Tom Cruise continues to play characters who are not what one might imagine them to be.
First, there was the Jack Reacher part. I was looking for a “tougher” scarred, beefy version and out comes Cruise who quickly proved that it didn’t matter what I had in mind, he owned the part.
The same is true for Oblivion—Cruise would not have been my pick, but who cares, he was made for the role of Jack Harper. (I only ask, what’s the deal with him playing guys whose name is Jack?)
So, it’s 60 years after the world was attacked and half the planet destroyed. Earth won the war, but at a terrible price. Inhabitants who escaped the carnage were evacuated to pods in the sky.
Jack Harper is part of the “mop up” team and with just two weeks before he joins the rest of the evacuated survivors who are creating their new lives above the planet surface, he’s fixing repair drones and trying not to make waves.
Perhaps all is not what it seems—yes, Jack is in for a surprise.
This is not actually a sci-fi tale, except for the machines, but it is a futuristic look at relationships, that even in the future, are complicated at best.
I really enjoyed this one—it’s a fast couple of hours and I like Tom Cruise.
Morgan Freeman and Olga Kuryelenko (from Quantum of Solace) also play big roles.
Cruise celebrated his 50th birthday on the set in Iceland, and to mark the milestone, director Joseph Kosinski gifted him with one of the futuristic motorcycles used in the film. We all remember that it was the same week that Katie Holmes delivered the divorce papers. (Good thing he got the motorcycle!)
The film features the Christina’s World painting by American artist Andrew Wyeth and goes well with the quote: “Is it possible to miss a place you’ve never been? To mourn a time you never lived?”
In its first week Oblivion made $38.2 million, Cruise’s second best opening for a film outside the Mission Impossible franchise, and caused 42 to slip in the box office race.
Will it appeal to everyone? I’m not sure but it’s got many elements which will bring people in.
I give Oblivion three reels out of five.
