Distributor: Universal Pictures
Opening Weekend Box Office: #1 with $37,054,485
Domestic Box Office Gross to-date: $68,067,645
Gross Revenue: $202,167,645
Production Budget: $120 million
Director: Joseph
Kosinski
With overall marketing strategy commencing almost a
full year before release, Oblivion
had plenty of time to convince potential audiences that Tom Cruise would be
making a glorious return to the sci-fi genre; hopefully evoking memories of Minority Report as opposed to War of the Worlds. And if the images of a post-apocalyptic Earth
and vicious aerial drones wasn’t enough to pique interest, audiences went
absolutely nuts when the trailers revealed Morgan Freeman as a member of the
cast…hell, just his narrating the opening exposition would have generated
chills. To their credit, for all the
positive buzz generated by early promotions, the marketing team at Universal
Pictures was able to keep the deeper plot elements of Oblivion shrouded in mystery; sure, the post-apocalyptic world
showcased looked interesting enough, but I still had no clue concerning the
type of twist that Tom Cruise would be facing.
Director Joseph Kosinski’s reach may have exceeded his grasp with Tron: Legacy, but with shared producer
and screenwriting credits this time around, he was given the opportunity to
both wow audiences and pay homage to classic science fiction. And because Oblivion was enjoying all the anticipation of a Summer Blockbuster within
the relatively calm release schedule of April, absolutely everyone was
expecting Cruise’s impressive critical and commercial track record to continue.
Set in the year 2077, Oblivion introduces a shocking reality where Earth was decimated
and left a radioactive wasteland after a group of aliens known as “Scavs”
destroyed the moon; the majority of humanity was evacuated to Titan, the
largest moon of Saturn, while a handful of technicians remain to protect large
fusion machines that provide energy to the space colonies. Enter Tech 49 Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) and
his communication partner/lover Victoria Olsen (Andrea Riseborough), one of the
last remaining teams on Earth who repair the unmanned Scav security drones and
report their progress to Sally (Melissa Leo), the mission control operator of “The
Tet,” a massive space station orbiting the planet. Victoria is ecstatic that she will be able to
leave Earth in two weeks, but Jack relishes his time in isolation and is
troubled by recurring nightmares, which are likely a side effect of the
security memory wipe that both he and Victoria underwent prior to
deployment. The relatively peaceful
existence is shattered when Jack rescues a woman, Julia (Olga Kurylenko), from
a downed spacecraft; not only does Jack recognize her as the woman from his
dreams, but she also identifies herself as his wife. Things are further complicated when it is
revealed that the Scavs are actually humans in disguise, living underground in
fear from the drones who have been hunting humans for almost 60 years…their
leader, Malcolm Beech (Morgan Freeman), also recognizes Jack and urges him to help
destroy The Tet. Faced with the prospect
that his entire “mission” has been an elaborate deception, Jack must venture
deep into the previously-restricted “radiation zones,” working with his new
allies to discover a unbelievably haunting truth.
From a sheer sci-fi perspective, Oblivion is a ridiculously strong film,
boasting visually-stunning action sequences and thoroughly imaginative
production design that helps accentuate the central mystery of the
narrative. The post-apocalyptic setting
is chilling enough, but just when it seems like story progression is beginning
to drag, energy levels jump with the help of a chase or battle involving the
Terminator-like drones…I am genuinely sad that I missed seeing the core aerial
dogfight in an IMAX theater. In terms of
acting, Tom Cruise delivers yet another charming protagonist, but perhaps the
biggest surprise involves Olga Kurylenko; I had written-off the young actress
after her forgettable Bond-girl performance in Quantum of Solace, but this time around she is able to engage a
mysterious persona that you cannot help but follow intently. And speaking of “mystery,” Oblivion certainly doesn’t shy away from
tackling complicated science fiction plot devices, and even though the payoff
isn’t as strong as one would expect, I have to appreciate the tenacity of such
an attempt. Unfortunately, even though I
enjoyed the level of mystery present within Oblivion,
the levels of confusion generated have thoroughly polarized overall audience reaction,
which varies from unfairly critical to dead-on accurate.
Oblivion
may not be as classy a mind-bender as say, Inception,
but it definitely ended up generating similar levels of confusion and
frustration, and unless you are prepared to immediately prepared to start
debating and working out the kinks the second the credits roll, you might want
to choose a different movie. A
considerable amount of patience is required for this narrative, because with
how many questions are generated, the viewer must really have faith that the
film’s ending will offer a satisfying conclusion…Morgan Freeman’s monologue in
the final act is a godsend. And while I
enjoyed some of the mind-bending applications, I am sure that a number of
sci-fi geeks will agree that a few of the twists are somewhat predictable and
the overall conclusion is somewhat lukewarm and anti-climactic when contrasted
against the ambitious set-up. Finally (and
this may sound like a petty gripe) it is somewhat disappointing that Morgan
Freeman received top-billing for this project when his total screen presence
amounted to MAYBE fifteen minutes of an over-two hour running time. So while none of these criticisms are overtly
damning, Oblivion still somewhat
misses the mark (though not nearly as bad as Prometheus), but is still definitely worth seeing for someone who
doesn’t mind having a discussion over what actually happened.
With an over-$37 million debut, Oblivion not only exceeded studio projections but also now
represents Tom Cruise’s highest non-sequel debut after 2005’s War of the Worlds, a distinction that
was likely aided by the non-competitive April landscape. Add-in a beefy foreign presence and Universal’s
newest offering has already recovered the substantial $120 million production
budget and now stands as Cruise’s twentieth film to gross in excess of $200
million worldwide. So even with the 2013
Summer Movie Season right around the corner and overall critical reception decidedly
middle-of-the-road, it is likely that this sci-fi adventure will be classified
as one of the talented actor’s many “hits.”
An interesting cinematic experiment will involve comparing Oblivion’s performance against Will
Smith’s upcoming After Earth, a
similarly-themed post-apocalyptic Earth study that will hit at the end of May. It certainly doesn’t classify as a “must-see,”
but Oblivion could have easily turned
out far worse, and can still deliver a satisfying adventure that fully immerses
its viewing audience.
Overall
Recommendation: Medium
