Oblivion Review

  

A thrilling and visually splendid film that favors style over substance,

After a barren stretch of releases for the first third of 2013, we are finally beginning to see the larger profile and more interesting releases, one of the first of which is Oblivion. Directed by Tron: Legacy's Joseph Kosinksi—who also wrote the comic book that inspired the script—and starring Tom Cruise, I went in with high expectations. I came away satisfied, but was also left wondering how a few changes to the script might have benefited the final film.

The story sounds simple at first glance. Jack Harper is a technician stationed on a futuristic Earth that has been ravaged by an alien attack. As he repairs defense drones and wanders around the remnants of Earth, Jack begins to suffer from strange dreams and is eventually pushed to reevaluate everything he thought he knew about his simple life. That's all you really should know going into this film, because the beauty of the story is the twists and turns that start appearing after the lengthy introduction.

Oblivion goes in some directions you wouldn't necessarily expect from a high-budget sci-fi action flick. The plot twists start piling on in the second act and adds a surprising amount of complications to the story. Chances are that you've already seen many of these twists before in other films, but Oblivion makes it work for the most part. Think of Oblivion as a tapestry of homages and elements taken from other—arguably better—films and you'll have a better sense of what to expect. No one will ever accuse Kosinski of being the most original writer around, but the blend of twists that Oblivion serves up is very exciting, if somewhat predictable in parts.

Although the plot of the film is very entertaining to watch unfold, Oblivion begins to stumble when it comes to dialogue. As damning as this may sound, the film is simply better when no one is talking. The purely dialogue-driven scenes grow wearying, although thankfully there aren't that many of them. The dialogue isn't bad per say, it just doesn't pop, and the lack of strong characters only compounds this problem.

The characters apart from our protagonist Jack Harper just aren't that interesting. Jack is the only one that goes through any kind of meaningful character arc; the rest are just there to support him. Even Kurylenko's character—who is critical to the story—starts out one-dimensional and shows little growth over the course of the film. Extending the run-time or modifying the script to have more of a focus on the characters other than Harper would have benefited the film greatly.

What it comes down to is that Oblivion is a much better action/thriller film than it is a character driven drama. Kosinski seems to be significantly more skilled at writing mind-bending plot twists and staging thrilling action sequences than at crafting quiet dialogue-driven scenes. The characters—apart from Jack—just aren't interesting enough to put in scenes involving nothing but conversations. This isn't a huge flaw, as they pace the film fairly well—there is more than enough beautifully shot action and trippy plot twists to keep your attention—but I did catch myself folding my arms and growing slightly annoyed during the scenes where the characters do nothing but sit around and talk. Thankfully, the splendid visuals are enough to make the temporary boredom of those scenes melt away.

Gorgeous scenes such as this one pervade the film.

Visually, Oblivion is spectacular. The use of color is breath-taking, and the film's extensive use of CGI surprisingly never looks cheap or fake. Even when the story slows down, the film can still keep your attention through the excellent visuals. I can't say I was expecting this, but Oblivion actually ranks as one of the most visually stunning films I've seen in quite a while. I'll be lining up to see Kosinski's future films if he can keep this same standard of visual quality. Sadly, this quality doesn't transfer over to the majority of the acting.

Cruise turns in a middle of the road performance that, although far from his best, is still more than competent and works well for the character of Jack. You do see Cruise's typical cocky bravado that he's been using in his action films for years, but he does shine in the slower and more solemn moments too. Unfortunately, Cruise is forced to carry the film due to unexceptional performances by the rest of the cast.

The rest of the cast is largely mediocre. Cruise's female co-stars Olga Kurylenko and Rise Borough both deliver decent, if fairly shallow, performances, but they're not being given much to work with by the script in the first place. Morgan Freeman shows up and tries to work his magic, but it doesn't add much due to his being in the film for all of fifteen minutes and his character having little to no backstory. It's the Tom Cruise show all the way, and everyone else falls by the wayside.

Don't get me wrong, that doesn't ruin the film by any means. Cruise's trademark charisma allows him to carry the film on his broad shoulders, but it is a shame that they didn't improve on the side characters. The final film works as a whole, but you can't help but wonder how a few changes in the script would have improved it.

If you love beautifully shot films, are a fan of Tom Cruise, or just want a twisty sci-fi film, I'd recommend Oblivion. Spectacular action and an entertaining story combine to make the film an excellent way to spend two hours. It's predictable and derivative in parts, but it still adds up to an intriguing sci-fi action-thriller that'll help tide you over until the summer movie season hits in full force.