Oblivion Review
RYAN: I had such high hopes for this movie because I love sci fi, Tom Cruise and the trailer looked great, but those hopes have been dashed.
CAROLINE: Oh no. Why?
RYAN: It’s such overblown science fiction. I really love the genre and when it’s good, it’s brilliant and innovative. When it’s bad, or mediocre, as is the case here, it’s just utterly disappointing.
CAROLINE: I’m not that into sci fi, but how was Tom?
RYAN: He’s great and he looks amazing. I swear he hasn’t aged in the last several years. Whatever doc he’s seeing in Hollywood is a miracle worker! I’m not suggesting he’s had work done but whatever treatments or products he has access to are certainly doing the trick.
CAROLINE: He really does look great. And what of Morgan Freeman?
RYAN: I can’t believe I’m going to say this but he’s awful in this movie. Seriously, it’s the worst performance of his career. It’s like he didn’t commit to the role. He wasn’t feeling it and so I didn’t feel it in the audience. You’d think he never acted before; it was an insincere performance.
CAROLINE: Wow. That’s so hard to believe.
RYAN: I know. But I really liked the two female costars. Andrea Riseborough plaed Wallis Simpson in the Madonna-directed W.E. movie and Olga Kurylenko is in new movie To the Wonder.
CAROLINE: Cool. I think the trailer looked interesting but I sometimes can’t follow the plot in sci fi movies. Was this confusing?
RYAN: The set up is pretty confusing but I got into it after the start. It’s a movie that amps up and ends nicely but the majority of the film, the middle, just plateaus. It’s not convoluted and the effects are good but it just never really grabs you as a story.
CAROLINE: I’d have probably been so bored during it.
RYAN: There’s a romantic subplot but it isn’t very emotionally connected. Melissa Leo is in this but you don’t see much of her.
CAROLINE: Oh I like her.
RYAN: She’s good but doesn’t have a huge role; just a pivotal role. Tom has a line at the end of the movie that’s so beyond cheesy it actually ruined it for me.
CAROLINE: How embarrassing.
RYAN: Yeah it’s a bad moment. Not that I was going to say See It, but that line really didn’t help things.
CAROLINE: This isn’t in 3D, right?
RYAN: No but that might have been cool. The spacecraft and some of the satellites and other aero-elements are very cool effects but not enough to sustain the film.
CAROLINE: So what’s your bottom line?
RYAN: It’s too melodramatic to be a good sci fi flick. The score is overly synthesized and corny. The effects are good but not impressive enough to really stand out compared to what we’ve already seen in smarter films. And it largely drags. It’s not a must see.
