A Pretty Little Distraction.

Rating: 7/10 (11 January 2015)

The first thing I noticed about Oblivion was how absolutely stunning it looked. Whether it will hold up in years to come, as I've found CGI rarely does, remains to be seen. For now, everything looks gorgeous, which is impressive considering this post apocalyptic earth is a wreck. What the plot does well is a very slow build at the beginning. Hints are thrown in that something is amiss, but you aren't given enough information to know exactly what. It's classic suspense building and I thought it was very effective. I thought later plot developments were very reminiscent of Moon , but I didn't think this was a bad thing, it was done quite well. I thought by the final third you had a clear view of what was going on so some of the intrigue was lost, the big fight scene was fun, but I could have done without it. The ending on the whole was a bit flat, which was a shame.
I have to compliment Cruise, which I don't do all that often. I thought he was excellent, and surprisingly subtle. It isn't a huge cast, but he was absolutely to star of the show here, so props.
All in all, this is fun. In terms of it's ideas, it isn't wholly original, but it's nice to have an original science fiction film as opposed to a sequel. I've said it's a distraction because that's what this is. It's quite thrilling but not edge of your seat, it's quite entertaining but not riotous fun, it can be emotional but sometimes falls flat. Putting aside the aesthetics this doesn't truly excel in any way. With that said, if I'd have gone to see this at the cinema, I'd have been well chuffed because it's far above average for a blockbuster.
Seven out of Ten.