Oblivion
Mercifully Short Review by Jonathan Empson
Earth has been devastated while fighting off alien invaders, and the human race has decamped to Titan. A few aliens survive, threatening the nuclear installations that supply power to Titan (don’t ask how). Jack (Tom Cruise) is the last man on Earth, an engineer who has to maintain the robot drones protecting the reactors. Got that? Good.
Jack had his memory wiped some years ago – apparently standard operating procedure (possibly used in Hollywood too, so that stars don’t ask: “Didn’t Tron/Total Recall/Prometheus/The Matrix have something like that?”). But he’s bothered by recurring dreams of a beautiful woman. “Who isn’t?” you say, but one day a spacecraft crash-lands and she’s on it. Is the past not quite what he’s been told?
It’s hard to put my finger on why Oblivion doesn’t quite work, but Jack is a bit generic, the back story is clumsily handled, the plot is flawed and it’s not quite original enough. 6/10
Released April 11, 2013.
Jonathan Empson’s TV script Chrome was nominated for an AWGIE in 2010.
His recently completed historical drama-comedy feature Leonardo’s War is in circulation, and his black comedy-thriller Get Out of Here has been optioned.
He is represented by Rick Raftos Management.