It's fun & it won't ruin your night. Just don't think about the plot holes

Rating: 4/10 (23 April 2013)

Tom Cruise is one of the few films who can 'open' a film merely by starring, regardless of the quality. Oblivion proves the point. Cruise's latest offering is far from awful but there are plot holes big enough to fly spaceships through and it falls a long way short of his and Spielberg's futuristic masterpiece, Minority Report. Nevertheless, it'll make profit. HUGE profit! The only way to point out the many, many plot holes is to ruin the film so forget them, sit back, disengage brain and go with the flow.
It's 2077, Earth has been abandoned following the invasion and destruction at the hands of the alien 'Scavs', and Jack Harper (Cruise) is one of the last remaining drone repairmen overseeing, repairing and zipping around the small 'safe segment of the planet. He and Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) live in clinical quarters (with the best swimming pool you've ever seen!) high above Earth's surface; an 'effective team', as they repeatedly assure Sally (Melissa Leo), their superior in some far-off mission control.
But while Victoria is unquestioning in her loyalty to Sally and the mission, Jack questions his raison d'être and is plagued by dreams of a woman he cannot possibly know from a time long gone by. And then there's the small matter of the 'Scavs' who remain on Earth and keep shooting down the drones.
Cruise coasts along in Oblivion. It's an easy role in which he flies, runs, jumps, looks great on screen (far younger than his 51 years) and flexes his face to portray sincerity, thoughtfulness AND heroism. There's nothing wrong with his performance at all. He's perfect in the role; he's Tom Cruise! He's just not given the film, script or role that requires him to really act. Oblivion, fun as it is, is no Magnolia or Born on the 4th of July.
Likewise, neither Oscar winner (for The Fighter) Leo nor Olga Kurylenko, as the girl of Jack's dreams, Julia, has depth written for them. Leo is little more than a displeased face upon a screen and Kurylenko doesn't appear to know what to do with Julia. It is left to Riseborough to provide the variation and gravitas and she blends from docile subservience to cold, determination seamlessly but still allows a hint of inner concern to bleed though her eyes. Other actors might hurl turmoil at us but Riseborough is as controlled in her performance as Victoria is in her duty. Hot on the heels of Welcome to the Punch, it's a reminder of the value that she quietly adds to any project.
I can't avoid mentioning Morgan Freeman because he appears in the trailer even though, given half a thought, it's a clear indication of the way the film is going. He rolls along happily, looking pretty sprightly for an apparent octogenarian, as Beech, the um, yeah, I have to stop there or it gives the game away.
Stop thinking, stop asking, just watch. It looks good, it's reasonable fun and it's not going to ruin your night just as long as you don't think about the plot holes. The dirty great big gaps in reason. The huge...
Okay, I can't bite my tongue any longer. If you don't want Oblivion ruined for you stop reading now. I feel the need to rant about just a few of the 'issues' that bugged me.
************ PLOT SPOILER ALERT ************
I emerged from Oblivion satisfied that I'd been reasonably entertained but troubled, no, downright annoyed, by the appalling lack of thought and reasoning by director/scriptwriter Joseph Kosinski. Either he didn't notice the glaring errors, in which case who the hell gave him the budget and the directors' chair, or he didn't care, in which case who the hell gave him the budget and the directors' chair?
I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on the following:
How does Jack remain unaware of the other Jacks on identical platforms around the world? There must be thousands of them. And why don't any other Jacks investigate the explosion on the power station?
Why bother with the whole Titan story for Jack & Victoria? Why not programme the clones to follow orders unquestionably and without the need for bribery? Furthermore, why do the aliens bother with human clones in the first place? Why not just plonk their own army down there and avoid all risks?
Why is it that after 60 years of warfare and abandonment, the dust that covers 90% of Empire State Building has managed to defy gravity and avoided falling into Jack's valley? Not one speck rests on a tree, not one single dust mote rolls across the fields!
Why did it take three years to bring the new Jack to Julia? What happened to him after Jack MKI pummeled him?
Why didn't NASA pick up the escape pod 60 years ago when it was launched?
How did the flight recorder on the escape capsule record the conversation on the main ship when they were travelling at great speed in opposite directions, putting thousands of miles between them?
How was it that Sally knew Jack was lying by his heart rate but couldn't tell it was Beech and not Julia in the pod. For that matter, why the need to put her in the pod anyway? She knows she's going back, Sally knows he's bringing her back and there are two seats!
Who sat in the producer's chair and thought, Ah, the audience is too stupid to notice?
Maybe they were right. Box office receipts don't lie, right? Oblivion is box-office gold and Tom Cruise remains pretty high on the bankability pile.
For more reviews from The Squiss, subscribe to my blog and like the Facebook page.