Oblivion

When watching Joseph Kosinski’s sci-fi worlds, it’s impossible not to forgive them for any plot shortcomings, if there even are any shortcomings to speak of. His vision of technical and design excellence and the ambient feel of the “sound of reality” are so unique that the need to guide the audience through the story almost disappears. Kosinski goes beyond our dream imagination. Living in his world means not needing the sense of smell. In addition, Oblivion moves forward not through shootouts, but through unexpected twists, and the atmosphere is fantastic, given the minimalist set designs (by which I mean the beautiful, barren exteriors of Iceland and California, where nothing flashes or shines). The sound and music arrangement in the pool scene, and the pool scene itself, made this movie what it is and almost gave me an orgasm. Recalling the dressing scene in TRON: Legacy, I begin to hope that Kosinski is laying the cornerstone of a new sub-genre of transcendental erotic-sci-fi (i.e. something that would make your brain come). Once Google (and FilmBooster) take over the world, it will happen with M83 playing in the background. (04/15/2013)

The main reason that Oblivion will fade from the viewer’s consciousness faster than TRON is not that Kosinski steals from his colleagues (Stanton, Jones, Lawrence, Trumbull, Kubrick, the Wachowskis), thus making it apparent how inferior he is as a storyteller, but that he steals from himself. The original wow effect is diminished significantly by the repetition of the same approach, especially in a world without the possibility of “edit levels”, which was a boon for video-game designers and fans. However, that effect was powerful enough to keep me entertained for the whole two hours, intoxicated by the film’s audio-visual perfection. Kosinski’s nerdish approach to the characters makes a human a bearer of meanings comparable in value to a robot, landscape or piece of furniture (while being at the same level with his significantly limited use of common sense). The geometric compositions of the shots, whose actual content becomes less substantial than the surface message, are more important than words and emotions. Everything and everyone serves to complement the overall design, to which the protagonists’ motivations and the direction of the plot are subordinated. The final scene, which shows us that we have probably misdirected our emotions, can be understood as a mockery of the standard “entry” into the story through identification with the characters. Kosinski is uniquely capable of connecting movement with sound, which is “applied” to the picture in individual layers, and the result is the same as in TRON, a mainstream variation on an audio-visual symphony. The plot is a bit too much, though without it (and without Cruise and his varying uncomprehending expression) a $120 million project like this  would not have been made. However, I wouldn’t underrate the film as a whole because of its lifeless characters, unoriginal subject or illogical actions, because on another level it offers an inspiring statement on the current social reality of efficient working teams, to which people devote themselves to such an extent that they lose their identity in them together with their ability to live authentically. The first half of film, devoid of plot (and thus better), with its parody of the perfect partnered relationship and its depiction of a work activity that involves only maintenance with no particular goal or chance of real (and potentially dangerous to the system) change of conditions, says more about today’s world than many art films with an uglier design. And Oblivion is definitely a film made for IMAX! 80% (04/15/2013)

What’s more important for a film, to tell a story or to visualise it? Both are, no doubt; there’s no objective answer, and yet, in the lay debates among film fans the prevailing idea is that an exceptionally narrated story = elaborated art, and perfect visuals = just expensive commerce. That’s often the case, of course, but we shouldn’t generalise. Oblivion is a film with amazing visuals, with this I don’t mean that it “looks expensive”, I’m judging the aesthetics of images and scenes – the swimming pool scene will be one of the highlights of the year. To some extent, it’s similar to Prometheus – you can pick on the details of the story until the end of days, if that’s your thing, but the source of an aesthetic experience lies elsewhere, as does the source of an intellectual one. Oblivion is smart sci-fi (actually, there hasn’t been such pure sci-fi for a long time, fans of Clark must be happy!) that in its higher level offers a lot of food for thought – the good side of all proper sci-fi, greetings to Star Wars… :D PS: I want Kosinski to adapt “Rendezvous with Rama”!!! (04/21/2013)

The mood-setting question provoking intimate first half with the visions of a postapo janitor is in sharp qualitative contrast to the second, cheap action-ridden (stupidly) explanatory half. And it just has no idea when to stop all of this with honor and so the hitherto pleasant Cruise is now faced with emotional scenes that mostly go wrong or else he becomes immediately out-acted by everybody, even the GLaDOS/Sponge Bob duo. The second half is simply a regular product, which just cannot be said of the first half. In any case, in terms of visuals, design, sound and music this is on a level rarely seen of late. (04/15/2013)

Based on the trailer, I was expecting the same concept as Prometheus, that is, a visually spectacular and utterly captivating experience for sci-fi lovers that in the end is not nearly as sophisticated as we would like. But Oblivion is different, it is much more minimalist and modest, with its biggest weakness being Joseph Kosinski as a screenwriter. I believe he did his best, but he is a much better director than a writer. The biggest drawback in terms of the script, in my opinion, is the fact that they drew inspiration from older films such as Independence Day or The Matrix. Some years ago, we would have been amazed, but things are different today. However, Kosinski confirmed his role as an incredibly talented visionary in terms of audiovisual execution, and many scenes are literally breathtaking, the scene in the pool for example, in combination with perfect lighting, music, and sound, provides the ultimate feeling of excitement and cinematic experience. Similar feats could also be seen in Tron: Legacy. Kosinski knows how to create a different world where the viewer is willing to forget for a moment about their own, only a very few filmmakers can do this. (04/27/2013)