I really wanted to see this movie from the first time I saw the movie trailer a long time ago. I came up with all sorts of fun endings in my own mind based on the trailer and eventually my curiosity caused me to read too much and I read some spoilers that I wish I hadn't. I still enjoyed the film immensely, but wish I hadn't read the spoilers and suggest you shy away from all potential spoilers, reading as little as possible before seeing the movie. So when you're done with this review, don't read anymore, just go see the movie.
I had the good fortune of watching this movie at an advance screening on a smaller IMAX screen and I really enjoyed it, as did the huge audience, judging by the lively and jovial banter as people exited. The movie follows Jack Harper who is a drone repair tech in a future earth that has been ravaged by an alien invasion. He has a by-the-books eye-in-the-sky (literally) assistant named Victoria (nicknamed Vika) who watches out for Jack and reports to Central. They live together in a sky platform to avoid the alien scavs who come out at night. Jack is keeping the drones repaired to defend huge energy machines from being attacked by the scavs. Once enough energy has been stored up from the world's oceans by the energy machines, the remaining survivors of earth hope to leave in a few short weeks for the safety of a new base on Saturn's Titan. To protect certain things, Jack and Victoria's memories have been erased before their present situation. Jack is confused about why they have to leave earth, whereas Vika is ready to go, but they both cherish and respect each other. Then Jack meets Malcolm Beech who tells Jack that things are not exactly how they seem, which sets off a series of events that eventually lead to the end of the movie.
Some critics have mentioned something like "we've seen these ideas before" in other movies. While it's true that there's nothing totally new in this movie per se, that doesn't make the movie less appealing, IMO. Thinking back to when I was much younger and saw the trailer for the movie Independence Day in the theatre, I remember thinking that the movie looked really fun despite the fact that there've been a zillion alien invasion movies before, but I still hoped they'd do a great job with it because the trailer for the movie was awesome. Was there anything earth-shatteringly new about the movie? Not really, but it was still excellent entertainment. That's how I feel about Oblivion. To me, it's great entertainment.
The only minor complaints I had was that the volume of the music while Jack and Vika were in the pool was too much and sometimes things dragged ever so slightly between action sequences. Overall though, this movie was definitely a remarkable treat.
I had the good fortune of watching this movie at an advance screening on a smaller IMAX screen and I really enjoyed it, as did the huge audience, judging by the lively and jovial banter as people exited. The movie follows Jack Harper who is a drone repair tech in a future earth that has been ravaged by an alien invasion. He has a by-the-books eye-in-the-sky (literally) assistant named Victoria (nicknamed Vika) who watches out for Jack and reports to Central. They live together in a sky platform to avoid the alien scavs who come out at night. Jack is keeping the drones repaired to defend huge energy machines from being attacked by the scavs. Once enough energy has been stored up from the world's oceans by the energy machines, the remaining survivors of earth hope to leave in a few short weeks for the safety of a new base on Saturn's Titan. To protect certain things, Jack and Victoria's memories have been erased before their present situation. Jack is confused about why they have to leave earth, whereas Vika is ready to go, but they both cherish and respect each other. Then Jack meets Malcolm Beech who tells Jack that things are not exactly how they seem, which sets off a series of events that eventually lead to the end of the movie.
Some critics have mentioned something like "we've seen these ideas before" in other movies. While it's true that there's nothing totally new in this movie per se, that doesn't make the movie less appealing, IMO. Thinking back to when I was much younger and saw the trailer for the movie Independence Day in the theatre, I remember thinking that the movie looked really fun despite the fact that there've been a zillion alien invasion movies before, but I still hoped they'd do a great job with it because the trailer for the movie was awesome. Was there anything earth-shatteringly new about the movie? Not really, but it was still excellent entertainment. That's how I feel about Oblivion. To me, it's great entertainment.
The only minor complaints I had was that the volume of the music while Jack and Vika were in the pool was too much and sometimes things dragged ever so slightly between action sequences. Overall though, this movie was definitely a remarkable treat.