Review: Tom Cruise's 'Oblivion' (2013) Presents a Beautiful Vision of the End of the World

I could easily spoil the vast majority of Oblivion merely by listing the various science fiction films from which it cribs.  From visual cues to plot beats and character arcs, it feels like a mash-up of the various high-profile science fiction thrillers from the last few decades.  But almost despite itself, the film works anyway as its own beast.  Yes the characters are thin and the screenplay doesn't have too much going on underneath the hood, but the film is an absolute visual delight.  Universal originally planned to release this film in America last Friday for an exclusive IMAX-only week-long engagement and it's easy to see why.  The film features absolutely fantastic special effects, yet offers the pleasure of being able to believe your eyes more often than not.  Director Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion may be a triumph of style over substance, but the picture *is* a triumph of style, with strong acting that helps overcome the lack of substance.  Sometimes visual imagination coupled with strong acting is enough.  The end of the world never looked so beautiful.

Pity... Universal cancels Oblivion's early IMAX release.

Having rather loathed Tron: Legacy, I've had to work myself up in order to get excited about Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion.  Yes, Tom Cruise usually makes sure that his big-scale pictures are a cut above and yes the film looks better with each trailer, but the biggest cause for hope was its release schedule.  The film's national release was set for April 19th, but the film was also going a full week early in IMAX only, giving paying audiences a week-long sneak preview in IMAX and other larger-screen formats.  But alas, that promising move by Universal has been cancelled.  Chalk it up to Cruise wanting to do international press for the film's overseas debut on the 12th and the film's US debut on the 19th, chalk it up to Universal wanting an extra week of play for their 3D reissue of Jurassic Park on April 12th, but audiences will not be seeing Oblivion: The IMAX Experience one week early after all.  Color me genuinely disappointed.

Trailer: Tom Cruise *is* Wall-E in Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion!

It's no secret that I think Tron: Legacy is one of the worst would-be blockbusters in recent memory.  So the idea of another sci-fi would-be tentpole written and directed by Joseph Kosinski doesn't exactly fill me with glee, although the screenplay assist from William Monahan and Michael Ardnt should be noted.  But two things give me relative optimism.  First of all, Tom Cruise generally doesn't make out-and-out terrible films.  Oh sure Rock of Ages was among the worst films of his career, but he had a supporting role in that ensemble and everyone has to shoot an air ball sometime.  Second of all, this film is getting a full week of IMAX-only release, which I'd like to think Universal wouldn't be doing if the film wasn't going to get decent word-of-mouth ahead of its national April 19, 2013 release date.  As for the trailer, the first half amusingly resembles a live-action version of Wall-E before introducing Morgan Freeman and kicking into a somewhat more generic science-fiction action picture.  I'm betting that Sony wishes it had released its teaser for M. Night Shyamalan's somewhat similar sounding After Earth, although we'll see how the Will Smith sci-fi film compares when it teases next weekend with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  The cast is pretty solid, including the likes of Olga Kurylenko, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Andrea Riseborough, and Melissa Leo.  I wouldn't say it looks *good* so much as to admit that it doesn't look *bad*.  Anyway, as always, we'll see.  If you have any thoughts, share them below.

Scott Mendelson