OBLIVION
US, 2013, 110 minutes, Colour.
Tom Cruise, Andrea Riesborough, Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo, Nikolai Coster- Waldau.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski.
Director Joseph Kosinski wrote and directed Tron: Legacy, his first feature film. Oblivion is his second, quite an achievement. And he wrote the graphic novel on which his film is based (and there are another two such Oblivion novels – so a lot is riding on the success of Oblivion, though it has been announced he is working on another Tron film).
To be fair to the film, I could not have given a clear and logical synopsis while watching or immediately after. But, there was enough curiosity to check with friends about plot-lines – and I think I could give one now. But it means that we are puzzled as we watch.
And this is definitely a Tom Cruise film. One reviewer remarked wittily and aptly that equal attention had been given to putting Cruise on the screen as had been given to the production design. And the production design is top-class. Speaking of ‘top’, Tom Cruise is once again a top gun (even at fifty, giving fifty a good, fit, reputation, vigorous stunts and all), this time, still on earth, but a post-apocalyptic earth where he flies around maintaining and saving drones which are there to keep ugly aliens at bay. And, especially, watching on the IMAX screen, you are very conscious of Cruise, almost in your face. With Jack Reacher and Oblivion (his performance in Jack Reacher being better), he is still the star.
It is 2077 and earth has been destroyed – as has the moon in a very effective special effect. With Cruise in an eerie eyrie, a pylon home far above ground, with his plane launching pad, is Victoria (Andrea Reisborough), co-worker and partner. Sally, the television face and drawling voice of the co-ordinator of missions (played by Melissa Leo), is always asking ‘are you an effective team?’. They are and they aren’t. Tom, here called Jack Shepherd, has discovered some remnants of human civilization as well as a hidden grassy valley, away from the desert and the dunes, that are the remnants of human life. He is also tantalized by memories of a meeting with a woman on the Empire State Building. (This is part of the plot challenge: how is he remembering, what has happened in the last 60 years since the destruction; who is this woman…? And, discussion afterwards can answer these questions.)
After impressively establishing all of this with wonderful visuals, two new characters enter the story. One is the woman from New York cryogenically preserved (Olga Kurylenko). The other is a venerable leader of survivors (the welcome presence of Morgan Freeman). This builds up to a crisis for Jack Shephard, for his partner, and for the tower control and Sally.
Interestingly, Oblivion has received art-house distribution as well as at the multiplex. Will it become something of a classic post-apocalyptic film? How does it compare to Total Recall and other films we are reminded of? Only time and the fans’ ardour will tell.
1. Science-fiction? The future? Post-apocalyptic?
2. High production values, design, décor, costumes? The picture of a ravaged earth? Destruction on the moon? Landscapes, desert, the oasis and the contrast? The towers for water purification? For Sally and control? The interiors? Caves, craters, the library, the wreckage and the books? The pylon, height, home, comforts, swimming pool? The musical score?
3. A Tom Cruise vehicle? His dominant presence? Close up? At 50, agile and fit?
4. The title, earth, the aliens, the past gone, the erasing of memories?
5. Earth, 2017, the war, the control of the aliens? Destruction of the Moon, destroying tides and actual development? The passing of 60 years? The need for water, the towers and processing? The role of the drones? Planes? The inhabitants of the earth going to Titan?
6. Sally, the visuals on the television screen, her voice, the drawl? Asking whether they were an effective team? The supervision and surveillance? Of Victoria and Jack? Issuing orders? The revelation at the end? Who constructed Sally? Its destruction?
7. Tom Cruise as Jack? Black and white memories of New York, the image of the woman and his relationship? The home, the mission, only two weeks before going to Titan? The day, waking, Victoria, breakfast? Flying the plane, the drones, pursuit, the search, targeting Jack? On the ground, the holes, his falling in, the ruins, Mc Caulley and the Lays of Rome? His going to the oasis, the baseball memories, the relaxing clothes, rest, peace, his secret?
8. Victoria, as a person, bond with Jack, partner, working the screen, control, her concern, the meals, the swim, sexual encounter? Obeying Sally? The hopes to go to Titan?
9. The crash of the spacecraft, Jack and his search, the atmosphere, the cases, cryogenic, rescuing Julia? Taking her to the pylon? Victoria’s reaction? Reviving Julia, her memories, her mission, discussion, rest? Her wanting to recover the flight box?
10. Julia, her past, cryogenic, the memories of Jack, the Empire State building, his wife? The flight and return to the site, finding the flight box?
11. Sally, her concerns, suspicions?
12. Victoria, her reaction, with Sally?
13. Julia, the flight with Jack, into the radiation zone, exploring? Encounter with Malcolm Beech, his lieutenant? The return, the danger, her finally going to the oasis, with her child?
14. Beech and the survivors, as a person, watching Jack, knowing all about him? The group, adults and children? Surviving, hiding? Their own drone? Wanting the nuclear device? Wanting to destroy Sally? The questions to Jack?
15. Jack and his other self, the confrontation, the fighting, the injured nose for identification, his discovering the vast gallery of clones?
16. His returning to fix the drone, firing, with Beech, Beech and his speech, the best possible death, igniting the device, his death? Jack, his not surviving? Victoria?
17. Julia and her child, the oasis, her memories, hope for Jack’s return?
18. The plot, clarity, issues, and the possibility of a sequel and explanations?
