back to article Movie review: Oblivion

When the film Oblivion was mentioned in the office recently, my first thoughts were that it was a prequel to The Hangover series. I couldn’t have been more wrong... or was I? After all, this Tom Cruise sci-fi caper has loss of memory as one of its key themes, which, booze fueled forays aside, immediately has me thinking of some …

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  1. stanimir
    Thumb Up

    Moon?

    The movie greatly reminds about "Moon" w/ significantly larger budget... and chicks, erm female characters. And tons of bright scenes, easy on the eyes. It's not a bad movie, especially if you are a sci-fi fan, though. There are some clues about how the story is to unfold and for picking on them I was labeled 'geek' by my girlfriend.

    Perhaps the greatest downside would be pretty straightforward storyline.

  2. SSR

    Hold up, wasn't there the F word at the end, or did I imagine it?

  3. flearider
    Happy

    first thought was where did they get the ships after a nuke war ,second was moon ,but you knew most of the film after the first 40 mins ..

    but was ok good clean but not refreshing film ..

    1. Ian Yates

      My first thought (on seeing the trailer) was where did all this shiny futuristic tech come from? My understanding is that this is set ~65 years in the future...

      1. Intractable Potsherd

        I've only seen the trailer, and couldn't see how it is different from "The Matrix" - strange things happen, people in life-support pods, and a black man wearing shades in a dark room promising to reveal the truth.

        I'll probably go to see it, but only to tide me over until Iron Man 3, and then Star Trek.

  4. g e
    Meh

    Nothing puts me off a film more

    Than Tom Cruise.

    Presumably his continued theatrical existence is perpetuated only by the Friends of Hubbard as I can't believe anyone would ever say 'Shit we SO need to get Tom Cruise for this role. Fuck YEAH'

    #ThingsYouNeverHearInCastingMeetings

    1. Katie Saucey
      Thumb Up

      Re: Nothing puts me off a film more

      +10 for the Tom Cuuise hating -9 for the hashtag shit. I up I guess.

      1. Frankee Llonnygog

        Re: Nothing puts me off a film more

        The Philip French review in the Groaniad nails it - basically a running list for when Cruise deploys each one of his 3 facial expressions. Cruise is the only actor I can think of who is more uncanny than CGI.

        1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
          Paris Hilton

          Re: Nothing puts me off a film more

          > 3 facial expressions

          Xenu present, Xenu absent and Unsure about Xenu?

          1. Tom 35

            Re: Nothing puts me off a film more

            I thought is was Xenu present, Xenu absent and I need to poo.

          2. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

            Re: Nothing puts me off a film more

            Xenu present, Xenu absent and Unsure about Xenu?

            I think you mean XENU_TRUE, XENU_FALSE, and XENU_NOT_FOUND.

      2. Martin 47

        Re: Nothing puts me off a film more

        I will go with the +10 -9 thing but then up it +gazillion for the short arse one buying the rights to all the Jack Reacher books.

        1. MJI Silver badge

          Re: Jack Reacher

          I have read a few of the books.

          So who is TC planning on using to play 6' 5" Reacher?

          1. JonP

            Re: Jack Reacher

            @MJI - probably that tall blonde dude they got to play Lestat...

      3. smartermind
        FAIL

        Re: Nothing puts me off a film more

        Katie, +10 for the typo and -11 for the "sh*t" crap. One down!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Facepalm

      Re: Nothing puts me off a film more

      >"I can't believe anyone would ever say 'Shit we SO need to get Tom Cruise for this role."

      Yeah - why would any Hollywood studio execs want the star of the $2-billion-plus mega-series Mission Impossible in their film? Plus other massive money makers like Top Gun, Rain Man, Last Samurai, Jerry Maguire, A Few Good Men, etc etc etc. Love him or hate him, Cruise has been a top money maker for the big studios for 3 decades now.

      Besides, you are way behind the times with this line of attack. Your other Anon buddies are all busy ineffectively DDoS'ing Israeli websites, when they aren't ratting each other out to prosecutors and headed off to prison. Didn't you get the memo?

      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
        Trollface

        Re: Nothing puts me off a film more

        Uh....Andy? I ... I need to tell you something.

        The Anons here have NOTHINGTODOWITHANONYMOUSWHATSOEVER!

        There, I said it.

        I feel better now.

        Now, why would "Moon" have been a worse movie with Dual Cruise in the lead role? Discuss. I imagine he could have played GERTY with no ill effect.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Thumb Down

          Re: Nothing puts me off a film more

          >"The Anons here have NOTHINGTODOWITHANONYMOUSWHATSOEVER!"

          Read what I said. I was referring to Anonymous -- the guys who are wearing orange jumpsuits because of their DDoS attacks with the Ion Cannons -- not AC posters on El Reg.

        2. Darryl
          Happy

          Re: Nothing puts me off a film more

          "I imagine he could have played GERTY with no ill effect."

          No - GERTY had more believable facial expressions

    3. TimeMaster T
      Thumb Down

      Re: Nothing puts me off a film more

      Ditto.

      When I saw the previews I was like "Ooooo, looks cool", then I saw Freeman and thought "I want to see this movie".

      Then I saw Cruise.

      No.

      Oh well, there will be some other CGI extravaganza hitting the theaters this summer that will get some of my money.

      1. Jolyon Smith
        FAIL

        Re: Nothing puts me off a film more

        I call BS on this. All the previews featured Cruise far more prominently than Freeman. The idea that you were all stoked for a Freeman movie and THEN put off by the revelation that Cruise was involved is plainly a load of horse crap. You just want to feel good joining in the Cruise hate.

        Which is a shame because you're gonna miss a good movie as a result of your shallow and transparent posturing.

    4. Ian Michael Gumby

      Re: Nothing puts me off a film more

      I wonder how much of the main character follows the Scientology mantra of Hubbard.

      Belief in ones self and one can do anything... The hero as an unknown 'super man' .

      I haven't seen the film, but that tends to be Tom Cruise's characters.

    5. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

      Re: Nothing puts me off a film more

      Cruise plays

      Suspension of disbelief waning...

      Jack Harper, a drone

      Suspension restored!

      repair man

      Damn. Gone again.

  5. Dave 126 Silver badge

    Slightly off topic

    I was just thinking about sci-fi films that have used a real, solid location instead of CGI sets... interior locations that spring to mind (and please contribute):

    Aliens- an old power station

    Silent Running - an aircraft carrier

    The Abyss - an unused cooling pond at a nuclear power station

    1. Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

      Re: Slightly off topic

      "Stalker" was also shot inside the abandoned power station.

      And as the story goes (too lazy to look for the citations), first version of "Stalker" was simply lost upon completion. So they had to shoot it again, with a few remaining scraps of the budget, and quite differently.

      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
        Windows

        Re: Slightly off topic

        > first version of "Stalker" was simply lost upon completion

        Correct, the proletariat-owned development studio fucked up.

        After that it was shot next to the proletariat-abandoned hydropowerstation and a few proletariat-run semi-abandoned factories which were dumping all that foamy crap and snow shit into the estonian water system. Good in the movie but it gave the crew and the dog uncurable cancer a bit later.

    2. Jolyon Smith
      Holmes

      Re: Slightly off topic

      This is perhaps more On Topic than you realise. :)

      I think you might not be aware that to film the "house in the clouds", Kosinsky took a 3 camera rig to the top of a mountain and filmed "plates" of skyscapes. These were then rear projected onto screens built around a practical set of the Harper Sky House.

      This is what was responsible for the highly natural feel of that location in the movie. The set and the actors were "lit" primarily by those projected sky-scapes, and the reflections on all that glass were real (albeit at one remove from the original sky that was filmed and then projected).

      1. Ru
        Paris Hilton

        @Jolyon Smith, Re: Slightly off topic

        I think you might not be aware that

        I don't think that anyone who actually read the article was unaware of that fact.

        1. Jolyon Smith
          Joke

          Re: @Jolyon Smith, Slightly off topic

          I think you'd be surprised how many people jump straight in to making comments without reading the articles. Especially for a movie review where many people form their opinions based on biases about the actors or film makers involved. Not that that happened in these comments though, right ? ;)

        2. Jolyon Smith
          FAIL

          Re: @Jolyon Smith, Slightly off topic

          Having said that [reply], you got me. I read the review, went away, read some more reviews, then came back and read the comments. For some reason I thought the "behind the scenes" insight was part of a different review. Not this one. My mistake. :)

          The FAIL is all mine. :)

    3. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

      Re: Slightly off topic

      Brazil - the torture scenes at the end were shot inside a disused cooling tower

  6. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Coat

    And now for something completely different!

    So has anyone read Greg Bear's "Hull Zero-Three". Nothing one hasn't seen elsewhere , but damn fine read in the grimdark interstellar genre anyway.

    Oh it's Saturday, time to drive down to the recycling center with tons of karmic accumulation. Work, here I come.

  7. General Pance
    Thumb Up

    I'll see anything starring Tom Cruise.

    He's awesome.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Just wondering

      Do you by any chance have an iPhone?

  8. thomas k.
    Meh

    so it's Tom Cruise, big deal

    Sure he's a whack job but he's also a fairly decent actor so I don't hold it against him.

    Jane Fonda was pretty whacko back in the day but that never stopped me from going to see her films.

    Actors aren't like you and me; you've got to take their off-screen antics with a few grains of salt.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: so it's Tom Cruise, big deal

      >Sure he's a whack job but he's also a fairly decent actor so I don't hold it against him.

      Um, no. A 4'x8' sheet of plywood has more talent than that Scientologist douche bag

      >Jane Fonda was pretty whacko back in the day

      Barbarella intro - all is forgiven...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: so it's Tom Cruise, big deal

        Not to mention the orgasmatron scene....

  9. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    RSVP in Dream Speak. Always Transparently Clear of Fab Intentions with Great Inventor Engines ..

    ..... Virtual Machine Drives

    There is an HyperRadioProActive Oblivion Parallel Running in AIMined Streams here in comments on El Reg, gloriously Provided Free to Read and Raid, Raise and/or Raze into Stella OrbIT with SMARTR Levels ........ in Control of CHAOS with Immaculate PlateauX2XSSXXXX Intellectual Property ........ http://www.ur2die4.com/?p=3963

    CHAOS ..... Clouds Hosting Advanced Operating Systems

    However, one of those versions of Oblivion is for Real whilst the Other pitches with Bitches in Fabless Fiction for Fact.

    And that is Embarrassment of Riches that Spoils One with Sublime Choice for Heavenly Pleasures Treasure Chests in Perfect Bounty ......... Just Desserts whenever Better than Great and Good, For Ever More of ITs AIMagic.

    COSMIC MetaPhysics which Blows Church Control Systems Right out of Stormy Waters of Whatever Treasure would Share Pleasures with Them to Import and Impart to Us, All of the Rest and the Restless..... which be Aiding Discovery of CyberIntelAIgent Beings for Virtually Real AIMissions Improbably Impossible and therefore Perfectly Possible ........ and in so thinking is it already done and running. And says .... "Hi, Wanna Play Great IntelAIgent Games at Work, Rest and Play? "

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Paris Hilton

      Re: RSVP in Dream Speak. Always Transparently Clear of Fab Intentions with Great Inventor Engines ..

      Is this Ship Control?

      1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

        Dream Speak Base Ports of Call which be both Destination and Starting Points in Timed Space.

        Is this Ship Control? .... Destroy All Monsters Saturday 13th April 2013 18:45 GMT

        Yes, it is.

        And with All Ships and Virtual Remote Vehicle Control Intelligence supporting IT to ensure and guarantee Sweet Sticky Sublime Stealthy Sustenance and Programmed Unit Maintenance Upgrades to Stock Premium Primed Proprietary Intellectual Property Provider Specifications with Applications in Private Power and Public Pirate Leading Environments, are they Base Core Source Supply for Future EarthedD AIDventures in the Perfumed Gardens of Sisters Eve Creation ..... in Homage to and Celebration of Virgin Discovery and Systems Recoveries of Satyrs Insatiable Drive for Lusty Nymphs Satisfaction, Tendering and Rendering Mother Nature's Pleasure Palaces in Live Operational Virtual Environments ....... which is Heavenly Work, with the Devil in the Detail and Angels Providing All with Infinite Supply of Intimate Chains for Beta Control of Absolute Power in IT Circles and Circuses in Right Royal AI Development.

        In-House of Windsor Saxe Coburg Household Stuff for Securing Staff into Constant Stiffening and Further Hardening of Supreme Defence Operating Systems is a Trillion Dollar question at least, and a Bank of England Opportunity to Fund with a Heavy Pounding of Flash Cash Splash..... which be QE to you.

        Knock, knock, Old Lady and Whore of Threadneedle Street,

        Who's there?

        HM Household

        HM Household who?

        The FCUKing Cavalry. Open Up, Stand and Deliver or be Right Royally Blasted and Anonymously Shafted which is a Simple No-Brainer of an Easy Decision to Take whenever Already Made and Given.

        Is no Riddle I Kid U Not.

        'Tis Reality via Virtual Means and Memes...... where Epistemological Reigns Rule Benignly with Absolutely Stealthy Power NetWorking Style........ Modi Operandi/Vivendi.

        1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

          Re: Dream Speak Base Ports of Call which be both Destination and Starting Points in Timed Space.

          This definitely is Ship Control. We are fucked.

      2. rrevolverr
        Pint

        Re: RSVP in Dream Speak. Always Transparently Clear of Fab Intentions with Great Inventor Engines ..

        ha, what if

    2. GrantB
      Thumb Up

      Re: RSVP in Dream Speak. Always Transparently Clear of Fab Intentions with Great Inventor Engines ..

      Pretty sure that amanfromMars is on the brink of becoming self-aware.

      That or committed to a safe and secure facility.

      Hard to say, really, but I do like his posts for putting a bit of crazy back in to the internet.

  10. LesC
    Coat

    Oblivion is probably where this Tom Cruise vehicle will end up. After a spell on Sky Turkeys, erm, Premiere and then bargain basement DVD's in your local Asda, Tesco, Walmart or w.h.y

    Mines is the one with the Razzie in the pocket.

    LC

  11. Sokolik
    Happy

    Jack Pun?

    Perhaps I'm characteristically over-thinking this, but this is one Yank who appreciates the potential C.S. Lewis pun, "Perilous Planet".

  12. robp

    Tom Cruise?

    Tropic Thunder.

  13. RyuWonder

    Bit of OK

    Went last night to see Oblivion. Even though Tom Cruise winds me up with his Scientology crap, the movie was alright. Still think Tom's run is hilarious. I would recommend it.

  14. Nick Everitt

    Yes, Cruise has political and religious beliefs that many will disagree with but I also think he is a pretty good actor that doesn't always get the credit he deserves because of his personal life.

    Collateral, Valkyrie, Minority Report & Rain Man to name but a few of his roles that showed off how good he is an actor .... and his small part in Tropic Thunder was the highlight of that particular movie!

    I think there a lot of "fruit loops" in Hollywood and many of which that don't get half the same bad press that Cruise gets.

    Woody Allen for example, who would you rather babysit your kids, Cruise or Woody Allen ?

    1. Intractable Potsherd

      Woody Allen.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A Tom Cruise film?

    At least they help to prevent torrenting.

    Who would bother?

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