"Oblivion" is awesome! It's too bad that Patrick Stewart's character dies so early, but the arrival of Sean Bean later on in the story more than makes up for that. And Terence Stamp shows up too, as a villain.
It's the story of a prisoner named Moridin Valteri, a Sneak Mage who's been imprisoned in the dungeon of the Imperial City for being a jerk. When a wacky group of red cloaked cultists try to murder the Emperor, the Emperor skedaddles, protected by his personal guard, the Blades. As fate would have it, his secret escape tunnel runs through Moridin's cell. This leads to a chain of events which embroil our hero in a conflict between the forces of light and the butt holes of darkness, whose ultimate goal is to release their god, Mehrunes Dagon, from the plane of Oblivion to wreak havoc on the world of men, which is highly wreakable.
I don't know where to start there's so much coolness. The Dark Brotherhood? That crazy-ass Shivering Isles stuff? The Arena? The Mage's Guild versus the Necromancers? That quest with the sabre-toothed tiger in that lady's basement? The Daedric Quests? The Siege of Bruma? The gorgeous scenery? Those pesky goblins? Maiq the Liar (what an s.o.b)? That quest where the hero has to go fishing? That. . .?
What? Tom Cruise? Oh crap. . .
Sorry. Wrong "Oblivion".
As others have pointed out, it borrows whole from "The Matrix", "Wall-E", "Star Wars", and "Moon" (I'd also like to throw a little "Halo" into the mix), but director Joseph Kosinski has cobbled together a solid sci-fi flick that's worth seeing in IMAX. The highlights of the movie are the visuals (great special effects and cinematography), Tom Cruise (loony in real life, good onscreen), its humanistic heart, and the great score by M83. The lowlights - well, like I said, it's derivative. If you're a sci-fi fan you will have a bit of a "been-there-done-that" feeling. If you haven't seen any of the movies I mentioned above, your mind will be blown. But it's definitely worth a watch. Also - try not to watch any trailers before seeing the movie. They give too much away.
Side Note - The ship Tom Cruise flies in the movie looks like an Apple-designed set of male reproductive organs. Just sayin'.
While we were exiting the theater after a showing of "Scary Movie 5", one of my fellow audience members uttered a quote which summed up the movie rather eloquently -
"That fucking sucked."
Indeed, random stranger. Indeed.
This is sad for a couple of reasons. Reason #1: The other four movies in the series, while not the greatest comedies of all time, had some incredibly funny, laugh-out-loud stuff in them. The audience for part 5? Totally silent.
Reason #2: The filmmakers behind this movie are proven comic geniuses (or, at least, they're competent). Malcolm D. Lee, the director, also made "Undercover Brother", a far-too-underrated comedy, if you ask me. The writers, Pat Proft and David Zucker, have been behind some of the funniest spoofs in movie history ("The Naked Gun" trilogy, the "Hot Shots!" movies, as well as parts 3 and 4). What the hell happened?
Oh well. At least Anna Faris was wise enough to stay away from this installment (sorry, no Cindy Campbell this time). It's lazy, boring and unfunny. I think the "Scary Movie" franchise is officially dead. R.I.P.
I'm depressed. I need something to cheer me up. I know, I'll watch some of the brilliant stuff from "The Naked Gun", which is 10,000 times more hilarious than "Scary Movie 5"! Especially the chase sequence.
Okay, that's arguable. According to the director of this "remake", one Mr. Fede Alvarez, "Evil Dead" 2013 takes place at the same cabin as the original 1983 movie but with an all-new group of characters, which would actually classify it as a follow up, not a sequel. To further declarify the issue, 1987's "Evil Dead II" essentially was a remake of 83's "The Evil Dead" (once again that's an arguable point, but it's one I happen to agree with). The third movie in the original series, 1993's "Army of Darkness" (also known as "The Medieval Dead") was neither a remake of "The Evil Dead" or "Evil Dead II", but was a direct sequel to "II". It did, however, rewrite the closing scene of "II" in its opening scenes, thereby making the heads of continuity freaks everywhere explode in mushroom clouds of brain matter.
To put it all in perspective, think of it like this - there are two parallel story timelines. Timeline #1 runs like this: "The Evil Dead" (1983) to "Evil Dead" (2013). Timeline #2 runs thusly: "Evil Dead II" (1987) to "Army of Darkness" (1993). To even further drive you nuts, original trilogy director Sam Raimi will begin writing "Evil Dead 4" this upcoming summer, which he recently referred to as "Army of Darkness 2" - this would be a third movie in Timeline #2. New Dead director Alvarez also suggested that he wants to do a follow up to the new movie ("Evil Dead 2"?) - this would be the third movie in Timeline #1.
And to top it all off, Mr. Alvarez and Mr. Raimi speculated on a seventh "Evil Dead" movie which is to be intended as a crossover film between the timelines, bringing the two universes together in one big climactic blowout. Ye gods.
All of this is mere speculation at this point (except for the "Evil Dead 4/Army of Darkness 2" writing news). We'll see what happens, when it happens. For now I should probably just stick to the present and review the damn remake already.
I gave this movie an "A-" in the Professor Shifty section of the blog. I added the minus for one simple reason - Bruce Campbell, legendary star of the original trilogy, is not the star of the remake. Still, his influence hangs over this picture like a hatchet-chinned floating head in a sea of blackness, as does Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert (producer of the OT). All three of them are executive producers, leaving the writing/directing chore to new guy Fede Alvarez, who is clearly a lifelong fan of these movies.
Having seen it twice so far, at packed screenings, I can say this - I have noted two distinct reactions from audience members, which I will relay to you now. Segment A: Scaredy Cats - lots of screaming and gibbering and hiding of faces. In one case, a lady ran out of the theater, mewling. She later returned, very sheepishly. Segment B: Evil Dead Fans - lots of laughing and applauding and heckling of the onscreen characters. An interactive audience, what these movies were made for. I am a member of Segment B.
There is another category which I shall call Segment Z. These are the people who do not understand "Evil Dead" at all. They see the over-the-top gore, the weirdness, the Three Stooges-style humor and they scratch their heads in confusion. They gripe about how stupid the characters in the movie act, not realizing that it's all intentional - we're supposed to yell at these people as they make one stupid decision after another, supposed to applaud and scream when they get what's coming to them. It's that weird venting of emotions that horror movies provide, that "at least I've never experienced anything like that" feeling which makes you feel better about the life you're living, no matter how crappy it may be. Segment Z doesn't get this. Thankfully, Segment Z rarely goes to movies on opening night.
So the movie has gore, scares, queasy laughs and stupid people. Does it offer up anything that the orginial films didn't have? Sure. It's got character development. And a theme. And character arcs which feed into the climactic finale, providing a sense of closure at the end. Does any of this matter in an "Evil Dead" film? Not really, but it's all competently done. Let's just say it's nice to see them try something different.
Director Alvarez does a great job. He's not the master cameraman that Sam Raimi is, but he's a more dynamic visual artist. There are some creepily beautiful shots in this movie. And the cast is fine. There's no Bruce Campbell-style breakout performance here, but they do okay.
What does this movie offer for longtime fans? There are many, many references to the original trilogy in ED2013. Thankfully, they're so well integrated into the movie that newbie viewers won't ever feel like they're being left out. They'll be too busy holding back their own vomit to notice.
- HEADS UP FOR ORIGINAL TRILOGY FANS: You must, must, MUST stay until after the end credits. It's Very Important.
In summary, I don't love this new "Evil Dead" as much as I love the original trilogy. Heck, I consider "Evil Dead II" to be one of my favorite movies of All Time. Still, this new movie is highly enjoyable pulp horror movie fare and I think it's in the same ballpark as the originals. I will be seeing it again. Hopefully with Segment B.