Film Review: Oblivion

Oblivion. Rated M (science fiction violence and infrequent coarse language). 125 minutes. Directed by Joseph Kosinski. Screenplay by Joseph Kosinski, Karl Gajdusek and Michael Arndt.

Verdict: A verbose, fatally-flawed script mars a potential classic.

With his directorial debut TRON: Legacy (2010), Kosinski was revealed to be a filmmaker of our time. His masterful use of state-of-the-art motion picture technology that powered the story rather than distracted from it (or replaced it entirely), marked him as a director to watch. Darren Gilford’s flawless production design and Claudio Miranda’s (Life of Pi) superb cinematography ensured that Kosinski’s vision for his film was brought to the screen in breath-taking visual style. Expectations for the trio’s next big-screen adventure were high, so the only question that needs to be asked in relation to Oblivion is why has it all gone so wrong?

After an alien invasion has rendered Earth uninhabitable, human survivors have been evacuated to Titan (Saturn’s largest moon). Meanwhile, Jack Harper (Tom Cruise being Tom Cruise) and his partner Victoria Olsen (the excellent Andrea Riseborough) have remained on Earth and are responsible for maintaining an army of drones that protect massive water-extracting rigs from Alien scavengers who are determined to destroy them. But when a spaceship crash-lands on Earth, Jack recognises the only survivor – Julia (the superb Olga Kurylenko) – as the woman he has been dreaming about, and gradually it becomes obvious that all is not quite what is seems.

The extent to which a science-fiction film works depends entirely on one thing; the ideas that are revealed through the story. Great science-fiction writers use flights of imagination to explore grand themes to which we can relate, bending particular truths and circumstances at their will. What works for lovers of this genre in the cinema, is the extent to which our imaginations are inspired by the journey, and the ways in which we are challenged to consider the essence of our existence. How, we ask, does your vision of the future inform us about the way we live now?

The enemies of the perfect science-fiction story are the flaws in the way to flights of fantasy tie up, and ultimately, Oblivion simply fails to do itself justice. Sure, it looks stunning and it sounds great – with the brilliant score (courtesy of M.8.3’s Anthony Gonzalez and Joseph Trapanese) one of the most compelling so far this year. But the long, over-written script is high on exposition and nostalgia and incredibly low on the ideals of genuine science-fiction. The result is a film that quite brilliantly shows us everything, but tells us nothing.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.