Oblivion Movie Review

Oblivion (2013)

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Written by: Karl Gajdusek and Michael Arndt (screenplay), Joseph Kosinski (graphic novel original story)
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Andrea Riseborough, Olga Kurylenko, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Melissa Leo, Zoë Bell
Rated: PG-13
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Plot
A veteran assigned to extract Earth's remaining resources in 2077 begins to question what he knows about his mission and himself.

Verdict
This is a fun sci-fi movie that does a great job at building the world and the mystery. Early on you realize something's not right, and this does a great job of leading into and revealing it. The production design does a great job of feeling like a realistic future, and the soundtrack is great.
Watch It.

Review
The graphic novel inspiration for this followed an idea Kosinski had during a writers strike, so he turned it into a graphic novel so he could continue developing the story

In a post apocalyptic Earth ravaged by aliens, Jack (Tom Cruise) is on the tail end of a mission that culminates with him leaving Earth and heading to a colony on a Saturn moon. While the humans won, the cost was Earth. This has a lot of fun visuals of a war torn Earth with plenty of well known landmarks.

Tom Cruise plays Jack

Questions arise early as Jack has to maintain some kind of link for some kind of reason that's unclear. Jack and his partner Vika (Andrea Riseborough) are concerned about defense droids, but with so little time left what does it matter? Is it just bureaucracy and following rules at work? The radiation zone keeps them secluded.

Jack is curious about this world and the past. He has a collection of old world items, but he has to hide them as Vika is by the book all the way. With the amount of stuff Jack has, it seems like he's been on this job for a long time. With that and the dreams he has of the old world, the mind wipe he mentioned generates some questions.

Jack's base and the destroyed moon

Everything goes off the rails when a ship crashes to Earth and Jack is insistent he must investigate. That eventually leads to Jack questioning everything. While we suspected something was going on, the truth will likely surprise you.

I enjoyed this more than I remember from the first time I watched. This does a lot right. While we know something is coming, we don't know what that will be. The production design is excellent and does a great job of making the world. The soundtrack is great, composed by M83 which is fitting.