Oblivion

• Directed by Joseph Kosinski
• March 26, 2013 (Buenos Aires) / April 19, 2013 (United States)
• Based on Oblivion by Joseph Kosinski

A stranger’s arrival triggers one man’s battle to save humanity.

Oblivion is a post-apocalyptic film featuring Tom Cruise as Tech 49 Jack Harper, a man struggling with memories he cannot explain. It is a beautiful film with almost ethereal music moving along a story focusing on what makes us who we are.

Most of the events take place somewhere around Washington DC all the way up to New York City while also moving further inland to approximately Chicago. Jack and his communications partner and roommate/lover Victoria “Vika” Olsen (Andrea Riseborough) are tasked with maintaining hydro rigs sucking up the water to be converted into energy for the remainder of humanity that is moving to Titan. They both report to a woman known only as Sally (Melissa Leo) who lives on the Tet with those remnants.

A continuous issue for the team are Scavs (short for ‘Scavengers’) that are remnants of the alien threat. Jack has a pretty monotonous life broken up by visits to a cabin he secretly built and the occasional bit of disaster tourism-both things that are forbidden. Everything changes one day when the Scavs bring down a prewar Earth spacecraft. Jack’s first serious questions begin when maintenance drones arrive moments before he does and begin shooting the survivors that are sleeping in pods. All but one is wiped out: a woman he only knows from dreams.

Jack has been struggling with flashes of memories of someone he does not know in a life he could not lead because, well, they are set when there is a viable human civilization on Earth. The woman from those memories as luck would have it is the lone survivor of the downed ship. It’s kind of funny that once they find the girl from Jack’s memories that she and Vika start getting catty. Vika is practically peeing around the room to mark her territory.

I’m curious if there was some subplot whose footage was cut or whose existence was removed from the script that hinted or even outright stated that the real Vika had a thing for the real Jack and the general cattiness of the current Vika was a holdover from that. Otherwise, her whole reaction makes little sense.

Julia’s (Olga Kurylenko), the woman that Jack found, expression says a lot without saying anything at all. She’s smart enough to keep her mouth shut while trying to figure out why these people identical to her friend and husband have no memory of her.

Not much is immediately handed to the audience. If there is an information dump it’s the one of necessity provided by Malcolm Beech (Morgan Freeman) who also acts as the Obi-Wan of the story. When it comes it’s not really forced. It’s more done as a way to convince Jack to help as well as at a different point to fill in the remaining gaps in the narrative.

Director Joseph Kosinski sets you up to believe this is a type of alien invasion film. When we learn the truth what we thought was true is a lie mixed with a little “from a certain point of view.” The Tet is just a machine that moves from planet to planet consuming resources before moving on. Writing that I ask: Why? Was it a weapon of war or did it have another purpose that went by the wayside? The Tet makes a great threat to overcome but without explanation everything it does makes no sense. I hate these types of thoughts in a movie that I am enjoying.

The cloning reveal was especially good…and creepy. Jack and Vika were just mass-produced versions of the same two people done for decades. Each was a near exact copy of the original. We even learn there are other copies of the duo elsewhere on Earth when Jack 49 meets Jack 52. In that way the movie touches on what makes us different and who we are. Were these clones all Jack and Vika or were they each a unique being? And what became of their predecessors?

Repeatedly referenced is Thomas Babington Macaulay’s Horatius and specifically the portion that says “And how can man die better / Than facing fearful odds, / For the ashes of his fathers, / And the temples of his Gods.” The poem itself references dying bravely for one’s home and gods and is used as a parallel for Jack’s struggle.

For a post-apocalyptic alien invasion film, Oblivion manages to contain a sense of hope. I don’t know how it does it but there is hope throughout this movie. There is hope that we will overcome, and we will survive. They don’t crush you here with a feeling of this being the end but rather the story is about a rebirth. Perhaps it is the emotional core of the relationship of Jack and Julia.

What should be a downbeat ending becomes a happy one. Julia is at Jack’s secret cabin that Jack 49 had been maintaining. It was something that she and the original Jack had talked about but never got to do. Jack 52, who is implied to have been having the same dreams, finds her there. In a way Jack still lives and they get a happily ever after together. She is supposed to take up with his other Jack as if nothing happened, but it’s not the guy she was with originally. I like it but I can find things that make it just kind of creepy and may be a little weird.

I can’t figure out if Jack built the cabin or it was a structure that managed to survive and he found it. According to the timeline he’s been there about five years and a cabin like his would be something that would take a great deal of time to build for one person. Long stretches would be noticed since he is supposed to be out on patrol checking things.

There is a beauty to Oblivion. The devastation is striking and the sets just may be a bit on an Apple store side, but there is a beauty to them. You could watch this movie and have a pleasant visual experience despite having a fantastic soundtrack. Nothing looks fake. Everything blends seamlessly together. I’m still not 100% sure what’s all a practical effect and what’s been put in with computers.

Oblivion is just a great film. It’s beautifully shot, well directed with great acting, and has an amazing soundtrack. I highly recommend it.