Movie Review—Oblivion

Whew... been a busy month! With the Gen Con crunch taking over pretty much everything over the past several weeks, I've not really had a chance to see many movies or read much aside from what's gonna be published by Paizo between now and August. And then there was a week of recovery.

That said, I did see a few movies and read a few books, so I'm gonna post pretty short reviews of them so I can get all caught up!

First off? Oblivion!

This was never a boring movie to look at; the effects and the cinematography and the art design was really excellent. It doesn't hurt that I'm a sucker for postapocalyptic movies, of course... but what DID hurt were all the logic flaws and plot holes in the script (for example... if a thing can control the atmosphere in an enclosed area, why does it need to wait for flying robots to come kill intruders... why can't said thing simply turn the atmosphere back off to deal with the pesky human interlopers?), and even worse, the fact that the best parts of the movie... in fact... MOST parts of the movie... were more or less lifted from other movies.

If you've never seen a science fiction movie before, you might be blown away by Oblivion.

Huh... you're right! I can see like 11 other movies from here!

Oblivion...

• ... has obviously seen The Matrix, 2001, Planet of the Apes, Wall-E, Star Wars, I Am Legend, A.I., Independance Day, Lifeforce, Inception, War of the Worlds, and more. It hopes YOU haven't seen them, though!
• ... has also obviously HEARD Inception. I wonder what movie trailers would sound like today without having had Inception's awesome and easily mimicked low bass thrums?
• ... has some unsettling undercurrents of misogyny.
• ... has laser weaponry that turns bit actors into ashes but only makes main characters apparently lose their breath.
• ... is nonetheless never honestly dull, but neither is it a movie one ever needs to see more than once.
• ... is a MUCH better video game than it is a movie.

Grade: C+