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If nothing else, "Oblivion" will go down in film history as the movie where Tom Cruise pilots a white, sperm-shaped craft into a giant space uterus. The scene is more interesting to describe than it is to watch. Cruise's sperm-ship enters through an airlock that resembles a geometrized vulva. He arrives inside a massive chamber lined with egg-like glass bubbles. At the center of the chamber is a pulsating, sentient triangle that is also supposed to be some kind of mother figure. Cruise must destroy the mother triangle and her space uterus in order to save the Earth.

Like director Joseph Kosinski's debut, " Tron: Legacy " (2010), "Oblivion" is a special effects extravaganza with a lot of blatant symbolism and very little meaning. It starts slow, turns dull and then becomes tedious — which makes it a marginal improvement over the earlier film. It features shiny surfaces, clicky machinery and no recognizable human behavior. It's equally ambitious and gormless.

"Oblivion" is set in the year 2077, 60 years after an alien invasion rendered the Earth largely uninhabitable. Cruise stars as Jack Harper, one of a handful of people left on the planet. The other survivors have long since relocated to Titan. Harper and colleagues remain as technicians, servicing robot drones that defend resource-gathering stations from alien stragglers.

Harper lives in a penthouse-like tower with his communications officer, Vica ( Andrea Riseborough ). Vica's eyes are permanently dilated. Like Olivia Wilde 's Quorra in " Tron: Legacy ," she often resembles a marionette.

Harper and Vica spend their days fixing drones, eating candelit dinners, and swimming in a glass-bottomed pool. Their boss, the creepily cheerful Sally ( Melissa Leo ), supervises them from an orbiting control center. In order to maintain the integrity of the mission, Harper and Vica's memories have been wiped; nonetheless, Harper is haunted by extremely cheesy black-and-white dreams of a beautiful woman meeting him in pre-invasion New York.

One day, Harper spots an antique spacecraft crashing into the countryside. He manages to rescue one survivor, a Russian astronaut ( Olga Kurylenko ) who looks exactly like the woman in his dreams. Harper brings her back to his tower. This incites jealousy and suspicion from Vica, who is both Harper's partner and his lover.

The astronaut has been in cryogenic sleep for the past six decades but refuses to disclose the nature of her mission to Harper and Vica until they recover her flight recorder. It goes without saying that the flight recorder unearths all kinds of secrets about Harper, Vica, and the alien invasion. It also creates one of the movie's more glaring logical errors, but that's a different story altogether.

The film's opening stretch is its one strong point —  a gradual, immersive build-up of details. It's a smart technique for science-fiction storytelling; it eases the viewer into the world of the film. The problem is that the world "Oblivion" introduces — an abandoned, depopulated Earth — is more interesting than the story it tells. Or, more accurately, the stories it tells, because "Oblivion," derivative to a fault, tries to be several science-fiction movies at once. It tries and it fails.

"Oblivion" is a political allegory about a lowly "technician" sending unmanned drones to hunt and kill a demonized, alien Other — until it forgets that it ever was. It's a wannabe mindbender that raises questions about its lead character's identity — except that the lead character is too sketchy to make these questions compelling. It's a story about humans struggling for survival in an environment controlled by technology — except it appears to be much more interested in the technology than in the humans. It's a rah-rah action flick — except its action scenes aren't very good.

The only thread "Oblivion" follows to the end is its "creation myth." Harper is an idealized man; he's good with a gun, good with his hands, good in bed, loves football and rides a motorcycle. Though most of the movie's characters are women, not one of them is able to do anything without Harper's help — not even the mother triangle that lives in the space uterus. Only his rugged-but-sensitive masculinity holds the key to humanity's survival. The movie reaches for profundity, but all it grasps is misogyny.

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Oblivion (2013)

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, brief strong language, and some sensuality/nudity

126 minutes

Tom Cruise as Jack

Morgan Freeman as Beech

Olga Kurylenko as Julia

Andrea Riseborough as Victoria

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Sykes

Melissa Leo as Sally

• Joseph Kosinski
• Karl Gajdusek
• Michael Arndt

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Critics Consensus

Critics consensus: oblivion looks great, but its story meanders, plus, in the house is creepy and witty..

This week at the movies, we’ve got only one wide release: the post-apocalyptic sci-fi adventure Oblivion , starring Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman . What do the critics have to say?

Can a movie get by on good looks alone? Critics say Oblivion is visually striking but narratively thin, a thoughtful sci-fi head trip that starts strong but gets bogged down by its murky storyline. While working as a repairman on an abandoned, post-Apocalyptic Planet Earth, Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) discovers that he’s not alone — and that everything he knows has been a lie. The pundits say Cruise’s strong performance helps to enliven the proceedings, but Oblivion is largely derivative of other, better sci-fi films. (Check out this week’s 24 Frames and Total Recall features for more on post-apocalyptic movies.)

Also opening this week in limited release:

Ain’t In It For My Health: A Film About Levon Helm , a documentary about the Band’s legendary drummer and vocalist, is at 100 percent.

In the House , starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Emmanuelle Seigner in a thriller about a high school student who insinuates himself into the life of his teacher, is at 88 percent.

Deceptive Practices: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay , a doc about the noted character actor and world-class magician, is at 83 percent.

Herman’s House , a documentary about a collaboration between an artist and prison inmate in solitary confinement, is at 83 percent.

Rob Zombie ‘s The Lords of Salem , a horror film about a radio DJ who is haunted by a coven of witches, is at 44 percent.

Finally, props to Emilio Rodriguez and Kadeem Stewart for coming the closest to guessing Scary Movie 5 ‘s five percent Tomatometer.

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Oblivion Review

12 Apr 2013

126 minutes

In 2009, Joseph Kosinski was given a peach of a first-time directing gig, making a sequel to Tron with an enormous budget and effects department beyond the original’s most lurid electric dreams. Tron Legacy showed three things: 1) Kosinski was masterful at creating an entirely imagined world right down to the tiniest detail; 2) He liked big, Messianic plots and taking time to explore them; and 3) He was a lot better with scenery than people. With Oblivion, based on a comic book he wrote in 2005 but never published, Kosinski reasserts those first two points and only moderately improves on the third.

Oblivion has a crowded imagination and an empty heart. It blasts you with information in the opening few minutes. Before you've had time to finish chewing your first mouthful of popcorn we have learned that Earth was attacked by aliens in the late 21st century and its moon smashed to space rubble, causing earthquakes and floods that obliterated the population. Nuclear war followed, leaving the place a horrible mess, so most of humanity has left for a new home called Titan, and all that remains on Earth are the invaders, scattered in underground tribes, some huge water-processing thingums that are converting energy from the seas for Titan in some way, and Jack and Victoria, a couple played by Tom Cruise and Andrea Riseborough. Day in, day out, they guard the equipment, all alone on Earth in a condo in the clouds, full of hard, shiny surfaces that suggest that in the decades ahead, comfort will become deeply unfashionable. Their only contact besides each other is with their prickly contact (Melissa Leo) on a giant monolith that acts as a relay between humanity’s old and new homes.

After this initial onslaught of information, the brakes are pulled on and Kosinski takes his time exploring his world, which, given the wonderful art direction, is a curiously calming, absorbing fantasy travelogue. Jack pootles about fixing drones — spherical security guards that look like HAL’s robo-dog and make a noise like a grumpy Speak & Spell — and taking quiet time in a lodge by a lake. It feels real, partly due to being shot on actual locations, primarily in Iceland, rather than via green-screen. There’s a bit of Mad Max to this stretch of a man just surviving in a thankless world, and these scenes, in which very little actually happens, are actually more enticing than the time after the film decides to pile on the plot. Jack finds a mysterious woman (Olga Kurylenko), whom he knows from his dreams, and some hidden humans (led by Morgan Freeman), and it becomes a puzzle of who knows what, who doesn’t actually know what they think they know, and what the things are that may or may not in fact know the things they think they know. For all its convolution, Kosinski actually lays his plot out rather smoothly. Its twists all have twists, but not to the point that they’re difficult to follow, and the ending is at once complex and neat, like the centre of a spider’s web. It is a fine story. Yet it’s so hard to invest in it, because the characters are so flimsy.

As with Tron Legacy, there is the sense that Kosinski considers his characters merely tools for getting him to a big reveal. He doesn’t seem interested in exploring the people, but using them to explore a grand idea. That’s not always a bad thing. There are plenty of sci-fi movies that hinge on you caring what odd thing is going to happen rather than about the people it’s happening to, an obvious example being 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is referenced several times here. But that’s not really the sort of film this is. Its big moments centre on relationships and love, and the primary themes are humanity and identity, yet the characters aren’t burdened with either. Cruise is an actor so famous that he will always be fighting to disappear behind a role, but Jack is, more than most, just a ‘Tom Cruise role’. He doesn’t have any personality separate from the man playing him. Riseborough is the only one who really comes off as a complete person, which is all the greater achievement given that hers is the character who is, on paper, the least significant. She gives a sad, trapped performance that lends some humanity to this desolate world.

On one level, Oblivion is a strong sci-fi riddle boldly staged, yet that’s only half its ambition. As a story of a man struggling with his place in the world and with the power of love to conquer all, it’s as dry and crumbly as its nuked landscape.

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Movie Review

After the Apocalypse, Things Go Downhill

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By Manohla Dargis

• April 18, 2013

If only it were less easy to laugh at “Oblivion,” a lackluster science-fiction adventure with Tom Cruise that, even before its opening, was groaning under the weight of its hard-working, slowly fading star and a title that invites mockery of him and it both. The agony of being a longtime Tom Cruise fan has always been a burden, but now it’s just, well, dispiriting. You not only have to ignore the din of the tabloids and swat away the buzzing generated by his multiple headline-ready dramas, you also have to come to grips with the harsh truth that it no longer actually matters why and how Tom Terrific became less so. No one else much cares.

Mr. Cruise hasn’t made it easy. His screen presence has continued to grow ever-more self-serious, despite occasional attempts to lighten up, as in the recent would-be satire “Rock of Ages.” Midway through “Oblivion” I wondered when I had last believed there was something true in his laugh, something that felt either genuinely expansive or intimate, as in “Jerry Maguire,” or chilled with a hint of madness, as in “Magnolia.” Mind you, he doesn’t have many occasions to laugh in “Oblivion,” a gray post-apocalyptic tale with rainbow accents, yet when he does, it feels uncomfortably forced. In those moments, was he worrying that the movie wasn’t going to return him to the box office summit? He’s 50 years old and too young to be prepping for a slow fade, yet what are his choices?

Working with better directors — with filmmakers who know how to charm or force performances out of stars or perhaps say no to them — seems like a good place to start. “Oblivion” is only the second feature directed by Joseph Kosinski, after the 2010 release “Tron: Legacy.” That special effects-laden fantasy, a musty hero’s journey largely distinguished by the yawning divide between its poor quality and its $170 million price tag, was a flat line of a dud in almost every respect. It nonetheless made enough money to shore up an exploitable franchise property and spawn a sequel, and while this may not sound like much of an achievement, box office success or the perception of it can beget more opportunities in the movie business, which may help explain “Oblivion.”

Its story primarily unfolds in 2077, long after a cataclysmic war between earthlings and extraterrestrials. Nuked to all but radioactive ash, the Earth has been rendered nearly uninhabitable, and its remaining people have fled to a galactic shelter. The only ones left on the planet appear to be Jack Harper (Mr. Cruise) and his companion, Victoria (Andrea Riseborough), who live in a cantilevered aerie above the clouds that brings to mind a “Jetsons” sky pad. His job is to repair drones that patrol the facilities that extract resources for the surviving populace and that are under attack from the aliens, or Scavs, as in scavengers. She monitors him back at their place, waving her hands over a tabletop computer, while in full makeup and rocking some fabulous end-of-days-to-night dresses and heels.

The heels seem a strange choice given, you know, the whole doomsday thing, not to mention the glossiness of the couple’s floors. Then again, from the way she strips for some late-night nuzzling, her get-up does appear to have instrumental value, even if one misstep and she or at least an ankle would be a goner. A similar kind of tricky balancing act is inherent in science fiction, a genre that often employs recognizable details to tether readers and viewers in fantastical realms. It’s a form, as is often noted, that makes the strange familiar and the familiar strange, a narrative principle that Mr. Kosinski embraces again and again with niceties like Jack’s Yankee baseball cap and Jack and Victoria’s candlelight dinners.

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Oblivion Review

Sumptuous sci-fi that lacks originality..

While a noble effort in terms of scale and ambition, Oblivion entertains only sporadically. There's a great film somewhere in there, but this isn't it.

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‘Oblivion’ review: a post-apocalyptic beauty that succeeds even while it stumbles

The director of 'tron: legacy' takes tom cruise on a trip into a grim future.

By Bryan Bishop on April 17, 2013 09:00 am 206 Comments

2013 is shaping up to be the year of the high-end science fiction movie. With the likes of Will Smith and Matt Damon starring in new genre films, and some major blockbusters from J.J. Abrams and Guillermo del Toro just around the corner, there's a lot to choose from. Kicking the summer off is Oblivion . Starring Tom Cruise, it’s the second feature from Joseph Kosinski, the filmmaker behind Tron: Legacy . Part action movie, part puzzle, it’s a film whose beauty and emotional aspirations ultimately overpower the story problems it runs into along the way.

The set-up is standard dystopian fare. It’s 2077. Earth is an irradiated wasteland thanks to an alien invasion 60 years ago, and while the majority of the human race has retired to one of Saturn’s moons, some have stayed behind to tend to the drones that patrol the ravaged landscape.

Cruise is Jack Harper — at 50, the star's finally starting to look 42 — who's partnered with Vika (a vulnerable Andrea Riseborough). Jack is the mechanic of the pair, flying out to repair the drones while Vika acts as his eye-in-the-sky navigator. Working out of a sci-fi dream home on a platform above the clouds, the pair are almost done with their mission. Two more weeks and they'll finally be reunited with the rest of humanity. But while Vika is anxious to leave Earth behind, Jack's not so sure. He's a romantic, pining for the normalcy that was destroyed long ago — not to mention the strange woman he sees in his dreams (Olga Kurylenko).

If there's one thing the Kosinski established with Tron: Legacy , it was that he knows how to craft astounding visuals, so let's cut to the chase: Oblivion is one of the most beautiful films I've seen this year. It's so achingly gorgeous, I wouldn't be surprised if I hold the same opinion come December. Every single moment and shot is meticulously crafted and composed: the desolate ruins on Earth, the architectural touches of Jack and Vika's home (imagine if Jony Ive designed Cloud City with a swimming pool). The large canvas gives Kosinski room to stretch out, and the work by production designer Darren Gilford and Oscar-winning cinematographer Claudio Miranda is breathtaking. The film was shot in 4K with Sony's F65 and the RED Epic — and shows once again that while digital photography may not precisely replicate film, it has matured into a format with equal artistic potential.

Having worked with Daft Punk on the Tron soundtrack, Kosinski turns to another electronic artist here — and the results from M83 are just as impressive. Percolating synthesizers and tribal drums dominate during action sequences, but yield to yearning orchestral strings in quieter moments. It's not just bombast and accompaniment; it's score in the true sense of the word.

For all the aural and visual splendor, however, there is a sense of familiarity throughout the film. The concept smacks of Pixar's Wall-E ; sound effects echo Inception ; and the costume of one of the "scavs" that roam Earth's surface bears a jarring resemblance to Ralph McQuarrie's original concept art for Darth Vader . Familiar genre tropes show up, and fans of science fiction will likely spot many of the movie's twists and turns coming from far away. That said, it doesn't play as repetition. Instead, it's more like a comfortable pair of pajamas; Oblivion mashes up what we've seen before into a Nolan-lite pastiche that feels just right.

The largest stumbles come down to performance and story, issues that also plagued Tron . Morgan Freeman shows up in a extremely clunky secondary plotline to act as an exposition engine — slowing the movie down in the process — and Kurylenko's Julia is given very little to do, despite how important those mysterious dreams are to Jack. Even worse, after a satisfying slow burn the film's climax falls flat. (There's nothing worse than when you know the intention is for the audience to fist pump and shout "Hell, yeah!" — yet you're doing neither.)

Many of those weaknesses fall away when viewing the movie as a whole, however — and it all comes down to Oblivion 's longing heart. It's a dichotomy echoed by M83's score, actually; despite the spectacle, this isn't a movie about genre, robots, or even the difficulties of post-apocalyptic survival. It's a story about wanting a normal, average life in the face of impossible circumstances. Cruise is an odd casting choice in this regard. Nobody's been more consistent in playing cinematic supermen, but the actor ends up pulling off what is ultimately a very human story, and the film stayed on my mind long after I walked out of the theater.

Oblivion aspires to what sci-fi does best: provide a convenient genre platform to explore the human condition.

Even more exciting, it represents a real step forward for Kosinski, who displayed visual prowess in Tron: Legacy but had a hard time making the audience care about, you know, the actual humans . If he continues on this trajectory, he may eventually build up story and character chops that match his visual acumen — and that's when things will get really exciting.

Oblivion is currently playing internationally. It opens in the US on April 19th. If you have the opportunity to see it in IMAX, do it.

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Norman reedus' return means boondock saints 3 must break the franchise's rotten tomatoes streak, 10 horror comedy flops that absolutely should’ve been bigger hits, melodrama and predictable reveals keep the film from being the mind-bending creation that kosinski may have envisioned, but the director still presents a captivating future with rich visuals..

In Oblivion , Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) is part of a two-person crew tasked with protecting Earth's remaining resources following a cataclysmic alien invasion that left the planet uninhabitable. Along with his partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough), Jack oversees and maintains a deadly armada of defense drones - charged with shielding massive resource harvesters from the hostile "Skav" attacks.

The pair are supported in their efforts by mission commander Sally (Melisso Leo) who lives aboard the Tet - an orbital space station and the base of harvest operations. In two weeks time, the harvesters will have collected enough raw materials from Earth to ensure humanity's long-term survival - at which point Jack and Victoria are scheduled to join the other survivors on Titan (Saturn's largest moon). However, when a routine Drone repair raises new information about the Skavs, Jack begins to ask dangerous questions about his mission.

Oblivion was directed by sophomore feature-filmmaker Joseph Kosinski - based on a graphic novel treatment that he co-penned with comic book writer Arvid Nelson (Dark Horse Comics'  Rex Mundi ). Given his experience with  Tron: Legacy   (along with memorable commercials for Halo 3 and Gears of War ), Kosinski is no stranger to sprawling CGI worlds and slick futuristic tech - but from the opening scene, Oblivion sets out to tell a more contemplative story - one that can't simply be glossed over with memorable action beats. It's an intimidating and tricky balance to find - especially in a project that is so personal. By the time the credits roll, Kosinski was responsible for Oblivion 's creation, initial story, first screenplay adaptation, and directing.

Fortunately, with the help of screenwriters William Monahan ( The Departed ), Karl Gajdusek ( Dead Like Me ), and Michael Arndt ( Star Wars Episode 7 ), Oblivion also tells a captivating story - with interesting twists and entertaining (albeit brief) moments of humor and levity. Science fiction fans will be able to anticipate some of the plot beats ahead of schedule, but even in the cases where savvy moviegoers guess correctly, it rarely detracts from the intended emotional payoff.

In fact, Oblivion prioritizes its central character story over nearly every other element of the production - meaning that some moviegoers who were expecting a high-octane post-apocalyptic war story may be underwhelmed by the limited action set-pieces. The film includes a handful of exciting combat scenes - each with slick visual effects and enjoyable excitement - but relative to the character story and overall world-building, large scale action moments are in short supply. Instead, Oblivion unravels a multifaceted sci-fi mystery story - relying on tense character encounters and reveals to keep audiences engaged (even if plot holes and heavy-handed melodrama sometimes weigh it down).

Considering the relatively small cast, Cruise is responsible for a number of Oblivion 's best moments - gripping anxiety when fiddling with the finicky but lethal aerial drones, or a charming obsession when he encounters long-abandoned relics of humanity. Jack is a likable and contemplative lead character that fits within the usual Cruise wheelhouse, but even though he shares characteristics with Ethan Hunt ( Mission Impossible ) and John Anderton ( Minority Report ), the actor focuses on the right idiosyncrasies to serve Oblivion . Instead of adding another over-the-top action hero to his resume, Cruise is a bit more delicate with Jack - resulting in a more inviting and, at times, stirring performance.

The supporting cast is equally competent with a complicated and rich turn from Andrea Riseborough ( Never Let Me Go ) as Victoria, Jack's communications officer and sole-confidant. Whereas Jack is hesitant to leave humanity's "home" (Earth), Victoria is eager to reunite with the rest of the survivors on Titan - and watching her attempt to placate and manage her increasingly erratic partner provides Riseborough with plenty of material. Similarly, Morgan Freeman, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Melissa Leo, and Olga Kurylenko all offer meaningful additions to the onscreen Oblivion  drama - each with their own moments in the spotlight.

Kosinski also owes much of Oblivion 's success to the effects department - since they brought two of the more interesting "characters" to life: the previously mentioned aerial drones, and the drowned and frozen landscape of post-war New York City. The drones (number 166 in particular) walk a fascinating line between comedy relief and thoughtless killing machines - making them one of the most riveting and nerve-wracking aspects of the plot. Similarly, while New York City is effectively "dead," destroyed in the war, remnants of its former glory make for some of the more absorbing scenes in the film - and a constant reminder of the destruction wrought by the alien attack.

Surprisingly, Oblivion was not post-converted into 3D but is getting a limited run in IMAX. In this case, the added IMAX cost is hard to justify - especially for moviegoers who expect significant return on a premium ticket experience. That said, for those who don't mind spending a few extra dollars, the IMAX experience could still be worthwhile. The bigger screen size enhances the scale in Oblivion 's post-apocalyptic settings and, more importantly, cranks up the sound. Honking and clunking mechanisms in the the drones and other high-tech vehicles help sell the authenticity of Kosinski's near-future world and a superior sound system is preferable (though, as stated, not essential).

Oblivion is not the most exciting or the smartest science fiction experience to ever hit theaters; action fans may be underwhelmed by a limited amount of gunplay, and viewers looking for an especially deep sci-fi world might find too many familiar tropes. Melodrama and predictable reveals keep the film from being the mind-bending creation that Kosinski may have envisioned, but the director still presents a captivating future with rich visuals and an intriguing protagonist.  Oblivion  could have easily been a convoluted and indulgent moviegoing experience; instead, the film keeps a restrained focus on Jack's character journey - which, thankfully, is an " effective team " of drama and post-apocalyptic adventure.

If you’re still on the fence about  Oblivion , check out the trailer below:

[poll id="581"]

Oblivion  runs 126 minutes and is Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, brief strong language, and some sensuality/nudity. Now playing in regular and IMAX theaters.

Let us know what you thought of the film in the comment section below. If you’ve seen the movie and want to discuss details about the film without worrying about spoiling it for those who haven’t seen it, please head over to our  Oblivion Spoilers Discussion .

For an in-depth discussion of the film by the Screen Rant editors check out our Oblivion  episode  of the  SR Underground podcast .

Follow me on Twitter @ benkendrick  for future reviews, as well as movie, TV, and gaming news.

Produced and directed by Joseph Kosinski, Oblivion tells the story of Jack Harper (Tom Cruise), a technician living in 2077, 60 years after scavenger aliens destroyed Earth's moon. While remaining on the abandoned Earth to repair drones, Jack encounters a sleep pod containing Julia, who has been in stasis since 2017. Finding her sees Jack embark on a journey to unlock the secrets of the past, all while fighting to save what remains of the Earth. 

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‘oblivion’: what the critics are saying.

Film reviewers weigh in on Tom Cruise's post-apocalyptic thriller.

By THR Staff

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Oblivion Tom Cruise Morgan Freeman Film Still - H 2013

Tom Cruise , Olga Kurylenko , Melissa Leo and Morgan Freeman star in Joseph Kosinski ‘s action-adventure film Oblivion , which he adapted from his unpublished graphic novel of the same name.

The Universal pic has critics saying essentially the exact same thing: Oblivion ‘s visual effects are to be applauded, but its story is lacking.

Despite the luke warm reviews, the film on track for a $35 million opening weekend , according to estimates. The movie has scored a 55 percent on Metacrtic and a 59 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

PHOTOS: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman Land at ‘Oblivion’ Premiere

The Hollywood Reporter ‘s Todd McCarthy writes that Oblivion has a “captivating beginning brimming with mystery and evident ambition” but the film, ultimately, “falls somewhat short of the mark.”

Read what more top critics have to say about the film below:

In his Time review, Richard Corliss writes that there is a disconnect between Oblivion’s inventive visuals and unemotional narrative.

“But the biggest collision in Oblivion — one Kosinski may not have intended — is between the feverish action scenes and the slowness, we might say torpor, of the rest of the film. For all the shouting and swooning, characters don’t connect; and by the end, when all the clones and drones are accounted for, science-fiction entropy has given way to audience ennui.”

STORY: ‘Oblivion’ Director, ‘Pacific Rim’ Writer Team for AMC Sci-Fi Drama

Entertainment Weekly ‘s Chris Nashawaty says that impressive visual effects cannot compensate for the film’s hackneyed plot. 

“Thanks to Kosinski and cinematographer Claudio Miranda ( Life of Pi ), Oblivion has enough special-effects artistry to keep you distracted for a while. But all the eye candy in the world can’t mask the sensation that you’ve seen this all before…and done better.”

USA Today critic Claudia Puig writes that Oblivion lacks story and onscreen chemistry, saying, “neither the sci-fi or the vague political commentary are involving. And while Cruise’s character is given two romantic interests, the actor doesn’t connect with either.”

In his two-star review, Rolling Stone ‘s Peter Travers likens Oblivion to a formulaic hodgepodge of other futuristic/post-apocalyptic films, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, Wall-E  and Planet of the Apes . Travers goes onto say that the film “feels arid and antiseptic, untouched by human hands. Bummer.”

Oblivion opens Friday, April 19.

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Stylized sci-fi entertains; expect deaths, sexy stuff.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Somewhat grim circumstances, but the movie highlig

Jack is curious and questions the motives of missi

The drones kill -- instantly incinerating anyone o

Jack is "assigned" to Victoria both roma

For most of the movie, language isn't very fre

Despite the future setting, there are references t

Jack and Victoria drink with dinner. A character s

Parents need to know that Oblivion is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller that deals with the survival of humanity and a mysterious, violent alien threat. There are drones that kill instantly and turn their victims into ashes; several people die, including a few major characters. The language is pretty tame…

Positive Messages

Somewhat grim circumstances, but the movie highlights the way that humans manage to survive under the most difficult circumstances. Challenges people to listen to their instincts, to question following instructions and commands blindly, and to pay attention to their dreams. Also promotes the idea of taking care of the resources that we have -- and to not take them for granted.

Positive Role Models

Jack is curious and questions the motives of mission control. He's willing to think beyond authoritative directives and do what's best for humanity, even though it's against his orders. He's willing to save someone even after he discovers that she's not who he thought she was. Victoria is dedicated to her work, but she's unwilling to second guess any of her instructions, and she allows jealousy to cloud her instincts. Julia is patient and courageous. Beech is self sacrificing.

Violence & Scariness

The drones kill -- instantly incinerating anyone or anything they're programmed to terminate. Several characters die or are injured (including some major characters), but it's not a bloodbath like War of the Worlds . Explosions, hand-to-hand fights, and lots of danger/peril.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Jack is "assigned" to Victoria both romantically and professionally. They shower together, sleep together, kiss several times, and, in one scene, Victoria seduces Jack by undressing (she's shown nude from the back), jumping into a pool and suggestively inviting him to join her. They're shown kissing passionately (he with his shirt off, she naked, with back and legs visible) underwater. Later, another couple kisses; it's implied that they make love, but nothing is shown.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

For most of the movie, language isn't very frequent (though what is heard includes "s--t," "damn," "hell," "goddamn," "oh my God," and "bitch"), but at the very end, there's one memorable use of "f--k."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Despite the future setting, there are references to the New York Yankees and bands/songs such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale."

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Jack and Victoria drink with dinner. A character smokes a cigar.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Oblivion is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller that deals with the survival of humanity and a mysterious, violent alien threat. There are drones that kill instantly and turn their victims into ashes; several people die, including a few major characters. The language is pretty tame except for an occasional "s--t" and "damn" -- and one particularly memorable "f--k you." Sexuality includes a few passionate kisses and one seduction scene in which a woman is shown naked from the back. Oblivion is likely to appeal most to families with older teens who are either Tom Cruise fans or partial to futuristic action flicks. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (13)
• Kids say (48)

Based on 13 parent reviews

A woman is 'assigned' to a man- of course she is shown naked.

What's the story.

In the year 2077, humans no longer live on Earth but instead reside on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Left behind are Jack ( Tom Cruise ) and Victoria ( Andrea Riseborough ), a clean-up crew of sorts who are tasked with repairing drones before they, too, can join the rest of the surviving population on Titan. But Jack's mission changes when he rescues NASA astronaut Julia ( Olga Kurylenko ) from her ship's crash. It's clear that Jack may not have the complete truth -- and that the alien "Scavengers" roaming the Earth may not be the threat that Jack and Victoria have been warned about. After meeting the head of the Scavs, Jack must decide whether he's going to follow the mission's assignment or to believe strangers he feels inexplicably compelled to trust.

Is It Any Good?

Director Joseph Kosinski does a better job with OBLIVION than he did with his debut film, Tron: Legacy , but it's clear he's a filmmaker whose strength is stylized, visually arresting storytelling. The cinematography is terrific, with sweeping landscapes of post-apocalyptic New York, and the action sequences are pulse-pounding thanks to Cruise's mastery of the genre. Cruise manages to have decent chemistry with not one but two women -- the prim rules-follower played by Riseborough and the enigmatic woman of Jack's dreams, Kurylenko. It takes an extraordinary leading man to pull that kind of emotional connection off, and Cruise is up to the task.

One of the best moments in Oblivion is when viewers first hear co-star Morgan Freeman 's powerful voice before the lights turn on and his face is revealed. Few actors can exude Freeman's gravitas with such few words. Game of Thrones fans will also be pleased to see Nikolaj Coster-Waldau make an appearance. But in the end, this is a Cruise film all the way. How entertaining you consider the movie depends greatly on how good of an action star you consider him, because the third act does border on the overlong and unsatisfying. Still, despite its subpar story resolution, Oblivion is good enough to remember.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the popularity of post-apocalyptic stories. How does Oblivion compare to other alien movies like The Host or Prometheus ?

How does the violence in the movie compare to other sci-fi/action movies you've seen? Does the fact that some of the combatants are aliens give it any more/less impact?

Movie Details

• In theaters : April 19, 2013
• On DVD or streaming : August 6, 2013
• Cast : Morgan Freeman , Olga Kurylenko , Tom Cruise
• Director : Joseph Kosinski
• Inclusion Information : Black actors, Female actors
• Studio : Universal Studios
• Genre : Science Fiction
• Topics : Adventures , Space and Aliens
• Run time : 126 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : sci-fi action violence, brief strong language, and some sensuality/nudity
• Last updated : December 6, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Oblivion retro review: is Tom Cruise sci-fi movie underrated or rightfully forgotten?

Initially overlooked, how does Oblivion hold up 10 years later?

The 2010s were up and down for Tom Cruise. His Mission: Impossible franchise was successfully revitalized, but just about everything else — save for Edge of Tomorrow — has been pretty much forgotten. But should they have been? Considering that one of those movies, Oblivion , celebrates its 10th anniversary in April 2023, let's examine it.

Oblivion is a sci-fi/action movie that stars Cruise, Andrea Riseborough , Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. The movie was Directed by Joseph Kosinski, who would later go on to direct Tom Cruise to much success in Top Gun: Maverick . 

The Top Gun sequel proved that Kosinski and Cruise make a good team, so is Oblivion an underrated gem from the pair that should be given more respect? Before we answer that, let’s look at the key details about Oblivion , which will include some spoilers for the movie. 

What is Oblivion about? 

In addition to directing, Oblivion is based on a graphic novel story from Kosinski, which was adapted by by Karl Gajdusek and Michael Arndt. Here is the official synopsis for the movie via Peacock , where it is currently streaming:

"Before departing from a devastated planet Earth, a drone repairman rescues a woman from a downed spaceship, triggering a battle to save mankind."

Giving a little more detail, the movie takes place in 2077. Cruise's repairman Jack Harper explains in voiceover that an alien invasion took place around 2017. They destroyed the moon, which caused numerous natural disasters, and then launched a ground attack. He says nukes were used to win the war, but their devastation forced humanity to resettle on Saturn's moon Titan, with key resources for their survival still being mined from Earth's water supply. 

That is what Jack and his partner Victoria (Riseborough) are doing on their five-year mission, protecting and repairing the machines that help with this from the last remnants of the enemy aliens still on Earth.

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However, Jack finds a crashed ship with human survivors, one of which resembles a woman (Kurylenko) he has dreams about but has no other memory of. Later, he is captured by the enemy, only for it to be revealed they are human, continuing the fight against the enemy aliens who have manipulated Jack into doing their bidding. Jack's search for the truth of who he is and what side he should be fighting for is the crux of the movie.

Oblivion's most iconic moment 

After learning that he has been lied to and wanting answers, Jack becomes the target of the drones he has been in charge of repairing. When a chase sequence results in him crash landing in what has been labeled a deadly radiation zone, he gets an even bigger shock: not only is the radiation zone not deadly, but he sees another version of himself, fixing drones in this area.

Jack soon learns that he is a clone, and the alien enemy has made hundreds (if not thousands) of copies of him to serve their purposes on Earth. But what makes this sequence stand out is not the reveal, but the fact that we get to see some Cruise vs Cruise action in a fun little fight scene:

The legacy of Oblivion

Despite Oblivion having Tom Cruise and being a big-budget sci-fi movie, it was not given the summer blockbuster rollout that you may expect. The movie hit US theaters on April 19 (a little earlier in many other parts of the world) and was greeted with a very mild shrug.

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has the movie scored at a 54% from critics, which gives it a "Rotten" score. Inkoo Kang , writing for Screen Junkies, said "Ultimately, Oblivion is aptly named — no other movie so far this year has been so instantly forgettable," while New York Magazine's David Edelstein wrote "Was Cruise trying to beat out fellow Scientologist John Travolta for the honor of starring in the dumbest sci-fi epic ever?" Even the reviews that are labeled as "Fresh" didn’t exactly give the movie a ringing endorsement. Richard Roeper called it "the equivalent of a pretty damn good cover band," and CNN's Tom Charity classified it as "glossy, derivative, ambitious and fatally underpowered."

Audiences at the time didn't boost the movie's reputation either. It earned $89.1 million at the US box office, which put it as the 41st highest grossing movie of 2013, below the critically-panned Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp movie The Lone Ranger . It did better internationally, earning $286 million globally, but it still earned less than movies like Smurfs 2 and G.I. Joe: Retaliation .

There have been those making the case that Oblivion is an underrated entry in Cruise's filmography and harkens back to the type of sci-fi movies you don't see as much anymore . Now that we've re-watched Oblivion , here's our take on whether those arguments hold water. 

Is Oblivion underrated?

Short answer? No, not really. While we'll give the movie credit for a cool, post-apocalyptic Earth look (it was filmed primarily in Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland) and its story has some twists and turns that can be engaging, Oblivion fails truly dive into its concept or characters.

There's the old adage of show don't tell, which Oblivion does not adhere to. Cruise opens with a voiceover monologue about what happened to Earth and why they are there, only to then explain it all again to Kurylenko's character again when she arrives on the scene. Then, when the final twist of the movie explaining what happened to Jack is revealed, we've already basically been told by Morgan Freeman's character. Sure, we get some added depth, but not enough to make the moment truly hit. Exposition can be necessary, but not when it is spoon feeding the audience stuff rather than trusting the story. 

Beyond the story, the cast is going through the motions. Cruise is pretty flat and there's no real chemistry with Kurylenko. Meanwhile, this is pretty much a waste of Morgan Freeman. The MVP is Andrea Riseborough's Victoria, who is the only one that brings any kind of spark or depth to her character.

The best thing that we can say for Oblivion is that it failed so Top Gun: Maverick could eventually fly. Oblivion was Joseph Kosinski's second movie and his first collaboration with Cruise. You can see some bits in Top Gun: Maverick that are reminiscent of Oblivion (mostly the sequences of flying through canyons), but everything is more engaging and in service of a stronger, more impactful story in the Top Gun sequel.

Is Oblivion a bad watch? It's not the worst way to spend two hours if you're looking for something new. And credit where credit is due, it is an original sci-fi idea, which yes, would be nice to see more of these days. But by no means does it belong in the realm of Tom Cruise's better movies.

Other retro reviews

• Pi retro review
• Titanic retro review
• Catch Me If You Can retro review

Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca , Moulin Rouge! , Silence of the Lambs , Children of Men , One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars . On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd .

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Metacritic reviews

• 70 The Hollywood Reporter Todd McCarthy The Hollywood Reporter Todd McCarthy Oblivion is an absolutely gorgeous film dramatically caught between its aspirations for poetic romanticism and the demands of heavy sci-fi action. After a captivating beginning brimming with mystery and evident ambition, the air gradually seeps out of the balloon that keeps this thinly populated tale aloft, leaving the ultimate impression of a nice try that falls somewhat short of the mark.
• 67 The Playlist Oliver Lyttelton The Playlist Oliver Lyttelton It is overlong, and familiar, and never quite hits top gear -- it's never especially bad, but neither is it especially excellent, beyond the visual wow factor. But there's still a lot to admire in the film, not least that it's engaging from the first moment to the last.
• 63 McClatchy-Tribune News Service Roger Moore McClatchy-Tribune News Service Roger Moore That doesn’t make Oblivion a bad movie, just a familiar one — generic.
• 60 Empire Olly Richards Empire Olly Richards Kosinski has again built a fantasy world that feels real to its core, but once more put most effort into the scenery and too little into the people.
• 60 Total Film Total Film It isn’t a reboot or reimagining, refreshingly, but Oblivion plays like a stylised remix of superior sci-fi ground-breakers. Cruise and Kosinski: they might be an effective team, but pioneers they’re not.
• 60 Variety Justin Chang Variety Justin Chang A moderately clever dystopian mindbender with a gratifying human pulse, despite some questionable narrative developments along the way.
• 60 Village Voice Alan Scherstuhl Village Voice Alan Scherstuhl The good news: Here's a lavish, serious science-fiction picture, one that on occasion transcends big-budget hit-making convention to glance against grandeur...Which brings us to Tom Cruise, the not-necessarily-good news. However engaging its end-times mysteries, Oblivion is still a Tom Cruise movie.
• 58 Entertainment Weekly Entertainment Weekly Oblivion has enough special-effects artistry to keep you distracted for a while. But all the eye candy in the world can’t mask the sensation that you’ve seen this all before…and done better.
• 40 Time Out Time Out Kosinski continues to lavish far more thought on how his elaborate fantasy worlds look than how they work, and neither the politics nor the human stakes here coalesce into rational or relatable drama.
• 40 The Guardian Peter Bradshaw The Guardian Peter Bradshaw Oblivion goes on for a long time, moving slowly and self-consciously, and it looks like a very expensive movie project that has been written and rewritten many times over. It is a shame: Cruise, Riseborough and Kurylenko as the last love triangle left on Planet Earth should have been quite interesting.
• See all 41 reviews on Metacritic.com
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MaXXXine Review: Dismembering and Deconstructing Horror and Fame in the '80s

50 best new movies on streaming to watch right now, eddie murphy reveals one iconic thing will be missing from beverly hills cop: axel foley.

Imagine taking pieces from all the sci-fi classics, putting them in a blender, wrapping it in a shiny box; then pouring it on screen for mass consumption. That's pretty much the one-sentence summary of Oblivion . It doesn't make the film bad, far from it, but it strains mightily in the originality department. Tom Cruise stars as Jack Harper, a drone repair technician seventy-years in the future. Earth has been decimated by a war with alien invaders called "Scavs". They destroyed the moon, thus causing a tidal shift that wiped out most of the planet's population. Humans defeat the Scavs, but at a great cost. Survivors live on Saturn's moon, Titan. A huge v-shaped spaceship, called the Tet, operates giant machines that use fusion to create energy from ocean water; this fuel being the lifeblood of the Titan colony. Harper and his coworker/lover Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) live in the clouds. Their sole duty is to repair ultra-sophisticated attack drones that protect the fusion reactors from the remaining Scavs. Their memories have been wiped for security reasons, but Jack is haunted by dreams of a mysterious woman - Julia (Olga Kurylenko). His entire existence is thrown into question when a spectacular event leads him to find her.

Let's start with what's good. The special effects, sound, and cinematography are amazing. Claudio Miranda, who won the cinematography Oscar for Life of Pi, is still on his game. I was lucky enough to see the IMAX screening of Oblivion and was impressed by how beautifully shot the film was. Writer/director Joseph Kosinski's feature debut was the technically brilliant Tron Legacy. He's got the chops to make to a mega-budget sci-fi film and gets credit here for the craftwork. However, he needed to do better with his story, dialogue, and character development.

For all the sci-fi shenanigans throwing down, there's a soap opera-esque subplot that could have worked if it wasn't so predictable. Jack and Victoria are getting it on like rabbits in the clouds. Insert Julia, Jack's dream woman, and there's bound to be romantic conflict. This triangle affair takes up a sizable chunk of runtime. Morgan Freeman is billed as the lead costar in Oblivion , and looks to play a major part in the advertising, but this is not the case at all. The romance subplot is almost equal to the overall storyline. Andrea Riseborough's character is the primary costar. She's a good actress, but I was certainly surprised by how much time is spent on the love affairs.

Tom Cruise is becoming generic in his roles. His character of Jack Harper could easily be Jack Reacher in space. The haircut, the mannerisms, even though Jack Reacher is harder-edged tonally; it all seems so damned familiar. This is a bad sign for Cruise. You can't have different characters in two completely different genres being this similar. This is why it's called acting. Characters need to be different. Maybe Oblivion needed a director with more gravitas to force Cruise to mix it up more. Cruise produces his own films, so on set he's the boss. That kind of power can rob the director of creative discipline and I think this is the case here.

Oblivion has several plot twists that definitely do not come out of left field. It's obvious from the opening scenes, especially their interaction with their commander on the Tet, Sally (Melissa Leo), that there's something rotten. There's a lot of build-up to the big reveals, but you see it coming a mile away. This is the sci-fi axiom colada I was referring to. We've seen all this before in other films, usually done much better, so it's hard to be that impressed here.

Oblivion can be whittled down and is predictable, but I did walk out of the theater liking it. It's got enough good things going to make it entertaining and worth watching. It works as a popcorn flick, science-fiction that maybe a date who's not so interested in the genre would like. The romance aspect appeals to a different kind of audience than nerdy fanboys like me. IMAX is pricey, but I feel this film warrants the extra expense. The scenes in the clouds and with the drones are pretty cool to see on the bigger screen. Cruise gets a pass on this one for dialing it in, but he needs to start flexing some acting muscles in his films.

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Finally saw Oblivion. Need to rant a little bit [POSSIBLE SPOILERS]

So, I decided not to see this movie when it was in theaters based on a few critic reviews that I had read. I got around to seeing it today, and enjoyed every minute of it. From what I remember, the critics negatively reviewed this movie based on the fact that the plot was lackluster, and too predictable. Was the plot somewhat predictable? Yes, to some extent, but I feel that this was more than made up for by the almost perfectly paced, mysterious storyline that was delivered. Not to mention the fact that the cinematography, visual effects, and action sequences were stunning. It saddens me to know that there were probably many people like me who didn't go see the movie based on these reviews. Personally I think that this was one of the better sci-fi movies that I have seen in years, and I for one will never be reading any critic reviews on movies from this point on. Definitely learned my lesson :P Anyway, just needed to get that out.

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While we’re on the subject of art-and-life parallels, this is the second exorcist film that Russell Crowe has made in a little over a year (the first, “The Pope’s Exorcist,” was released in April 2023), and that might well be the sign of a once-hot movie star’s fall from grace. But Crowe remains too good an actor to phone in what he’s doing, and his performance as Tony has an undercurrent of shaggy despair unusual for the genre.

Early on, Tony’s 16-year-old daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins), returns to his funky New York loft apartment after she gets kicked out of Catholic boarding school. For a while, we’re invested in whether Tony can mend fences with her, and whether he can turn his broken life around by portraying the priest in a movie whose director, played with amusing Machiavellian ruthlessness by Adam Goldberg, will do whatever it takes to wring a good performance out of his leading man, even it means abusing the hell out of him. (In this case that’s no metaphor.) “You still devout?” asks Goldberg’s Peter, saying it like it’s a dirty word. Tony is a former altar boy, so I guess that’s supposed to hit him hard.

On set, Lee bonds with Tony’s pop-musician costar, Blake (Chloe Bailey), the lead singer of Vampire Sorority. And Tony is coached by an on-set priest, Father Conor, a kind of intimacy-with-the-almighty coordinator played with amiable cynicism by David Hyde Pierce. There are omens, like Tony’s bloody nose on the first day of shooting. The bottom line is that Tony is not giving a good performance, and what’s standing in his way is his guilt for his sins, as well as the “mysterious” trauma that brought on his bad behavior. This is a movie that plays connect-the-dots with exorcist/Catholic/addict themes.

“The Exorcism” was directed by Joshua John Miller, who’s the son of Jason Miller, the late costar of “The Exorcist,” which creates, I guess, a kind of Satanic synergy. As the movie goes on, Tony starts slugging whiskey again, which on the story’s terms is a sign that the devil has appeared. The trouble is that a good exorcist movie requires a confrontation with the devil. Crowe is playing an actor playing an exorcist, and the way “The Exorcism” is structured what he needs to be is the therapeutic Father Merrin of his own soul. But the darker the movie gets, the less there is at stake, and the more that Crowe seems to be going through the motions of trying to save not his soul but his career. The power of residuals compels you.

Reviewed at Digital Arts, New York, June 13, 2024. MPA Rating: R. Running time: 93 MIN.

• Production: A Vertical Entertainment release of a Miramax, Outerbanks Entertainment production. Producers: Kevin Williamson, Ben Fast, Bill Block. Executive producers: Padraic McKinley, Scott Putman, Andrew Golov, Thomas Zadra.
• Crew: Director: Joshua John Miller. Screenplay: M.A. Fortin, Joshua John Miller. Camera: Simon Duggan. Editor: Matthew Woolley. Music: Daniel Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans.
• With: Russell Crowe, Ryan Simpjkins, Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg, David Hyde Pierce.

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Oblivion Movie Review

Oblivion is a science fiction film that shows the state of the Earth being destroyed by the war against alien beings. The film is directed by Joseph Kosinski, produced by Peter Chernin, and written by Karl Gajdusek with Michael deBruyn.

Actor Tom Cruise starred in Oblivion as the main character named Jack Harper aka Tech 49.

His original character was a commander on a mission to Titan, the moon on the planet Saturn. However, Jack is encountered by an alien space station named Tet, and he is cloned against the rest of the humans on Earth.

Oblivion received mixed reviews from critics, and grossed $286 million worldwide on a production budget of approximately $120 million. On the critic site Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 53% rating based on 255 reviews, and an average rating of 5.88 / 10. What’s interesting about the movie? Check out his review below.

Summary of Oblivion (The Secret of Earth’s Doom)

In 2017, a race of aliens invaded Earth. They also managed to destroy the Moon. Humanity was finally able to win the war using nuclear weapons. However, due to nuclear power and the loss of the Moon, parts of the Earth are uninhabitable and humanity is in danger of extinction.

60 years later in 2077, Jack Harper and Victoria “Vika” Olsen become one of the last remaining human races on Earth.

Jack aka Tech 49 has a mission to repair the combat drones that are hunting the group of Scavengers or scavengers that are still alive. He is also in charge of the maintenance of the hydrorig generator engine capable of turning seawater into fusion energy.

Meanwhile, Vika is his colleague. He plays the role of a communications officer to guide Jack during his work.

The second mission is led by Sally, the director of a space station called Tet that orbits planet Earth. With their mission on Earth completed, Jack and Vika set out for Titan, humanity’s new home.

Once while Jack was completing his mission, he saw an unidentified object flying down from the sky and falling to a place not far from him. Vika then asks Jack to step back and let the drone examine the subject. However, Jack ignored Vika’s suggestion and went straight to it.

Jack then finds five people, including a woman, hibernating in the capsule. While he was checking it, a drone suddenly appeared and shot them one by one. Jack then protects the still sleeping woman and saves her from being killed.

He immediately brought it to the headquarters for inspection. Jack and Vika managed to revive the woman. The woman was later identified as Julia. After meeting her, Jack realizes that Julia is the woman who often appears in his dreams. However, he was surprised because he seemed to know Julia very closely.

After an argument, Jack and Julia go to the crash site to find the flight data recorder. Arriving at the place, both were caught by a group of garbage pickers and brought to the headquarters.

Malcolm Beech, their leader, explains to the two that the human scavenger hunt is disguised by using alien technology to avoid being killed by the drones. Malcolm also reveals that they are the only human species left on Earth.

Malcolm then releases Jack and Julia to find the truth in the radioactive zone. Julia then tells Jack that she is his wife. What Julia said made Jack’s lost memory gradually recover.

Arriving in the radiation zone, Jack must face his own clone, who is nicknamed Tech 52. He also meets his clone, Vika, who is still working as a communications officer. After defeating Technology 52, Jack and Julia go to Malcolm once more to find out the truth.

Malcolm then explains that Tet is an alien artificial intelligence whose goal is to take Earth’s resources.

They also wiped out all of humanity using an army of drones, and a clone of Jack. Humanity’s victory against the aliens and Titan’s new home for them is just a lie fabricated during Tet.

Elegant and impressive image

Director Joe Kosinski made his big screen debut while working on the sci-fi film Tron: Legacy (2010). Claudio Miranda then worked on the cinematography and made the film look quite luxurious. After that, the two collaborated on Oblivion with a large production budget of about 120 million USD.

With that big budget, Kosinski and Miranda did a great job producing this movie. In two hours, Oblivion impressed because it had great looking cinematography. The mainland Earth that has been destroyed by the use of nuclear weapons against aliens also feels quite realistic.

Although in this movie, the Earth is said to be in a state of ruin and uninhabitable, there is still a growing green environment to be a comfortable place to live.

The earth is not completely dead. There are still some humans left to create a new civilization. Then, all of Earth’s post-apocalyptic landscapes are beautifully visualized.

In addition, the space station called Tet appears as a space object filled with threats, and looks scary. Inside is a human-like alien artificial intelligence named Sally.

There are no scary looking aliens, but they do include an army of drones with a mission to eliminate humanity and take Earth’s resources.

Uncomplicated sci-fi movies

Oblivion is able to present its sci-fi theme with an easy-to-understand plot approach. From the first minute, the premise diagram is clear enough with Tom Cruise as Jack Harper or Tech 49 directly narrating the context of Earth’s “doomsday” and how humanity triumphs over the aliens.

Then towards the end of the story we get an episode, when Tet is an evil alien who turns out to be a clone of Jack and Vika (Andrea Riseborough) to hunt down humanity.

All of Tet’s lies are later revealed when a group of Garbage Pickers, led by Malcolm Beech (Morgan Freeman), help uncover the secrets Tet has kept from Jack.

Before getting into the fun part of the reveal, Oblivion runs at a mediocre intensity at first. There are no events that are challenging and also really threaten Jack as the main character.

When he finds Julia (Olga Kurylenko), the movie then slowly shifts into a much more interesting and engaging way.

Jack’s journey is even more impressive when he meets his wife. When his memory is restored and Tet’s evil plan is exposed, Jack becomes a different person braver than before.

However, the exploration of the characters Malcolm, Vika, and Olga does not have strong depth, and they are only seen as supporting players.

Not Tom Cruise’s Best Movie

Oblivion isn’t the first sci-fi movie starring Tom Cruise. He has also previously acted in Minority Report (2002), War of the Worlds (2005), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), both of which fall under this genre. Science Fiction . All of these films were quite successful with good earnings at the box office.

Not inferior to the three films, Oblivion still looks impressive throughout the story. Backed up by stunning visuals, this movie is able to cover its premise that really feels ordinary.

One of the weak points of Oblivion is the lack of beautiful moments in the game. The sequence of action scenes is only shown a little more quickly when entering the final round.

Ultimately, Oblivion becomes one of Tom Cruise’s sci-fi movies that shouldn’t be missed. Cruise’s acting experience as well as his charisma make this movie all the more enjoyable to enjoy while Oblivion isn’t his best movie, but it never hurts to put it on your watch list. . Have fun watching!

Salenhanh – Product review blog Address: 115 Nguyen Van Qua, Tan Hung Thuan Ward, District 12, Ho Chi Minh Website:  https://salenhanh.com/en Mail: [email protected] #salenhanh #Reviewsalenhanh

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