Apple Design meets Post-Apocalypse

Rating: 7/10 (17 December 2013)

Imagine the designers of Apple getting their hands on a not-too-bad script for a Sci-Fi movie. Story is fixed, they may design the props.
In other words: The looks/set-pieces are outstanding, pure minimalistic stylishness. The story is well-crafted, but in the end rather un-revolutionary.
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I watched it on blu-ray, and the quality of the imagery is really impressive. The Icelandic locations make for a quite un-American background very befitting of the somewhat dystopian setting: (spoiler!) An Earth, slowly being sucked-dry by ginormous installations for..ehh.. what exactly? For something called "The Tet" A Space-pyramid thingy.
Tom Cruise plays Jack, a repairman that's sent-out to repair armed drones that are programmed to sniff-out "Scavs" the "Aliens" that apparently tried to take-over earth, but were bombed to kingdom come with nukes. Or so Jack is made to believe.
In the end it becomes a rather slowly developing, complex story involving clones, wiped memories, Alien A.i. and whatnot. Some people loathe Oblivion for that (but especially for it's slower pace).
True, it's a rather slow pace through the whole thing. Yet, here&there It has some good moments that make it feel like some Northern Scandinavian Movie, with it's minimalist and sombre looks, the main character doing the ponderous, internal turmoil-thing etc, but it lacks the depth and total depressing qualities that define many of those Nordic movies, and the lacking of those qualities sadly makes it look a tad pretentious.
Suffice to say, the average "big 'splosions every 2 minutes" public will most certainly not like this movie. Same goes for those that expect some deeper, philosophical undertone.
I have to be honest here. The director did try to get a "Nordic" feel, and does have some good moments, but in the end is too American in his way of showing f.i. "action". Too loud, too colorful, too many kitschy interludes (lovers in a swimming pool..ugh.. ) Stuff, frankly, clashes here&there, making for a somewhat unbalanced experience. It feels like he was on the right track, but lost his way in post-production, trying to cater to "the bigger audience"
My biggest gripe? The music. It is too bombastic. Too in-yer-face. Something that irked me to no end. Hence the 7
And Cruise is still too much the "petty American guy". Kurylenko, on the other hand does inject a bit of non-Americanism in the movie with her peculiar beauty. Although, her acting? Ahem. Not too shabby for a former clothes-horse, but no Oscar material, for sure.
Luckily the overall design, and specifically the director's choices for the rather cold coloring of -especially- slower moments, elevate this movie above popcorn-fare, and even successfully evoke a Space 2001-sense here&there, something the director hints at in the extra's.
All in all. I don't feel that I wasted money on the Blu-Ray, but I am happy that it was cheaper than the Theater..