An Almost Perfection Fusion Sci Movie

Rating: 9/10 (17 January 2019)

18 April 2013. A great movie even with the unnecessarily and perhaps outdated use of switches and manual instrumentation for Tom Cruise's bubble cruiser, an almost nauseating voice-over narrative at the beginning unlike the acceptable to some voice over of Blade Runner (1982), a patently fake looking lunar moon, and the disappearance of a major female character occurring off camera. This is one of those movies where such flaws are easily overcome by the rest of the visual spectacle, artistic landscape and set design, and of course the storyline. What is fascinating about this tent-pole sci fi psychological action thriller extravaganza is that it isn't all that original, but nevertheless with its tight fusion of previous incarnations that are so well weaved into the storyline, producing a substantive film with two compelling twists offering an American theme ending that it becomes more than its parts and becoming a very well made movie.
There are strong elements taken from Total Recall (1990) and improved on, devoid of the stereotypical arch enemy and false persona and replaced both by an underlying emotional humanity as well as a detached alien presence. There are elements of The Matrix (1999) but not as eerily and epic-like presentation retaining more of simplicity and uncluttered landscape of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1982) but incorporating elements of awesomeness as found in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and psychological unbalancing as found in Source Code (2011). The twists in this movie is similar to that found in Moon (2009) which focused more on the singular psychological and ethical aspect of a man confronted with loneliness and in which Oblivion finds a way to expand of the more tortured and dichotomous incongruity of the multiplicity of human life or that of a man having to face up to what had been an entire illusion one's existence as in Planet of the Apes (1968).
Even so, Oblivion manages to retain a persistent theme of love and intimacy Fahrenheit 451 (1966) and as convoluted as Solaris (2002). The musical sound track resonates in places as symphonic as those found in Electric Dreams (1984) or Wavelength (1983). Other familiar themes may have been taken from Tom Cruise's own Minority Report (2002) and Surrogates (2009) as well as one of the sci fi classics of all time Blade Runner (1982) that dwelt with human identity and emotional connections in a dystrophic future.
As an afterthought, the voice-over at the beginning of the movie actually is quite clever and relevant if one ties it to the ending of the movie.