The Official "Oblivion" Review Thread

[RAMA]

It's a good movie, not iconic though. Not a classic.

Strictly speaking, I didn't say it was a classic, only that it was better than some movies considered classics from the era it was appearing to emulate. I do think it will be remembered better in hindsight than it is now.

A movie I might compare it to is 2010. While there was some publicity for it as a sequel to a "classic" movie, there wasn't much buzz about it in general. It was a sober, quiet, intelligent movie but not a blockbuster as we understand them today. It hardly made a blip on the radar, but at least in movie circles and scifi circles, it's considered a classic in it's own right these days...despite being in the bargain bin.

RAMA

 

[Spider]

It'll not become a classic but it is still a watchable movie.

Don't bet on it, it's every bit as good if not better than supposedly "classic": movies such as Omega Man, Soylent Green, Rollerball, Logan's Run, etc.

I'm not sure how you can label such mediocre movies as classic. They are neither wonderfully good or horribly bad to deserve the label "classic". Logans Run though was pretty bad, but not classically horribly bad.

As to the movie Oblivion, this is only the 2nd Tom Cruse movie I actually like. The other being A Few Good Men. This is a pretty good movie, nothing special, but certainly way above average and totally worth renting, if not owning. They use a lot of standard scifi movie props and ideas, and some not used in any kind of original way, but somehow the movie still ended up being very entertaining and worth watching more than once.

 

[RAMA]

It'll not become a classic but it is still a watchable movie.

Don't bet on it, it's every bit as good if not better than supposedly "classic": movies such as Omega Man, Soylent Green, Rollerball, Logan's Run, etc.

I'm not sure how you can label such mediocre movies as classic. They are neither wonderfully good or horribly bad to deserve the label "classic". Logans Run though was pretty bad, but not classically horribly bad.

As to the movie Oblivion, this is only the 2nd Tom Cruse movie I actually like. The other being A Few Good Men. This is a pretty good movie, nothing special, but certainly way above average and totally worth renting, if not owning. They use a lot of standard scifi movie props and ideas, and some not used in any kind of original way, but somehow the movie still ended up being very entertaining and worth watching more than once.

I said they were supposedly considered classics. I don't think they all are...and again Oblivion is considered to pattern itself out of some of those 70s scifi movies, which is why I brought it up in the first place.

 

[FPAlpha]

Just curious Rama.. why do you think it has the potential to become a classic?

2001 is one because of iconic elements like the scene where our apelike predecessors throw up the bone which then fades into a space station signifiying mankind's technological advance, the whole commuter spaceship on approach to the spacestation with nothing but classical music playing, HAL and his iconic red camera eye and some others.

What scenes or themes of Oblivion would you consider that may make it into a classic?

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I guess it depends how inclusive your list of classics is. I'd say that Oblivion compares favorably to say Silent Running, which used to be considered a classic sci-fi movie. Though I think just being a science fiction movie in the 70s was enough to be considered a minor classic at one point.

 

[trevanian]

Wow, I'm amazed that this thing is getting any kind of praise at all. A half-hour out from having managed to get through it, I can honestly say I've rarely in my life seen a movie that seemed like such an utter and complete misfire.

I mean, I may have to upgrade INTO DARKNESS above D+, because this thing -- with the exception of the marvelous projected cloudscapes outside his skyhome -- failed in every way possible, and generated more eyerolls than I could count.

Maybe this is an example of what the ultimate synthesis of videogames and movies will become, because most of it looked like a videogame and was just as empty an experience. Even my wife was calling out plot points and shots before they turned up on screen ... we both knew somebody got shot as soon as the gun went off when the 'twins' were tussling, and 30 seconds before that I said 'must have been your life's ambition' just as my wife punched me for interrupting her saying the same thing.

I'm beginning to think Stuart Baird has competition as the guy who should not be behind the camera making movies. This guy has two movies that deliver just as lamely as all three of Baird's. And I really had some hopes for this going in ...

Thank God I rented PHANTOM first ... the two just about cancel each other out.

 

[Gojira]

I really, really enjoyed this movie! I do like Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman is by far my favorite actor. Sure the story was derivative in spots and there are so many movies that are! I only ask that the execution be done well and this movie did that very well...in my opinion.

I bought the DVD and have watched in a few times.

 

[Tom]

So I finally got around to watching this. I thought it was a good film and very well done. I don't really understand how the landscape got so high to just about cover New York City. If it was an earthquake and city sunk then all the building would have been destroyed as well.

 

[Trekker4747]

So I finally got around to watching this. I thought it was a good film and very well done. I don't really understand how the landscape got so high to just about cover New York City. If it was an earthquake and city sunk then all the building would have been destroyed as well.

It was a number of cataclysmic events, as I recall. Not just earth quakes but tidal waves, major climate changes and so forth. In "reality", yeah the ESB shouldn't still have been standing, nor should any structure really have been "buried" but still enterable as caverns (like the NY Public Library) but it's a movie that really wanted these types of visuals and such and I think it actually worked.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Sorry for thread necropsy.....


I watched it again and it's a movie I love but it has sore points.

For one why run right to Earth when the Tet with its vast technology could stripmine all the gas giants in our solar system for less cost and not have to defend itself or attack anyone? Why jump right to Earth?

Also who built the fancy towers that defy gravity and the aircraft all the clones fly? If the Tet could do that it can bloody well look after itself and had zero need for the elaborate plan which was bound to fail. For one it cloned the Jack's so well that their original memories began to surface with little effort.

Just it's a fun movie, I love it but it has things that jump right out and make me go aaaaaaaaaaahhh how did that happen?

 

[Jedi Marso]

Good points. Of course, there's no 'human' story there without it being told the way it is.

I really like the movie, despite its faults. I'd love to fly that little hopper that Jack booms around in most of the movie.

 

[Sgt. Sacrament]

I saw some of this film for the first time in the last year while working out at the rec center. In one of the scenes, Tom Cruise was sitting at a table eating with the two lead actresses, and watching that scene I thought, "In the future, everyone will be beautiful..."

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Good points. Of course, there's no 'human' story there without it being told the way it is.

I really like the movie, despite its faults. I'd love to fly that little hopper that Jack booms around in most of the movie.

The bubbleships were rather awesome looking. I love how they had what amount to jet engines and a tail rotor like an old fashioned helicopter. On the extras for the movie they mention that Tom having a pilots license helped design the look of them and how they work.

 

[JD]

I really need to rewatch this sometime. I only saw it once when it first came out in theaters and I've been meaning to see it again.