#296: Oblivion

Release Date: April 19th, 2013

Format: Blu-ray

Written by: Michael deBruyn and Karl Gajdusek

Directed by: Joseph Kosinski

2 Stars

2013’s Oblivion is a huge Tom Cruise sci-fi vehicle ($120 million budget) directed by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick, F1) about the last man on Earth, flying around in a super cool space ship, fighting off the last remnants of an invading alien force. 

 There’s also a whole sub-plot involving memory wipes, cloning, and an underground rebel alliance, but if you’re not into the first part, of watching Tom Cruise running around in a space suit with a laser blaster, I don’t think you’re going to get much out of this movie.

Kosinski, who conceived the story, is better with his whiz bang visuals than his plot. We’ve seen a lot of this kind of thing before, although to his credit, I’m not sure we’ve seen it on this large of a scale. 

Cruise is good, as are the look and designs of the film, which lend it the quality of a fun first-person shooter video game - make of that what you will.

At the film’s best, it has some compelling world-building that serves as the setting for a decent sci-fi adventure. 

It has the feeling of a movie that will gain its passionate defenders as the years pass, but will ultimately settle in as one of the more minor entries in the filmographies of Cruise and Kosinski. Why watch this when you could be watching Top Gun: Maverick?