Oblivion Review

"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'.