Oblivion: Like Wall-E but Made of Meat

Spoilers Below!

Oblivion gets all the technical things spot on- desolate, inventive world, impressive visual and sound design, and commendable performances. This is the first feature to be created with complete Dolby Atmos surround sound- the “latest state-of-the-art” sound-and indeed it was impressive. In fact, the audio/visual side of things left more of a lasting impression than the actual story.

The first hour drags a bit so that when the film picks up exponentially in the last hour, it’s going to be too little, too late to make a difference with many audience members. While there are glimpses of greatness throughout Oblivion, most of it  ranks a solid “okay.” Much of my lukewarm feelings stemmed from my lack of interest in the characters. The film fails to make you care about what happens to anyone, rendering some of the twists a moot point. Jack (Tom Cruise) and Victoria’s (Andrea Riseborough) relationship holds no interest, since it feels like they’re only together because of their work. They were chosen to do this job, there’s no one else around, so why not hook up? When the mysterious woman from Jack’s past, Julia (Olga Kurylenko), shows up later, it doesn’t incite any feelings of worry for the circumstantial couple, nor are we as interested in her, since Julia has the disadvantage of both diminished screen time and being kind of a dullard.

Likewise, when it turns out the Jack we have gotten to know is one of thousands of clones, it’s not a huge surprise, and it cheapens Jack Prime’s death. Yes, he’s different from the rest because he has a personality and feelings, but it also takes away any real concern for his safety because there are a nigh-infinite number of Jacks that could replace him… which is exactly what they do. While it’s kind of sweet to end with Jack #52 reuniting with Julia, it takes away from Jack Prime’s death and retroactively takes away from his life. It doesn’t matter how many times Jack dies, Julia can just replace him with another. If he makes her mad, she can roll the dice and see if the next Jack is better.

Oblivion contains just about every sci-fi twist in the book, yet fails to enthrall because they’re the typical revelations we’ve seen many times in films like this one- though not all at the same time which, in the end, is a bonus. With so many twists and turns, there’s bound to be one of them you don’t see coming, which puts the film in the “watchable” category. The characters are a bit flat, but overall it’s a decent watch.

Best, Most Interesting Twist: (read in an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice) It’s not a alien, it’s a machine! The whole time we’re made to believe that aliens have attacked Earth, and even though we, the humans, won, we had to move to another planet because ours was trashed. That’s a big fat lie! That’s just what the machines want Jack to think. There are no aliens, and humans didn’t win the war. Machines took over so they could siphon our resources and bleed the planet dry. Bad machines!

Action Rating: 2 ½ Tetrahedrons, out of 5.

This is the Action Flick Chick, and you’ve just been kicked in the ass!