Zoe Bell.
SYNOPSIS:
A veteran assigned to extract Earth’s remaining resources begins to question what he knows about his mission and himself.
Why do we go to the cinema? Why do we choose to pay money to sit in the darkened room and watch a film on a giant screen? Sometimes we want to see a cinematic take on a familiar story, but more often we want be transported to a world which can only exist on that screen; we want the escape from our reality and, even for those few hours, forget anything else in our world and let the film makers show us theirs.
Oblivion is such a film. It is a triumph of big budget, state of the art film making where story and spectacle are equally balanced and the result is something which can stand on its own, where so many others blend into one.
This review’s purpose is not to re-tell the plot and spoil the twists and turns which help keep us intrigued from the very first shot (literally so, with the film’s unique addition to the Universal logo) but the synopsis is this: 60 years after a war between Earth and alien invaders, Earth has been left desolated despite winning the war. Tom Cruise stars as Jack Harper, one of the few men left between Earth and the Tet, a craft which will soon be used to take what’s left of humanity to a new life one of Saturn’s moons. Needless to say, several complications occur and Jack’s plans will be changed forever.
The above is merely the proverbial ‘tip of the iceberg’ of Oblivion’s story; a story which started in the mind of its writer/director Joseph Kosinski several years ago. Kosinski, making only his second film here, scored a box office hit in 2010 with Tron: Legacy but Oblivion is his creation through and through and the love of his concept is clear in every frame of his film. In a year which is yet again filled with comic book adaptations, sequels, and popular novel adaptations, Oblivion is something of a rarity. Universal Pictures are, despite the globally pulling power of Tom Cruise and the general appeal of sci-fi, taking a risk with this $140 million production. It’s that rarest of things; an original idea with no previously established fan base.
Tom Cruise is attracted to screenplays which are character-driven, even if they cost $100 million or more, and Oblivion delivers a story which mystifies from beginning to end, never spoon-feeding the plot to its audience. We know the same truth as Jack does every step of the way; when his world gets rocked, so does our. This isn’t the usual BANG BOOM SMASH CRASH BOOM mindless summer farce we’re usually subjected to, where the sight of CGI characters fighting passes for entertainment; Oblivion spends its first hour exploring the desolated landscape and watching Jack go about his daily work of fixing drones. To Jack, this is just normal life, but Kosinski’s screenplay allows the audience to experience these process for the first time alongside the characters and experience the world created here.
We never see the destruction of Earth with skyscrapers crumbling whilst people scream and point because that’s not what Oblivion is about. It’s not about destruction and chaos but rather the continuation of life and the restoration of humanity. Moreover, the film, for the first hour, is relatively action free, but never for one moment dull or boring. When the action comes, it’s spectacular but crucially, it doesn’t drag on and fill minutes of screen time to pander to the under fifteen’s in the audience. It’s a wonder the studio didn’t push for a 3D retrofitted version for the cinema release, but Oblivion’s stunning visuals allow for more depth and texture than any 3D film could hope to achieve. If all films could be made with this vision and look as good as this, 3D should be redundant.
Like all good films, the true enjoyment comes not from the set-pieces alone but from the story which allows the set-pieces to function within it. The two must work in unison, and they do thanks to Kosinski for not a shaky camera or slow motion shot is in sight. He is a director who is in total control of his picture, not the opposite way around, and the action benefits because of it.
Shot on Sony’s CineAlta F65 4K camera, the film looks pristine throughout and the design of Jack’s home above the clouds is a set which you wish you could visit just to appreciate all the detail which went into its creation, and equally as impressive are the spacecrafts he flies and the suits he wears. The concepts on display here are far beyond ‘looking cool’ and make for a believable and lived-in reality for these characters. Again, the balance between story and spectacle is stuck.
Oblivion doesn’t just benefit from being seen on the biggest screen possible, it demands it. This is a must for the IMAX experience for the combination of picture and sound is sensational throughout. Simply put, Oblivion should be considered the post-Inception benchmark for original big-budget movies.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Rohan Morbey – follow me on Twitter.
Originally published April 10, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
