Oblivion

An almost astonishingly dull big-budget extravaganza, Oblivion follows Tom Cruise’s futuristic character as he’s tasked with extracting (and protecting) the remaining resources on our dying planet – with problems ensuing as Cruise’s Jack slowly-but-surely discovers that all is not quite as it appears. Filmmaker Joseph Kosinski, along with cinematographer Claudio Miranda, has infused Oblivion with a striking visual sensibility that, along with Cruise’s expectedly charismatic turn as the pained protagonist, initially draws the viewer into the proceedings, with the almost incongruously deliberate pace, as a result, initially not quite as problematic as one might’ve feared. It goes without saying, however, that Kosinski’s laid-back modus operandi inevitably does become a detriment to one’s enjoyment of the film, as the thin narrative is increasingly suffused with elements of a transparently padded-out nature – with the inclusion of such subplots and diversions serving only to emphasize the inherent emptiness of Michael deBruyn and Karl Gajdusek’s screenplay (ie there’s just nothing compelling at stake for any of the movie’s sketchily-drawn characters). And although the movie has been peppered with a small handful of engrossing moments (eg an automated drone attacks Jack in his sleek apartment), Oblivion, stripped of anything resembling momentum, grows more and more tedious in the buildup to its anticlimactic, nigh incoherent finale – which ultimately cements the movie’s place as an interminable and shockingly irrelevant sci-fi offering.

* out of ****