As the story goes, Joseph Kosinski began working on a graphic novel in 2005, in collaboration with Radical Comics. In 2010, Disney acquired the rights for the novel with the intent of building a movie out of it. However, when Disney realised that making a PG film would require lot of changes, it sold off the rights which were later acquired by Universal Studios. The studio gave the green-light for a PG-13 movie with Joseph Kosinski directing it. After all it was his graphic novel that kick-started the whole thing. And so a science-fiction movie was made, giving credit to the graphic novel of Kosinski. Oh, wait! The novel though does not exist. It may be there in someone's drawer at a conceptual stage with lot of art work done, but Radical Comics never came around to actually publishing it. In fact, its website still maintains a 'Coming in 2012' tagline. The movie production on the other hand is done and dusted and dispatched to the theatres. It is titled, as was the conceptual graphic novel, Oblivion.
Despite the slightly strange background story of Oblivion, Kosinski stated in an interview that he always intended the movie to be the final product. And so here we are, the movie very much in theatres. And what is the verdict? It's a treat, a science-fiction treat! It may not feature in any top-ten lists and may not be remembered for long once Iron Man 3 starts ruling the theatres, but take nothing away from Kosinski's work to put forth a pure science-fiction movie, which stays true to the concept of science-fiction. The film begins with a premise narrated by Tom Cruise which informs us that an alien invasion on the moon led to the downfall of Earth (a view of the shattered moon is one of many amazing cinematic shots in the movie!), leading to a war which even though won by humans, led to the Earth becoming uninhabitable. The humans shift to Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, while a small crew of Tom Cruise and Andrea Riseborough are sent to oversee the extraction of water resources from Earth to support mankind's survival on Titan and eliminate any threats from whatever is remaining of the alien beings. That is just the beginning of the movie plot which has sci-fi written all over it!
For a long stretch of the film, Tom Cruise and Andrea Riseborough are the only two humans shown on Earth which brings forth the emptiness that Cruise's character also tends to feel. This loneliness is more aptly displayed by shooting the movement of the characters, mainly Cruise, under the backdrop of large landscapes, be it barren lands or twisting mountain ranges. Last that I had seen such grandeur images which would have made National Geographic proud was in the opening scenes of Ridley Scott's Prometheus. But in Oblivion, Kosinski does not let go of showcasing various wonders of Mother Earth right till the end, even though much lies in ruins after the alien attacks. There is some terrific art direction at work here, a reason in itself to watch the film. Wonder how cool the concept art would look like! The music score also deserves to be mentioned here; it adds to the intensity of the movie, it is alive and pumps you well, though bordering on being a bit jarring at times.
To add to the theme, there are enough cool mechanical devices at work, running around in focus or in the background. The shuttle that Tom Cruise uses to scout Earth stands out in its elegance, and so do the roundish drones which form an intriguing and important part of the movie. As 'cute' as they might look, they do have a deadly shooting prowess and become a thick part of the action scenes that follow in the latter parts of the movie. If you are familiar with Kosinski's only other film as a director, Tron: Legacy, the slickness and ease with which the entire sci-fi feel has been created for the movie would not surprise you. In both his movies, Kosinski has displayed a creative understanding towards how a futuristic or an alternative world can look like and has then blended it in the world we know, and this consistency in his frames throughout the movie is what gives Oblivion a genuine science-fiction touch which delighted me on most occasions (I know I am harping on the sci-fi point!).
And in this praise of his work, lies my criticism too. For just as was the case with Tron: Legacy, Joseph Kosinski makes Oblivion too cool and sleek, turning it into an appealing science-fiction movie, but losing out on the human touch. That is why Kosinski will never be say, a Spielberg. At the core, Oblivion has a very fascinating story, with enough twists in the second half of the film to keep you rooted till the dramatic end. But the screenplay, for which Kosinski is also credited with, fails to dig deeper into the characters and create a stronger bond between them and the audience. There is enough scope, that is easy to see, for making us really feel for the lead characters, and the writers do make attempts to showcase the conflicts and the confusion each of the leading characters face. But this display is handled at a mediocre level, as if dug using a kitchen knife where you end up chipping at the top and never reach anywhere close to the bottom. And this is going to be the main reason why Oblivion will be forgotten sooner than it should be.
Despite my lack of appreciation for the way the characters were built through the course of the plot, the actors do add to the quality of the film. Tom Cruise is no unknown entity to a sci-fi film and he does get the tone and rhythm right in Oblivion, almost redeeming for the disastrous role in Jack Reacher. Tom Cruise can really be an exasperating actor if you are a fan, for he can display his commitment and sincerity for a role in one movie and screw it up badly in the next. He does not necessarily lead the acting charts in terms of versatility as an actor and so it would do him no harm if he picks his movies more carefully; Oblivion though works in his favour. Morgan Freeman on the other hand is one of the few actors who can light up the screen in a matter of seconds in any film. And despite having a limited role here, he does exactly that, lights up each scene that he is placed in. The surprise package is of course the British actress Andrea Riseborough (who has played Margaret Thatcher in a TV drama previously) who is initially seen just as an accompanying actor as eyes stay fixed on Tom Cruise, but gradually asserts herself more strongly on the screen, which was quite essential as the movie contains such limited actors. Olga Kurylenko, a survivor of a crash, plays a big part in the eventual direction the plot takes, but her role as such has very limited to offer.
All in all, Oblivion has added much to the flavour of April, delighting the hearts and warming it up as Iron Man 3 approaches. Joseph Kosinski is displaying his own style of movie-making and even though he is only two films old, I would be looking forward to his future works. If only he can add more to the characters even if it means losing out a bit on the 'sci-fi feel', maybe a classic would not be far away!
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