Oblivion- A Science-Fiction Hodgepodge of Borrowed Ideas that Finds Strength in Visual Atmosphere and Confident Acting

Rating: 6/10 (19 April 2013)

Science-fiction in film used to be the genre for exploring unfamiliar terrain relating not only to imaginative worlds but also in expanding our moral and contemplative horizons relating to the human experience. However, it seems science-fiction has become a comfortable excuse for only inventing visually captivating sets and technologies for repetitive action sequences instead of utilizing new worlds to widen our gaze into conceptual territory that has relation to our modern existence. This typical laziness can be witnessed in director Joseph Kosinski's sophomore film Oblivion which focuses on creating the architecture of the world rather than worry about the purpose of the structure and substitutes original storytelling for a hodgepodge of stolen plot devices from better executed and more intelligent science-fiction films from the past. Kosinski is known for his resurrection of Disney's groundbreaking cult film Tron with his stunningly visual yet overly stimulated sequel Tron: Legacy and though he repeats his aptitude for captivating visuals they are still inundated by a lack of original foresight by screenwriters Karl Gajdusek, Michael Arndt, and Kosinski himself. Leave it to a renowned commercial director to transform contemplative highbrow science-fiction narrative elements from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Duncan Jones' Moon, and Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker into mere George Lucas inspired mindless space opera. Though Oblivion might be an inferior clone of familiar territory there are some entertaining qualities not only in the visual atmosphere but also in its admirably confident first half before it loses grip on its own unnecessarily convoluted reveals of influences. As an action film Oblivion suffers from its longwinded pauses and as an intriguing science-fiction film it suffers from an overstated sense of self just creating a newer model that we've all seen before. Kosinski does indeed prove that he can entice our imaginations with a lavish immersion into a full dystopian reality but doesn't have the compelling storytelling capabilities to match his visual inventiveness.
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