When the Telling is better than the Sotry

Rating: 5/10 (20 April 2013)

Sometimes, it is impossible to separate the story from the storyteller. When that happens, suspension of disbelief is easy, and the art becomes a part of life. This is rare. Often the great story is told and the teller succeeds by bringing it to the fore and staying out of the way.
A movie is a great story teller, but often the medium eclipses the message. This is clearly one that does. The polish of the production almost blinded me from the view of the movie. Great FX, immense star power, and an excellent score left whatever was the point of the movie on the cutting floor. An escape? Yes. However, as the plot developed, the lack of character pathos and reliance on amazing vistas let my mind wander. Any time the story gives you time to think, it is usually a bad thing.
Tom Cruise was excellent, as usual. The rest of the cast, including Morgan Freeman, complemented the star well. But the story never dared to go anywhere you might not have guessed, and the ending was predictable in a way that did not make me feel perceptive.
Have you ever met a person who was so meticulous, so well groomed, proper and predictable that you wondered if he/she was real? No? Then see Oblivion.