Oblivion

It already seemed that the timeline was falling apart and the individual actions and twists were contradicting each other, but Joseph Kosinski proved that he could pull it off. And that when he spent so many years trying to promote his material, he knew what he was doing. However, the real surprise remains the fact that more than the sci-fi touch or a successful romantic storyline, the central message about the power of spirit and human determination stays with me. It is precisely here that the gamble on an aging Tom Cruise proved to be a perfect hit. His Jack Harper is occasionally written as a relatively two-dimensional character, but Tom's acting makes him an admirable hero in the end. (04/24/2013)

Kosinski is still a much better designer than the narrator, but I'm quite pleased that, unlike Tron, the action scenes have massive energy. What are still miserable are the dialogues, especially the key ones, cut boringly in shots / counter-shots sequences. It feels like there was a comic book first. Kosinski sculpturally frames the characters somewhere and then lets them chant a text, which unfortunately lacks speech bubbles for being iconic and striking. Like all of the objects in Oblivion, the actors act more for aesthetic purposes. And you know what? I don't give a fuck. The scale is epic, clean and shiny, the clinical and illuminated visual is breathtaking in every detail, the hypnotic sound waves of M83 give it an inconvenient depth... I consider the first half an hour or so to be the captivating audiovisual trip that I expect from current sci-fi films (and usually don't get). As soon as the inevitable comes along and the story unfolds, Oblivion drowns in the familiar twists and unfinished ideas (will anyone pay Duncan Jones his royalties?)... but the action goes away, the image is overflowing with the sort of pomp I haven't seen in a long time (forget the experiments by Prometheus that are short of breath) and those few noticeably unsuccessful attempts to "make a thrilling story" will be destroyed by the bulldozer of the ultimate design. Finally, I understand what some viewers liked about Tron - Oblivion is also a brilliantly designed "sci-fi musical", this time with music that drew me in and sometimes, in collaboration with the image, gave me a taste of unadulterated euphoria from the big screen. It can be seen that it was supposed to be / wanted to be more than just a breathtaking spectacle, that someone wanted to move the promising indie trend of intelligent sci-fi to a blockbuster format and buried it with "fanzine" storytelling... but sometimes even a failed intention can offer enough space for spectator delight. Oblivion and I are an effective team. [75%] (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)

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 most interesting ideas from the best sci-fi fantasy movies blended like a smoothie from Jamba. Cruise plays a human version of Wall-E, but thanks to a large amount of evolution leaps, he has become the biggest boss on the planet. Other cast members worth a mention (apart from Morgan, he never disappoints) include the new discovery Andrea Riseborough, who won my heart in the scene in the pool. Paradoxically, Olga isn’t so impressive in this movie. But what makes Oblivion such a unique movie is the visual side. In terms of design, everything is very novel, it has the right massive scale and the final trip, combined with reminiscing about how it all began, is something so audiovisually/sci-fi-wise perfect (I want Kosinski to film “Rendezvous with Rama", or something by Asimov), that I was tempted to give it a fifth star. It bothered me a little bit that M83’s music wasn’t as wow was expected. It reminds me a lot of TDK and Tron, even so it sets a more than decent standard among the competition. P.S.: I was completely alone in the largest screen in the theater = no interference. :) (04/23/2013)