The article I’m
going to analyze is taken from The Guardian and is entitled "Oblivion – review.” It was
published by Peter Bradshaw on 10 April 2013 and takes a critical view of the
new film “Oblivion” starring Tom Cruise.
According to the movie’s plot,
here the famous actor plays Jack Harper, a tough and self-reliant soldier
in the late 21st century, tasked to monitor what remains of Earth prior to
humanity's final emigration, and to supervise a fleet of pilotless drone craft
which hunt down hostile "scavs", or scavengers, hiding out on the
surface. In the author’s words, Cruise’s role-model appears to
be Wall-E, or the diminutive cartoon automaton left behind on a wrecked
planet Earth to clean up. Sadly enough, there's none of Wall-E's spark in this
bafflingly solemn, lugubrious and fantastically derivative sci-fi which serves
up great big undigested lumps of Total Recall, AI, Planet of the Apes – with
little snippets of Top Gun.
Speaking of the
movie on the whole, it’s necessary to note that it has some beautiful images of
planetary ruin and huge tracts of desert and forest with the bits of famous
buildings poking up. There are futurist aircraft whooshing through the mist, or
being accepted into the bosoms of colossally large mother-ships out in space,
like the photorealist cover-designs of a classic SF novel. But, Bradshaw says,
the story itself feels numbed, directionless and dull; Morgan
Freeman is entirely wasted in a sketchily conceived supporting role and
Tom Cruise is allowed to play to his weaknesses. Then, the author compares this
film with “The Mission Impossible,” and this comparison is not in “Oblivion’s
favour, as there is little of humour and fun. Besides, Tom Cruise is a bit
cardboard: sometimes he will do his relaxed face, periodically he will do his
uxorious-romantic smile.
In resolute outspoken terms
the author expresses the view that “Oblivion”
looks like a very expensive movie project that has been written and rewritten
many times over, and it is a shame: Cruise, Riseborough and Kurylenko as the
last love triangle left on Planet Earth should have been quite interesting. As
for me, I don’t watch films like this, primarily because of the genre, not the
cast. I can’t understand what makes talented, already popular actors agree to
roles in all these commonplace blockbusters; still it’s their choice
No comments:
Post a Comment