Cruise plays Jack, one of the last technicians left on earth after decades of war with aliens. He lives on a space station with his life partner, Victoria, played by Andrea Riseborough (star of tv series ‘Being Human’). She is overlooking his work, and keeping him safe from the alien enemy, by placing help onside with him, whenever he goes on a repair job. The plan is to prepare for them both to leave earth to go live on a new star. However Jack is reluctant to leave and despite the devastation of war which has happened in America, it still doesn’t cloud his view of the planet as being his home.
He finds a crashed spaceship, with a beautiful passenger Julia, (played by Olga Kurylenko). Olga was a Bond girl in the movie, ‘Quantum of Solace’ in 2008. Julia reminds Jack of the many dreams which he has had, as long as he can remember, where she has appeared. It makes him question the whole existence of his time on earth, and his life with Victoria. Along the way he also meets a group of rebels, led by Morgan Freeman’s ‘Beech’.
Cruise does his best with the role, and although he is getting on, still manages to play the Die Hard type of hero with gusto. Olga and Andrea were equally good in acting terms, and wouldn’t have disappointed their director, Joseph Kosinski. Morgan Freeman is….well Morgan Freeman, and doesn’t disappoint.
The art-direction of ‘Oblivion’ is quite good, and the props of a post-apocalyptic New York will satisfy the viewer. The lighting is also good, and portrays an earth that is open, bright, although full of mystery. Twenty minutes less of the movie wouldn’t have hurt it though.
The action in the movie is a pre-requisite of a Cruise film. However, a little more story and a little less action wouldn’t go astray, because as said earlier, the backstory, which is told at the beginning, did sound interesting.
On the whole, ‘Oblivion’ is good escapist fare, and worth a look
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