So what is Oblivion about? Well, if you've watched the trailer, you'll know that basically in the future, aliens invaded earth and humans repelled them (or did we?) and now the human race supposedly live in a huge floating pyramid above Earths orbit. In the movie Tom Cruise is basically a maintenance personnel that looks after the harvesters that take in the natural resources of Earth for the humans supposedly living in the pyramid so that they can survive. He lives with his partner, Vicky who he's also sleeping with. Together they make sure that the drones/machines on earth are doing their job and repairing them after the scavengers(aliens?) are done wrecking them.
Yeah, it's kinda obvious where this is going. In Oblivion, humanity did not win the war. We lost it. It was kind of obvious from the tone and setting of the trailer, as well as the first 20 minutes of the show. Tom Cruise is a patsy working for the aliens, who has had his memory wiped supposedly for the 'operational security' of the job.
So, obviously Tom Cruise somehow finds out the truth, goes on to help the real human survivors and then blow up the alien ships. This isn't new, it's a trope. And seriously, what's with Hollywood and stopping alien invasions with nukes? They did it in the Avengers. And now Oblivion.
Except there's also some subplot about how Tom Cruise is actually a clone. He meets the wife of his original self; who had probably died 60 years before. But she was in cryosleep so she didn't age a day. Then they bonked after like 4-5 days, which was weird because hey, clones aren't exactly the same people. To him, it would be natural, but I would have thought she would have had a lot more reservations about it since to her, her husband had only just died. More like disappeared into the night since she was in cryosleep when he died.
And then when Tom Cruise clone dies, another clone appears and it's implied that this other clone will hook up with the wife as well. I have to say, this is a pretty disturbing implications. Mostly because the clones are all different. They've at least had a different few years, plus you know, memory wipe and all that. And yet they somehow still manage to find and stalk the wife. Quick question, there are at least 52 clones out there since they're numbered apparently and the other clone was Technician #52. Wtf is going to happen when they all meet up with the wife?
That's just a few issues I've had with the film. Another one of them was a scene where Tom Cruise was knocked out by the aliens, dragged off to their base and then tied to a chair and then had spotlights shine on him while everything else was in the dark. When he finally wakes up, he hears Morgan Freeman talking to him and they exchange some dramatic BS before Morgan Freeman tells them to turn on the lights. When they do, it reveals like several stories worth of humans standing on catwalks just looking down at Tom Cruise. Like WTF? Were these people just waiting around in the DARK so that they could all stand dramatically when Tom Cruise finally woke up godknowswhen?
Also, instead of actually telling Tom Cruise "Hey, you know, you're working for the aliens. We're humans" , Morgan Freeman tells him 'you totally need to make this long journey to find out the truth'. Nevermind that he can tell Tom the truth and it would be plausible because THEY'RE actually humans and not the aliens Tom always thought they were. No, they need to suck up another 30 mins of film time making the journey.
Overall, the film was decent since there weren't that many WTF moments in it but it also felt a bit draggy at times. Also, they need to get Tom Cruise more clothes. What's with him wearing a white shirt, a casual jacket and jeans all the time in his movies? I kept thinking he was starring as Jack Reacher, only 70 years later.
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