Style Over Substance

Rating: 6/10 (1 June 2013)

Oblivion is an average movie. Tom Cruise is entertaining, Morgan Freeman is underutilized, Andrea Riseborough carries out her duties admirably, and Olga Kurylenko is simply amazing.
Oblivion's post-apocalyptic landscapes are beautifully done. So much so, that I wish I'd seen it in I-Max. Actor, sets, and CGI seamlessly meld together. Lesser films slap truckloads of effects onto the screen in hopes to distract you from their substandard writing or actors. Oblivion does not suffer this fate. Visually its a work of art.
The story left something to be desired. I can forgive using so many different elements from different sci-fi films. Its hard to have anything truly original these days. What turned this film from thoughtful, fun, and riveting to dull, plodding, and tedious was the pacing. I felt like I was hit over the head repeatedly with flashbacks, Jack's sanctuary scenes, and relationship building scenes. I thought to myself many times, "I GET IT ALREADY! MOVE ON!" Character development is indeed essential, but Oblivion did so at the expense of the narrative. I believe I would have felt differently if they devoted some of that development to the survivors' stories or went into more visual or spoken detail of how the Earth fell.
The ending was predictable. I felt the film had room for one more surprise, and they missed a golden opportunity to do something spectacular. The audience has come this far and its time to pay them off! I took my 13 year old daughter to see this film. I'm rather irritated an F-bomb was dropped at the end. Filth is a crutch for lazy filmmakers. I'm surprised it didn't warrant an 'R' rating.
In summary, Oblivion came off as self-indulgent art-house crap trying to be deep and thought provoking and it failed miserably on the latter two counts. The action, acting, and landscapes do warrant a viewing, but do so with the understanding that its unnecessarily long and underwhelming in places. Oblivion is definitely a prime example of style over substance. Rian Johnson, Stanley Kubrik you are not.