Oblivion

With a slew of Sci-Fi flicks coming out this year, was not expecting very much from this Tom Cruise vehicle - but was very pleasantly surprised! Let's skip straight to the point; the film reads like a Classic Sci-Fi flick from the seventies with modern sensibilities. The visuals and aesthetics are striking, vistas beautiful, and mechanical elements bold. The soundtrack also has that seventies vibe with long tonal synthetic original tracks, and more literally with seventies classic rock by Zeppelin and Procol Harum.

There are more aspects to the film that, in its treatment, execution, plot points, remind me of that bygone era, but that would be spoiling. In a lot of ways, I think they pulled off what Mass Effect did in games. Maybe Classic Sci-Fi is the new Vampire and Zombie.

All the good stuff aside, I'll throw in a little commentary. Tom Cruise is a great and accomplished actor, and this shouldn't be taken as a slight, but I couldn't help but think throughout the entire two and half hours that this would be the perfect vehicle for an up and coming unknown actor. Like Mark Hamil in Star Wars. Again, nothing against Tom Cruise, but I tend to find him both bane and boon - and I know more than a few people that will likely skip this film based on that alone, to their detriment. And casting Jaime Lannis - er,
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau? I mean, I like him, but he's not just a "hot item" right now but positively radioactive!  Again, kinda broke that fourth wall.

Well, honestly if critiquing casting for their success is the worst thing going for you, you're in pretty damn good shape.

Watch Oblivion!