Oblivion
MPAA Rating: PG-13In Theaters: April 19th, 2013
Runtime: 2 hours 5 minutes (125 minutes)
Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, brief strong language, and some sensuality/nudity.
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Thriller
Striking
Visuals,
Poor
Plot,
But
Worth
A
Watch!
Oblivion Review
- What's Good:
- Striking visuals, Tom Cruise's performance.
- What's Bad:
- Story and the plot which are derivatives and unoriginal, lack the impact of the futuristic look; Some may feel annoying that explanations keep coming throughout the movie till the end.
- Verdict:
- 'Oblivion' may not live fully to its grand ambitions, but it's worth a try!
- Watch or Not:
- For those who enjoy the simple thrill of visuals, 'Oblivion' is mostly mesmerizing. So do watch if for Top Gun's (Tom Cruise) excellent performance.
Audience Ratings for Oblivion
Plot Summary
Tom Cruise stars in OBLIVION, an original and groundbreaking cinematic event from the director of TRON: Legacy and the producer of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. On a spectacular future Earth that has evolved beyond recognition, one mans confrontation with the past will lead him on a journey of redemption and discovery as he battles to save mankind. A court martial sends a veteran soldier to a distant planet, where he is to destroy the remains of an alien race. The arrival of an unexpected traveler causes him to question what he knows about the planet, his mission, and himself. Jack Harper (Cruise) is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jacks mission is nearly complete. Living in and patrolling the breathtaking skies from thousands of feet above, his soaring existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands.
Critics Reviews for Oblivion
56 Critics like this movie.
Reviews Counted: 34 | Positive Review: 19 | Negative Review: 15 | Average Rating: 2.9/5This is the sci-fi movie equivalent of a pretty damn good cover band.
Critic Score: 3/5
Glossy, derivative, ambitious and fatally underpowered.
The story eventually devolves into a grab bag of sci-fi tropes but, as with so many other Cruise productions, the sheer scale of everything is so mind-numbing that you may not notice.
The sly, surprising and visually magnificent Tom Cruise vehicle that has forced me - and many other people, I suspect - to revise my first opinion of director Joseph Kosinski.
Oblivion is an okay blockbuster, a multimillion-dollar exercise in competence.
Critic Score: 2.5/4
Kosinski offers plenty of action here, and he lets the plot reveals bleed out slowly (explanations keep coming right to the end). Yes, a great deal is derivative, but it's fast-moving derivative.
Critic Score: B
A movie that combines a lot of different films, yet somehow remains less than the sum of its parts ...
Critic Score: 1.5/4
More adventurous than your typical Hollywood tent pole, "Oblivion" makes you remember why science fiction movies pulled you in way back when and didn't let you go.
Critic Score: 4/5
If you're able to forgive and forget, Oblivion isn't a bad place to start loving Tom Cruise all over again.
Director Joseph Kosinski focuses on cool visuals but stints on a compelling plot. It's a dazzler, but the story lacks the impact of the futuristic look.
Critic Score: 2.5/4
The mystery posed by "Oblivion" as a whole is why its mysteries are posed so clumsily, and worked out so murkily.
The agony of being a longtime Tom Cruise fan has always been a burden, but now it's just, well, dispiriting.
Critic Score: 2/5
[Cruise] oversees some pretty impressive stuff here, from the drones that ping-pong around in the air to the bubbleship that Jack uses to go to and fro to that awesome house with its panoramic views.
Critic Score: 2.5/4
Kosinski's personal commitment to gorgeous artifice above all other considerations only harms the film so much.
Oblivion gives us stars in the cast, stars in our eyes and it even tweaks a brain cell or three.
Critic Score: 2.5/4
The film is rife with elements from its finest predecessors - Kubrick, Lucas, the Wachowskis and Pixar could be listed as creative consultants - but it has the spirit of a love letter to classic sci-fi, not an opportunistic mash-up.
Critic Score: 3.5/4
Playing spot-the-influence is the most fun you'll have during this expensive-looking, slow-moving plod through familiar territory.
Critic Score: 2/4
So "Top Gun" has become "Wall-E."
Critic Score: 2/4
When you go to a futuristic, dystopian, post-apocalyptic barn dance starring Tom Cruise and his space guns, you expect a little zap with your thoughtful pauses.
Critic Score: 2/4
For all the bells and whistles - an electronic score by M83, a screen-busting Imax presentation and Cruise going full throttle - Oblivion feels arid and antiseptic, untouched by human hands.
Critic Score: 2/4
Sometimes Oblivion can be pretty oblivious.
Critic Score: 2.5/4
The filmmakers don't even have the courage to see the story to its proper end, opting for a ridiculous finale that feels vaguely insulting.
Critic Score: 2/4
Oblivion is imperfect but some of its imperfections result from being overly ambitious.
Critic Score: 3/4
You start wondering whether director Joseph Kosinski and screenwriters Karl Gajdusek and Michael DeBruyn have any original ideas of their own. And then you realize they don't.
Critic Score: 2/4
The mix of gee-whiz gadgetry and the day-to-day routineness of Jack and Victoria's lives is interesting enough, but the film is too glacially paced for it to work.
Critic Score: 2/4
As its palpable sense of dread -- well-sustained in a gently cascading first hour -- gives way to dead ends, this Omega Movie shoots itself in the foot.
Critic Score: 2/5
"Oblivion" may not live up fully to its grand ambitions, but it isn't for lack of trying.
Critic Score: 3.5/5
All the eye candy in the world can't mask the sensation that you've seen this all before...and done better. Too bad the movie's script wasn't given the same attention as its sleek, brave-new-world look.
Critic Score: C+
Rendered with equal parts urgency and familiarity.
For those who enjoy the simple thrill of handsomely stylized image-making, ''Oblivion'' is mostly mesmerizing.
Critic Score: 2.5/4
Director Kosinski proves himself talented in ways his Tron: Legacy didn't suggest.
A terrific-looking sci-fier that loses steam in the second half.
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.
Critic Score: 2/5
A moderately clever dystopian mindbender with a gratifying human pulse, despite some questionable narrative developments along the way.
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Credits
©2013 Universal Pictures
Oblivion Photos
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Olga Kurylenko at the 'Oblivion' Premiere in Hollywood on April 10, 2013
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Olga Kurylenko at 'Oblivion' Premiere in Buenos Aires on March 26, 2013
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Olga Kurylenko at 'Oblivion' Premiere at the Oktyabr Cinema Hall in Moscow on April 1, 2013
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Olga Kurylenko & Tom Cruise attend the UK Premiere of 'Oblivion' in London on April 4, 2013