Synopsis
Dir. Joseph Kosinski brings to life his unpublished graphic novel through the 2013 film titled Oblivion. The boundaries between fantasy and reality are often blurry, as can be observed in a drama set in the aftermath of an alien invasion alongside a torn up Earth. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the text revolves around Jack Harper, played by Mr. Cruise, who plays a role of an Earth repair drone trainee responsible for protecting the planet.
Mr. Kosinski depicts a future where Earth has become barren with no life; the remaining population has relocated to a space station called the Tet. Kept at the Outpost alongside his communications officer, Victoria (Andrea Riseborough), the duo attempts to find means through which Jack can regain the memories of his life. Waking up at an unfamiliar place with stained memories, he discovers a spacecraft that challenges the perspectives in his life. As he scavenges through the wreckage, he stumbles across Julia, a mystical lady who alters everything he has previously known.
The moment Jack attempts to piece together his identity and question the reason why Earth and the population ended up why they did, he is faced with the alien invasion. What makes the film fascinating are the philosophical implications, perfect imagery, animating plots and Jack’s story of his sacrifice, memory and identity.
Everyone makes an immeasurable contribution in the workflow, regardless of whatever specific task one tends to perform. They work jointly as a phenomenal ensemble and these extraordinary visual storytellers collectively give us oblivion, which sadly did not work at the box office.
Oblivion was a movie that had multiple contributors from different fields starting from actors, actresses, directors, and cinematographers, all playing a pivotal role in the completion of the movie, through their work encapsulating every audience’s attention.
Oblivion’s cast and crew as identified by IMDB comprises of the following:
Tom Cruise also known for Jack Harper: A dedicated tom cruise himself, puts in a considerable amount of effort in order to traverse the divergent simple mission, ensuring he keeps the dual advocation of his past recollections and his purpose close to his heart.
Andrea Riseborough, a known vika olsen character: Vika a rather notable name, portrays an intricate character who provides strong allegiance towards keeping the mission intact and free of divergences, also honorably loyal.
Olga Kurylenko often known as Julia Rusakova Harper: Kurylenko plays Julia with a mix of vulnerability and resolve, serving as the key to distraction for jack.
Morgan Freeman also known as Malcolm Beech: Freeman splendidly reeked of authority and wisdom, leading me khaliba the leader of the dormant resistance movement endeavoring to salvage earth.
Melissa Leo also known as Sally: Leo depicted an enthralling stillness and an uncanny sophistication, Leo acting and storyline were rather confusing more and more as the plot deepened.
Fundamentally the storyline and cinematography is on a completely different level of brilliance and I can honestly say Joseph Kosinski greatly added to improving the professional actors skills through this mesmerizing piece of art through his comprehensive directing skills.
Themes and Analysis
Identity and Memory
The character of Jack Harper in the movie Oblivion casts light on the theme of identity as Jack Harper’s identity is constructed from the shattered memories of his past and the truths he slowly begins to discover about the mission. Such constructs of identity also make the audience question if there is memory without the identity or who is this identity associated with.
Humanity and Sacrifice
Oblivion has a theme related to humanity and makes a deep exploration of what it means to be human, especially Jack’s characters actions. The belief of love shown through the character of Jack who is ready to go to any lengths for Julia and humanity is incredibly astounding and portrays belief through sacrifice in spite of the wanting odds.
Control and Rebellion
There is the conflict between control and freedom in Oblivion, where the Tet depicts limitless control, while Jack’s struggle against the Tet means the rebel spirit of mankind against the ruling powers. This represents hope in the audience and gives the feeling of never losing hope against ruling regimes in the world.
Technology and Isolation
The alienating effects of overused technology as shown in the film cannot be downplayed. The emotionless, lonely existence of Jack and Victoria starkly differs from the bonds Jack attempts to glue back with Julia and the resistance, highlighting the reclusiveness of overreliance on technology.
Cinematography and Visual Style For cinematography, I would like to appreciate Claudio Miranda for the top notch work presented in the movie Oblivion. He does a brilliant job capturing the beautiful technic pictures alongside with camera shots of the worn out earth with the m 83 techno music in the background and disturbing pictures of the worn out earth. From the Sky Tower, Jack and Vika live, it portrays the quotation “An island is a state of perfection, both pristine and sterile” while the sunset that is engulfing the earth displays humanity in a delicate situation. The Earth uninhabitable sites tend to exaggerate what any traces of life were left. The M83 electronic score was extremely fitting, as it wobbled the nerves and accentuated the atmosphere of the film.
Critical Reception Actually, the film is known to have a wide range of advanced and exotic nuclear science and philosophy as its’ backbone but however like any other promising science fiction show, Oblivion has numerous disadvantages along with its advantages. Scored a 7.0/10 on IMDB, Oblivion is generally perceived as good. The views were divided, a number said that the film has taken elements from the most classic known sci-fi movies. However, many say that tom cruise and jack harper gave a breathtaking emotional performance, complemented with even better chemistry between the leads. Some wired and criticized the trailer saying that it was adapt or die theme, the only redeeming factor was to cherish the philosophy of the film as well as the enormous scale of the movie production.
Audience Reception
Generally speaking, the general public enjoyed watching Oblivion for its entertaining plot as well as its beautiful pictures. While several were baffled with Jack’s approach at finding a purpose in a movie, a lot more were amazed by the film’s exceptional world building. Otherwise, there were also some who found the pacing of the movie somewhat inconsistent and the advancements in the plot easily foreseeable. Those who are fond of high-concept science fiction admired it for its perplexing content, while other general watchers liked the beautiful pictures and combat scenes.
Conclusion
Oblivion is a captivating delight that successfully combines elements such as breathtaking visuals and deep philosophical thoughts setting a new standard in the science fiction movies. Even though it has multiple actors, like Tom Cruise and Andrea Riseborough’s standout performances
, it questions the constants of society that shapes one’s identity, culture and the feeling of being controlled. In spite of the fact that it covers topics that are commonplace in some parts, it philosophical implications and emotional essence surely distinguishes it from other films.
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