Going to see Oblivion the other week was a real treat. In a
summer movie season that promises to be sci-fi
Initially, I had a glimmer of hope that the title Oblivion
was referring to the fourth installment of The Elder Scroll series; a game in
which I devoted over a hundred hours and would serve as a proper introduction
into the next generation of game consoles (which is now the current, soon to be
eclipsed generation) on the Xbox 360. But alas, it was not the same one;
however, it was science fiction.
Then another
potential issue: Tom Cruise. I don’t hate the guy (I’ll get that out of the way
right now) and I don’t really care for his personal life. I can understand how
he gets the stink eye but really, the guy can put out a big budget movie and
has a pretty solid track record. It also helps that I grew up watching Top Gun
and Days of Thunder. This hasn't really prevented Cruise from basically
becoming a parody of himself in films though, and I don’t go out of my way to
see his movies specifically; I should say, this doesn't happen for any actor
anymore. There is a bit of discussion though, and then my mind is blown. My
friend says the problem with Tom Cruise is that Cruise can really only act as
himself in every film, to which the lights went off and I was in complete
agreement. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but you have to recognize that
if Cruise is in your film, you’re getting a very specific character.
And it’s actually quite brilliant; in an age where people are
recognizing and developing their own brands, we don’t have far to look for an
example of this done to perfection, than in Cruise. Just like a company, an
individual can make a mistake (like jumping on a couch) and keep on trucking,
because the brand itself is another entity that has its ups and downs. For Cruise,
he’s created his brand – or his character – in such a way that we can lose
ourselves in his films. Or at least, in the films that are designed around such
a character, which is going to happen more often than not for Tom. This is why
he’s the perfect actor for Oblivion: you get the sense that the role was
created for him, as it truly represents everything Cruise’s brand has been
building up to. You've seen bits of this character before, but now you have the
full package here.
That’s not to discount the rest of the film, either. There
are a lot of great things happening here, including the music by M83,
incredible special effects, beautiful scenery, decent characters, and great
concepts. In an effort to not spoil anything, I won’t get specific but I left
out “good plot” and replaced it with great concepts simply because this film
borrows heavily from other, recent
sci-fi films. And those films were great in their own regard; the fact that
Oblivion borrows themes from them is flattering, I’m sure, but Oblivion also
manages to pull them all together to form an incredibly solid storyline and a
compelling movie experience.