Watched: Oblivion
Man. I want that house.
I feel like this was maybe overlooked, in part because it features Tom Cruise playing Generic Tom Cruise Action Hero #49 (there is an in-joke here), but also because it lacks some emotional resonance. I don’t believe the plot is absent, but it’s in service to ideas rather than humanity. This is cold sci-fi at its best - visually striking, spitballing philosophical ideas and creating a world that feels immersive.
The visuals are where this film really shines - director Joseph Kosinski was the director for Tron Legacy, and whatever complaints one might have about that film, ugliness likely isn’t one of them. It extrapolates current technologies in fascinating ways - Cruise and his partner (played chillingly by Andrea Riseborough) essentially live in the Apple iHouse, and spherical drones zoom across the sky, exterminating anything they deem a threat. They create a palpable sense of menace.
Ultimately, the greatest threat in this film is deemed to be non-human; it begins with a ridiculous premise (an alien invasion stripping Earth of its resources), and actually takes steps to make it more believable. So much science fiction does the opposite, and often the big reveals are left a little lacking.
I could bask in the feast for the eyes that this film presents, and that’s a relief - the best parts of this film are where the action subsides and the coldly meditative vistas are allowed to do the work. Watch this on a big screen if you can.