Pretty, pretty Oblivion

I went to see Oblivion today. I was to do it last week but couldn't walk so I did it today despite the weird eye pain. I really wanted to see it and I'm leaving next week.

I learned again that I've consumed too much SF in my life because, even though this was original story not based on any book/earlier work, I kept having a feeling of deja vu. It probably because the story is very Philip K. Dick. It reminded me of his story Precious Artifact to the point of being spoilery (movie is not based on it but the plot similarity is obvious when you know both and I'm not the only one who noticed). It's also shares some important twists with Moon (generally, knowing both Precious Artifact and Moon makes Oblivion plot twists something obvious instead of shocking). Still, I liked that stuff because this is the stuff I like in (science) fiction - I loved both Dick's story and the Duncan Jones's film - so I caught myself wishing it had more of the identity crisis and less generic love-saves-the-world stuff.

However, plot twists are not the main reason I went to see this movie (and trailers make you expect a lot of it anyway). I went to see the movie because aliens, space and apocalypse. And it delivers. It's so very, very pretty. The habitat in the clouds, the dragonfly-like flyer, even the water sucking machines - the beauty of the tech is incredible and so were the landscapes (it was filmed in Iceland and northern California). I kind of found myself envying their stuff and understanding why Jack wants to stay on Earth - this was the most beautiful post-apocalypse ever. But it's also the first thing that makes you feel suspicious when you also learn the date. It makes you wonder how we got all this built with all the war and destruction. The unveiling, even though expected, was interesting but would be better if we got more reaction to the truth. The best part for me was Jack and drones as he treats them like a sort of pets and they are acting like a dobermans with heavy artillery for the most part. The action part was pretty decent too - chases and fights and explosions. For the most part you can even forget that Tom Cruise turned 50 on the set.

From the beginning the week stuff is the romance part. I know that it was supposed to be romantic but it is kind of creepy, especially the ending. It also makes everything all the more predictable. However, I was happy that, contrary to what trailers made me believe Vicka is not the evil one. I was also a little taken back by all the Americanisms - all the most popular American sports make appearance and a lot of important stuff is tied to the Empire State Building. I'm not sure why but it sure makes it feel even more cheesy then the romance. Also the people not as happy to just enjoy the views can be a little bored with the beginning and voice-over and Jack just leaving a life of mop-up crew member (also WALL-E flashbacks even though this was much prettier post-apocalypse).

My pet peeves - Julia should be Yulia with the standard transcription but I was happy her surname ended with 'a'. Stealing water (for fuel or anything else) is still as stupid as it was in Battle of LA. It especially grated with the constant mentioning of Titan as it would be much easier to get water somewhere else where there's now one fighting back - like Europa. It's a pretty common chemical. Not to mention hydrogen - even more common. The Tet could get all they ever needed without anyone ever noticing.

In the end I mostly wondered what happened to all the other Jacks and Vickas. Do their habitats fall from the sky like drones? The fact that the flier was obeying Jack even when drones were trying to kill them and Sally used drone to kill them instead habitat so maybe it had some independent systems too. Or it didn't want to build a new one for the next Jack/Vicka team. Anyway, even if they al fell there is a big chance many of Jacks survived because they were out of their habitats when it happened. But I hope at least few Vickas survived too. It wasn't her fault she was mind wiped to be afraid of everything outside and not wanting to go out. Jack at least didn't got this imprinted as much as he had to get out - she never did. But even if they survived how did they react to the Tet destruction with all their conditioning. For them this was a big catastrophe - all the humans dead and their way to join everyone on Titan gone. And then all the people who would want the revenge for the Jack army that invaded the Earth. And what if other Jacks then just 52 learn Julia is alive?

I'm overthinking this of course but this Perfect Artefact/Moon stuff is something that I generally like a lot and I wished we got more of the identity crisis stuff from both Jacks and Vickas and see them realise who they are and the role they played in destruction of Earth and how to completely they were lied to and used then the "one-true-love" thing.

I enjoyed Oblivion probably more then I should because I wanted to see such a high tech sf with ships and aliens for a long time, because it's pretty and because it's pretty watchable. This is not a movie that has some deep thought or message but it works pretty well as an post-apocalyptic action movie and it has Morgan Freeman an Jaime Lannister in it (I'm saying this not because I don't know who Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is - I remembered since Wimbledon and I liked New Amsterdam - but because he pretty much plays Jaime only with guns and the look is straight from this season of GoT). Andrea Riseborough is fantastic as Vicka and broke my heart more then the whole romance plot. It might've been a better SF but is pretty good as eye-candy sci-fi movie. It's also not a sequel, prequel, remake or adaptation so, even though story isn't completely original, I was happy with not knowing exactly as it goes. And, of course as I mention at the start, after a while every story reminds you of another story. And then all that counts is how it is told. This one was told in a very pretty pictures.