A solitary drone repairman working on a war-ravaged planet Earth becomes humanity's last hope for survival in this ambitious sci-fi epic from Tron Legacy director Joseph Kosinski, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes producer Peter Chernin. Olga Kurylenko and Morgan Freeman co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Cast: Tom Cruise, Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman, Andrea Riseborough, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Release Date: Apr 19, 2013
Rated PG-13 for nudity, Brief Strong Language, Sci-Fi Action Violence and Some Sensuality
Runtime: 2 hr. 5 min.
Genres: Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Review:
You’d be hard pressed to argue that Joseph Kosinski can’t direct a beautiful movie with loads of cool visuals. Both Tron: Legacy and Oblivion are incredibly pretty films but both lack any semblance of emotion or originality. Oblivion takes liberal doses of “inspirations” from a variety of sci-fi classics from the past and even more recent fare. There are moments were the film is nearly in danger of becoming more than the sum of its parts but it just never gets there. There’s plenty to keep you busy and the eye candy on display is occasionally thrilling if terribly familiar. There are plenty of twists and turns in the overly complicated plot. The film would have been better served if the plot were streamlined and avoided some of the more obvious “surprise” turns, some of which are telegraphed as early as the first 10 minutes of the film. Tom Cruise does his usual reliable work but, through no fault of his own, we never feel a connection with his character. Instead it feels like he’s simply driving us through the terrain. Olga Kurylenko, who looks like she’s just had a very sour lemon most of the time and Andrea Riseborough aren’t asked to do much. As a result, the audience is always kept at arms length leaving us thinking about the films that touched on the same subject matter in much better fashion.
C
Well said. The movie borrowed heavily from a bunch of other movies. Cruise's character itself is another of those hero "with memories of a lost love" types.
ReplyDeleteB2B.
It's inspiration overwhelms the movie, at least for me. I don't care how pretty it is.
DeleteI made no real effort to see this film at all.
ReplyDeleteThe trailer did nothing for me and the fact that it had Tom Cruise in it meant that I would find it hard to enjoy it anyway!
You aren't missing much K, it's a glossy redux of older better films.
Deleteagreed, too often overly complicated. but it was pretty to look at. i didn't think the acting was very impressive, but i think the plot begged for your attention so much that te acting might have been overlooked. while riseborough and cruise were fine, kurylenko and leo were incredibly bland, despite their talent.
ReplyDeleteOverly complicated for no good reason. Cruise is solid but Kurylenko was really bland and Leo was robotic, on purpose.
DeleteYou and I are certainly on different pages with this one. I loved it.
ReplyDeleteGreat review though! I can see how a lot of people didnt enjoy it.
Just one of those films, I did find a lot to like though.
DeleteMy expectations were low, but in the end it totally blew me away. First Tron: Legacy, then Oblivion... hell, what a great start for a stunning director craeer. Bravo Mr. Kosinski! :)
ReplyDeleteMine were higher going in and it just left me feeling rather meh, then again Tron: Legacy isn't a film I have much love for either outside of the visuals.
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