Oblivion
2013
***
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Cast: Tom Cruise, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Morgan Freeman, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Melissa Leo
Following a war which destroyed the Earth, the human population has fled to space and left two people in charge of the drones which protect the vital energy resources from the invaders. During the last weeks of the mission, Commander Jack Harper, whose memory was wiped before staying behind, begins to doubt the official truth. Joseph Kosinski's follow-up to Tron: Legacy is another beautifully designed science fiction movie, which puts the Icelandic locations and the state-of-the-art special effects into perfect use. While the film is moderately entertaining, the story (from the director's own unpublished graphic novel) is too derivative. Kosinski draws influence from some recent (Moon, Wall-E, and Source Code) and some older scifi movies (The Matrix, Total Recall, and Planet of the Apes). Tom Cruise gives a forgettable performance in the lead.
