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Review: Oblivion

By Christine Petralia

Image courtesy of Universal Pictures

April 21, 2013



I had mixed feelings about this Tom Cruise sci-fi thriller. While I found the plot interesting with some twists, I did also find it lacking with some glaring holes. And at times, the film dragged, to the point where I just wanted the good guys to either win or fail.



The plot seems simple, with Cruise’s character Jack Harper explaining the premise at the beginning. The year is 2077, 60 years after an alien race waged a war on humans. While the human race won, the earth and its moon were destroyed. As a result, the remaining humans live on a massive tetrahedral space station called the Tet and established a colony on Titan. However, there are a few humans left on earth to extract the remaining resources to power Titan. Harper and his partner/lover Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) are two of those humans. They live high above the earth, during the day Harper maintains and services drones on earth. While he’s there, he sometimes goes off the grid to a house in the woods on a lake, where he has collected the remaining pieces of humanity. It is there he daydreams of his previous life, though he’s not sure where the memories came from, as his memory was wipe cleaned five years earlier.



Also on earth are the Scavs, the alien race out to destroy humans. While on a mission, Harper witnesses a wrecked ship, the Odyssey, with human survivors. Inside one of the capsules with the humans, is a woman he’s dreamed of. Confused by this finding, he looks around and realizes the drones he’s been fixing are destroying the humans in the capsules. He saves the woman he dreams of. Soon after they are both captured by the Scavs. Their leader, Malcolm Beech (Morgan Freeman), explains there are no aliens on earth, as there are humans on earth. He demands Harper reprogram a drone so they can send it up to the Tet to destroy it and save the earth.



And so on and so forth. There’s a lot more to this story, but I feel that I’d be doing a disservice to anyone interested in seeing this film in the theater or otherwise. There are twists and turns involved. And there’s a lot of narration by Cruise’s character, which I felt was unnecessary as I still left the theater with more questions than answers. I didn’t hate the film, I just feel the storyline was missing something. It was an interesting twist on an old idea, a la sci-fi thrillers from 1970s.



Cruise did well, as he always does in action flicks. He adds a bit of humor to otherwise serious roles, and this was no exception. I did quite enjoy one of the fight scenes he has with another technician. And I really enjoyed one of the last lines in the film.

I didn’t hate the film, but I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite film. Skip the theater (and the expensive IMAX 3-D) and wait for Blu-ray or cable.

The story picks up where the last left off, with Cobra Commander locked away and all is right in the world. However, Zartan has taken control of the White House, and not only frames the Joes for stealing a nuclear warhead, but also destroys majority of the team. The ones left, Roadblock, Lady Jaye and Flint, are forced to figure out Zartan’s plan and save the world.

A Korean group leads a guerilla attack on the White House. They take it over and hold the president and his staff hostage, killing them one by one until their leader gets what he wants. Secret Service agent Mike Banning is the country’s only hope in rescuing the president and taking down the bad guys.

This prequel to “The Wizard of Oz” explains how the wizard made his way to Oz and the history behind the witches.

A drama with heart.  Victor (Colin Farrell) infiltrates a crime empire to get revenge against the man who killed his daughter and wife and left him for dead. Things start to get messy and interesting when he becomes friends with his neighbor Beatrice (Noomi Rapace).

Martin Taylor is released from prison to a wife, Emily, who is depressed. Emily, after trying to kill herself, seeks help from a psychiatrist, Dr. Banks. Banks’ world gets turned upside down when Emily is accused of murder.

All works created by Christine McGrath; Centereach, New York  All Rights Reserved 2024

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