Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Oblivion (2013)

What was I saying just the other day about not many good science fiction options for television? Well, thank god that is not true for movies. Now that I think about it, two of the best I've seen that are non-franchise, i.e. don't have sequels, star Tom Cruise, those being Minority Report and this film, Oblivion. Sure I'm still basking in the afterglow of our little encounter, but this was a damned fine film.
There are only six speaking parts in this film and maybe five or six dozen other parts.  There is a lot of very high quality computer effects for droids and space/aircraft. And that is all it needed. I've got to say that there are a couple of sequences where Jack (Tom Cruise) is flying his vehicle and shooting and I was thinking that I bet George Lucas wishes he could have had this tech to make Star Wars. And then I worried for a moment, waiting to sense a tremor in the force. I was afraid that by thinking this simple but true thought that Lucas would pick up on it and decide to do a Ultimate Special Ninja Turtle version of Star Wars: A New Hope, the version where Luke on his way to Toshe Station runs into former Galactic Senator named Jar-Jar Binks. To the dark side this path leads... But, I remembered that Lucas sold the franchise to Disney.Disney has no soul, so I don't need to worry about it picking up on my vibes. You doubt me about the soul bit? If they had a soul, how could they keep all those movies locked away in the vault, only to haul them out when Scrooge McDuck needed to fill his money swimming pool with new money? Also, John Carter. I'm sorry, I put close to $300 million into a project and I'm not going to call it a flop on opening weekend, especially when with worldwide sales I mad my money back. Bastards...
Anywho... The movie is solid. I found the story predictable in a couple of instances that I won't spoil for you dear readers. Let it suffice to say that as a fan of sf films I was able to correctly ascertain where they were going with a couple of things, but that in no way diminished my entertainment. In fact knowing how one thing goes sets up the ending to be even more appropriate.
Hmm. Tom Cruise. Light sabres. I'm sending out the vibes to Mr. Cruise right now... Not for the next film, because that one is going to be Star Wars 7: Jar-Jar and R2-D2's Summer Vacation, but SW8 doesn't suck yet. Depending on when it's set, Cruise could play the Jedi guy from the games, and Famke Janssen could play Mara Jade. Oh man, this could be awesome! Also, watch Oblivion. It's pretty good, too.

Oblivion on IMDb

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