Another Day In Paradise...Hardly.

Rating: 8/10 (29 July 2013)

A post-apocalyptic earth that survivors only use for a source of power is the set-up (i.e. whoever these survivors are they do not live on earth). In 2017 earth was attacked by an alien force that collapsed the moon causing utter cataclysmic devastation. But, that attack, even as the earth itself was being destroyed, was thwarted by use of earth's nuclear arsenal. The survivors set up a new colony in space and, while life on earth was abandoned by the survivors they depended on it for the already mentioned power source. Apparently, as is the case in almost every battle ever waged, there remains a pocket of resistance on earth – in an area capable of sustaining life, in spite of surrounding dangers of radiation, rebel resistance thrives. The new regime counts these rebels as a real enough problem to both name and hunt them. They're believed to be alien by the space colonists, an aberration these rebels use to their advantage. They give them a name to match as they're known as scavs.
Jack, played by Tom Cruise, is the film's protagonist. He and a partner work for the good of the space colonizing survivors. They live in futuristic (it's 60 years post the 2017 apocalypse at least) "home in the sky" until which time they have finished their mission and are ultimately rewarded with every survivor's dream: life on Saturn's Titan. Jack and Victoria dutifully work as "an effective team" as they protect the earthly ocean water power harvesters from the Scavs. It isn't really clear if Jack and Vika (Victoria's nickname) are a romantically linked couple or just co-workers. What is clear is Vika is a "company woman" all the way and Jack has something wild and independent inside of him. "The Tower" is the control center which Jack and Vika must answer to. Specifically Jack and Vika keep uber-destructive, very deadly, "drones" operational. Jack actually goes to earth and repairs fallen drones, in fact Jack loves the earth for reasons slowly revealedhe has a mountain cabin in a still livable area and he has vague remembrances of things that pull him toward earth and not Saturn. Vika, on the other hand, may be human flesh, but is machine like in all other ways. Saturn, for her, is the carrot on the end of the string and she must serve to achieve it.
These things set up a film that is first good entertainment. It has amazing CGI which like a painting one can't stop gazing at keeps revealing more. There is much to convey in the juxtaposition between the earth that was, the earth that is, the Scavs who remain the only resistance, and the unseen force that is exemplified by "The Tower" – as well as the almost painful southern drawl vocalization and scolding face symbolizing said Tower. The atmosphere is really engrossing and, like a cocoon, wraps the viewer inwardly. Think the tremendous emotional loss of humanity's beauty for a futuristic cold perfection. The cinematography here captures this much like the excellent movie Gattaca did over nearly 15 years ago. It makes one long to relive, if only in memories, the best of the human experience - Oblivion is quite effective in actually evoking this mechanism. Cruise fits the character Jack Harper well indeed. Jack may not be the company man his day job seems to indicate as something is very "un-programmed" in his psyche. He's very human and Cruise excels at this even in a sci-fi setting. And, without spoiling anything here's the crux of that humanity vs. cold science thing: Who really is Jack Harper? Is Jack human, and his own man, or is he a creation of science without free will? If that did not cause conflict add in Morgan Freeman's Scavs group and a strange ship crashing that has a strange tie to an earlier time as well as Jack himself. There's enough cerebral plot twists to make this a serious sci-fi yarn if not on the scale of an epic.
Not to be missed is the fact this movie has what may be the best futuristic hardware seen in cinema since, well ever. That would be the "Bubble Ship" and "Drones". These two objects are a tour de force of futuristic, yet grounded in real world physics, designs. Wow! is the first thing which comes to mind, especially seeing The Bubble Ship on screen in full glory. Then, perhaps, a huge cloud of ominous darkness envelopes due to the deadly Drones – definitely scary in light of the coming moral dilemma of using drones domestically (might be a not so thinly veiled warning here). The team who designed these is clearly world class industrial designers and I want something, a car, a building or something, in the real world by this very team. They are literally amazing and that isn't an overstatement. These vehicles work here and carry more than they should (as if co-star roles) in the film due to their presence.
Oblivion is highly entertaining science fiction movie making. The story of Jack Harper's world is interesting if not unique or exceptionally deep. The beauty of Oblivion is taking a lot of good things and making them better beginning with a good post-apocalyptic story, adding engaging performances, mind expanding world-class set design, jaw-dropping cinematography, and fully realized top-shelf CGI effects. Those for who this stuff speaks to won't be disappointed as they're absorbing a slice of humanity in their sci-fi.