Tom Cruise fans need to cruise themselves on down to the theatre because he is back on the big screen once more with another type-casted role. The film “Oblivion” tells the story of
Earth in the year 2077 beginning with Jack Harper, played by Tom Cruise, giving the preamble of our planet’s history.
Earth has been overwrought with earthquakes and tsunamis as a result of aliens destroying our moon, which has left humans to seek refuge on a moon of Saturn called Titan. However, alien scavengers, called Scavs, still roam the planet and are destroying the drones that help those who run Titan gather what’s left of Earth’s resources.
With their memories of their past lives completely wiped, Jack Harper and his team partner, Victoria Olsen, have been assigned to repair these drones, meanwhile awaiting their return to Titan. The beginning of the film drags out unnecessarily as Jack questions himself and his dreams of the past that include another woman. His unease brings him to take more and more risks, discovering that everything he’s been told of the aliens, the Titan, his past and his partner could all be lies. When he finally finds the woman of his dreams, literally, it becomes certain that things on Earth and in space are definitely not as he believed.
Even with Tom Cruise still playing the classic action hero, this role portrays him as a more amicable character. With the heart of a dreamer who is looking for truths and often seeks refuge in his adorable cottage filled with books and trinkets he’s picked up from ruins, the audience gets the opportunity to glance at a softer side of his acting.
The rest of the movie consists of him whipping out guns, kicking and throwing punches, adding the perfect amount of action and lasting the perfect amount of time for each fight scene. The beautiful damsel in distress, played by Olga Kurylenko, and the somewhat mysterious opponent, played by Morgan Freeman, help to finish the film classically with some originality lacking in the screenplay.
However, the best effect of the film lays in the cinematography. Claudio Miranda, who just recently received an Oscar for his work on “Life of Pi,” creates this dystopian world beautifully.
If you can’t get lost in the story line, or if you get confused, then you can certainly find yourself lost in lusciously green hills, snowcapped mountains or floating in the clouds that Miranda creates magnificently. The images of our nation’s most important buildings, such as the Washington Monument, the Empire State Building and the Capitol Building, buried underneath the sea or overgrown with land, will mentally transport you to the year 2077 effortlessly.
All in all, the story is a captivating one, taking its own spin on a post-apocalyptic world. It can become slightly confusing as the story continues, and some unnecessary details and scenes are added. These small details probably could have been left out because it leaves the movie ending with a few loose ends.
However, the overlaying story, the cast and the dynamic visuals ought to be enough to pull you into the theatres and immerse yourself for a solid two hours. 'Oblivion' Brings a Confusing Yet Captivating Tale to the Screen Pictures of You with Your Humanity on ‘The Vampire Diaries’
