OBLIVION

I just love this film! Losing count how many times I have seen it and knowing I will wear it out one day. This is no Oscar winner (although the breath-taking landscapes deserve to be). There are plot holes deeper than the Icelandic Volcanic craters and the acting gets a bit clunky (even Morgan GOD? Freeman manages an off-day.) But who cares? For dark humour, it’s a hoot AND I LURRRRVE IT!!! First Monsieur Cruise - someone far more qualified than me made the assertion that TC works much better leading the cast from the bottom up, than he does as pre-eminent all conquering hero. Here we have him perfectly appointed the role of "generic bloke" best friends with a dummy called "Bob." As such he is outstanding switching from unflinching hard man to childishly flawed irreverence and possessed of the best man-cave you are EVER going to see. At his side is the eloquent Geordie beauty Andrea Riseborough who easily steals the show from under the nose of OLGA KURYLENKO. Full marks to KOSINSKI for selecting deliberately alternative faces to play the female leads and romantic interest. Both definitely do not look like they were made in Hollywood. It works for Riseborough as resolutely corporate VIKA in a way that misses by miles for Kurylenko awkwardly trying to hold up the mystery of JULIA. The basic tenant of Science Fiction is some of the underlying "science" is more fictional than it ought to be. And so we are asked to suspend believe, occasionally beyond the point of credibility but in the good cause of enjoying a no-nonsense tale that is entertaining in way that it plays out rather than any grand notions of pulling the fleece over your eyeballs. MOON is more intriguing, and decidedly darker. INTERSTELLAR is more detailed by an order of magnitude, but both take themselves way too seriously for this. OBLIVION is no comedy, but is intended as a tall tale to be "enjoyed" if you let it go where it asks without question. Acting honours go to Cruise edging Riseborough by a nose and for being so refreshingly human. Special mention goes to Melissa Leo as the wretchedly irritating SALLY. Without the contextual justification of the final act, voice acting of this type could easily earn a Razzie. MORGAN FREEMAN? Sorry, just not your day this time. He looks somewhat out of place in a way last seen in HARD RAIN. This film just doesn’t NEED him in the way others do. The villain’s award must go to the menacing clones. A deviant blend of Steve Jobs styling with "personality" added courtesy of ED 209 (Mk I). Rotten to their APPLE-esque core. OBLIVION from the start strolls along at its own pace, gently developing a simple plot that occasionally threatens to divert you, but ultimately becomes vividly clear once you discern good from bad. Its patient emphasis of the barren scenery is entirely keeping with the plot and focuses the eyes during the frequent occasions when the story meanders more than it should. The tech, is restrained and a measured counterpoint the bleak world we are presented with. The cast pared back to leave no choices but the obvious where this is off to. OBLIVION is not cerebral sci-fi in the way of CONTACT, but lighter in the way that gave us HAN SOLO or ALIENS, albeit without the drama of either. Watch once to "get-it," twice to double-check, but over and over for sheer entertainment as the perfect antidote after the let-down the unrelated PROMETHEUS proved to be. It’s not a guilty pleasure, just a movie that delivers so solidly it is excused its many flaws.

Quite simply, an amazing, exceedingly atmospheric film that is both thought-provoking and refreshingly different to the usual sci-fi fare. The story line is gripping, if a little complicated, so you may need a couple of viewings to take it all in. However, for those of us that thoroughly enjoy immersion, depth and cinematic perfection, this will not be a problem for you - if anything, you'll welcome that second, or even third, viewing. Yes, it's that good. In addition to the dystopian, bleak world that the main characters inhabit, here we have a well-conceived love story that is cleverly handled, though (thankfully), not overly sentimental in its execution - but it is suitably touching nonetheless. In short, the balance is just about right, and does not detract from the overall experience. Indeed, it's an absolutely essential part of the plot. We also follow one man's fight to not only save a dying planet and its few remaining inhabitants, but we are also intrigued as he sets out find himself (in the truest sense of the words), as his memory has been wiped for 'security reasons'. The man concerned is Jack Harper (Tom Cruise), a security repairman, tasked with protecting giant 'hydro rigs' (machines that suck up vast quantities of ocean water for reprocessing), from 'Scavs' - the remaining remnants of an invading, but ultimately defeated, alien force. The cost to humanity, however, is a nuked, almost barren planet that is expertly portrayed and realised in glorious colour - or, should I say, the lack of it. Basically, we are treated to an impressive, suitably grim backdrop that perfectly conveys the desolation and hopelessness of the situation. There are many twists and turns for the viewer to enjoy, plus excellent performances from Tom Cruise, Olga Kurylenko and Andrea Riseborough. Admittedly, I'm not a massive fan of Tom's, generally speaking, but I doff my cap to the gentleman in this instance. His performance must rank as one of his best, if not the best. As for Morgan Freeman...well, we all know he's a class act, and once again that's the case here, even though he doesn't make an appearance until halfway through the film. Top quality actors doing their stuff - you can't get batter than that. Incidentally, the film's soundtrack really is something truly special and adds immense presence to the unfolding story - just as it should. Be sure to leave the DVD/Blu Ray disc running (and turn the volume up!) when you reach those closing credits. The song, 'Oblivion', performed by French band, M83 (featuring Susanne Sundfor) is nothing short of awesome. It's possibly the best track you'll have heard in years. Inspiring stuff and very, very fitting indeed. In fact, don't be surprised if you find yourself buying the OST, too.... Overall, this is a simply fabulous, atmospheric film that fully warrants a 5-star rating. If you're a fan of Ridley Scott's classic 'Blade Runner', then I'd suggest this will be right up your alley. At the ridiculously low price the DVD is on sale for, you'd be a fool to miss out - I got a copy for just £2.80, so bought a second copy for my eldest son. he thought it was a great film, too....and, as neither of us are easily pleased, I guess that's the greatest recommendation I can make. BUY IT. To sum-up, it's fabulously entertaining and thought-provoking. It's near perfection, in my humble view. I just wished I'd seen this wonderful film at my local multiplex. Oh, well........

An Earth laid waste, debris and dust al around with one lone technician doing what he can to keep things running. No, not Wall*E, but Tom Cruise as Jack (Tech 49) repairing the drones left behind to protect giant energy convertors, all that is left of use on Earth. In this Tech-49 is aided by Andrea Riseborough in their austere home in the clouds. At the start of the movie, Jack is clearly more philosophical troubled by what they do than she is, but this is overshadowed by a greater disturbance in their routine when Jack finds a survivor, played by Olga Kurylenko, which forces Jack to reassess all he knows about his mission. First off, the design is just fantastic.. it's a beautifully detailed world, a believably scorched earth in contrast with their sleek minimalist modern living environment. It's clear that throw cushions and terracotta are not in fashion in the future. Also, the director Joseph Kosinski (Tron Legacy) has once again used a contemporary soundtrack which manages to be both epic and modern adding an energy to the movie that it might not have had with a more conventional symphonic score. Tom Cruise never quite escapes being Tom Cruise, making it hard for us to invest in his character, but Andrea Riseborough more than makes up for it with a character so buttoned up that her expressions of emotion need only be the slightest of moments to make a great impact - it's a great performance. Kurylenko never feels quite at home in her role here, but passes muster. Morgan Freeman - well, who can say that watching Morgan freeman isn't a pleasure, but he is hardly stretched in what turns out to be quite a minor role. Great entrance though, which focuses on his distinctive voice before he is revealed in person. At the end of that short monologue, Freeman says `Lights' and the greater picture is revealed... and that sort of sums up the direction. After every moment of characterisation, we swiftly move past to reach a reveal of some greater plot or art design, which sort of shows you where the director's heart really is. He's more interested in the big ideas, than where his characters are coming from or going to. Many of those ideas in the movie are not original - you get the feeling in the movie frequently of `Oh, that's just like in the movie `insert movie here'.. (it would be churlish to name the movie references and spoil the fun of finding them for yourself). However, it's been put together in such a stylish way and with such conviction from the director, that it's a success. Ultimately it's good to see stylish thoughtful sci-fi gracing the big screen, and I for one give it a thumbs up.

I am not a Cruise fan but that is regarding his person rather than his acting and my previous review I think was tainted by that, so I am here to correct a wrong and put my hands up. I watched this film last night and all I can say is, AWESOME piece of cinema in which everything came together to make something which I am still thinking about some time later. I missed some parts the last time so I had subtitles on (getting old and I miss words) and got the entire gist of the film. As a result my four star rating goes to five and my opinion of Cruise as an actor is comprehensively elevated because he along with the rest of the cast was superb in this and I would rate this as his best performance. The story was well constructed and kept me guessing as to what was going on which I happen to like and it most certainly needed watching a second time. Candy floss films are all very well but do not stimulate anything apart from the yawn reflex. This film does keep you guessing the special effects are superb and not over the top and the film is nicely paced with some different action scenes and quite a few surprises. I think it is a film to watch a couple of times and then decide what you think and do listen to the end titles music which is also very good and which I enjoyed immensely. If you like thinking person films then this is for you and I most certainly recommend it. If you like "candy floss" films then this probably is not for you

Great movie and always good to own a physical copy these days

In my opinion, this is one of the greatest science fiction movies ever made. Visually stunning, shot in the extraordinary Icelandic landscape, it has a huge twist in the story which keeps you guessing and does not completely unravel until very close to the end. There are holes in the plot as other reviewers have pointed out, but these are not major to my mind and more of the nature of quibbles. As demonstrated in the 'Extras' part of the Blu-Ray, cutting edge CGI, highly elaborate sets, and extraordinary care and attention has gone into the making of 'Oblivion' and it shows. So much is thrown at you that I suspect that that is one of those films which improves on a second viewing. I am not a big Tom Cruise fan but he brings an impressive physicality to the role and one has to respect the fact that he does almost all of his own stunt work. All in all, I put 'Oblivion' on a par with 'Blade Runner' and wouldn't be surprised if, in time, it too becomes a cult SF classic. Chris Allen is a Technical Author and a crime writer specializing in unusual and well researched fiction with the following books available through Amazon: His latest novel: Parallel Lifetimes The Beam of Interest: Taken by Storm Hypnotic Tales 2013: Some Light Some Dark Call of the Void: The Strange Life and Times of a Confused Person: 1

Got this film on blue ray, a few days ago. Arrived on time. Good movie from beginning to end! Worth the price tag. Great. Thanks.

This 2013 production directed by Joseph Kosinski who wrote the story for the graphic novel that the film is based on with its ground-breaking visual effects this is a delight to both the eyes and ears in the Blu-ray medium, this story concerns the everyday life of Jack Harper (played by Tom Cruise) who is a repairman and one of the last men on Earth who along with his female counter-part Victoria (played by Andrea Riseborough) who is a computer and communication specialist who keeps them in touch with the Tet and up-dates their progress in the maintenance of the drones that patrol and protect. The stunning cinematography is perfectly complemented with a soundtrack by M83 which plays as the “Bubble-ship” flies from Tower 49 location to location and during the action combat sequences adding both atmosphere and tension in equal measure. This 50GB region free Blu-ray is encoded using the Video codec MPEG-4 in full 1080p resolution in the original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 with a English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track along with French& Italian soundtracks in the same and a Spanish track in DTS 5.1 there is also a separate music track in DTS 5.1. There are also subtitles in the following languages English for the hard of hearing French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian and Swedish. The Bonus features are as follows: - Deleted Scenes, Feature commentary from Tom Cruise and the Director/Writer Joseph Kosinski, the M83 Isolated score and the making of Oblivion “Promise of a New World”. This is an excellent disc to both test and show off what your audio visual system can do both in the sound and vision department with its near reference picture and sound quality.

The movie is amazing.. but Amazon did not send me the version shown in the image for the product: it does *NOT* include a Digital Download. It's a pity not enough care is taken to makes sure clients actually receive what they ordered.

Nicely done, high quality Hollywood movie. The actors are great, the rythme is good and the story is strange and interesting. Jack is learning the truth slowly, about this gigantic illusion of what he has been told. But he doesn't know what he is really fighting, and as the story goes on, he learns that his whole life is a lie, as well as all the rest of the world he is living in. It is not his world, nor his wife, and certainly not the future he was expecting. The way he travels through his dicoveries is smooth, understandable, and he never gets desperate about what he finds out. In the end, he controls the game, playing by the rules of the invader. He looses his life, or one of his numerous lives and capitalises on this to defeat the beast. One must Watch this movie at least once, hoping that he or she will appreciate the imagination and intelligence of this incredible story, that seems so real or possible at times. It is not the usual invasion by monster who kill the humans without trying to understand them. The most ironic part is that the humans have been told that they won the war against the invaders; in fact, they must have lost simply because the were fighting against themselves. I certainly will be watching this one again in the future. Splendid.

Oblivion begins with a mystery and ends with a bang, but also a satisfying coda. I saw Oblivion in the theater, but did not fully appreciate it until just now at home. The audio has soft parts, with little more than soft wind blowing and bird chirps. In other places, there are combat explosions and gun fire. The multi-track audio includes the default 7.1 DTS HD Master Audio (48 kHz), other languages in lesser, lossy formats, and a music only track in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (96 kHz). The modern classical music track is another form of enjoyment that BD can bring to your A/V experience. I found the music wonderful, but for the dialog and effects, one must listen to the main audio track. In the theater, the audio was very loud, while at home, one may choose a pleasing volume level to hear the quality in both soft and loud passages. The story spins out in bits. The main part starts with the two main characters, a drone repairman [Cruise's character] and his female comm officer. As it progresses, you come to understand the situation and characters more, although there are apparent dream sequences and/or flashbacks that are not explained at first. Near the end, in a flashback/blackbox replay sense, the arc of the historical story becomes clear. I have a sense of Bob Seeger's words in "Against the Wind", "what to leave in, what to leave out" about the pacing and content of the film. The extras include several omitted scenes that are interesting for what they additionally disclose about the story, from which one may consider why they were omitted. The director, Pete Hammond, also directed" Tron: Legacy" and was a producer for "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", to give some sense of the quality and sensibility of the movie. The superb story starts simply - perhaps even a minimal, mystical sensibility, with the two main characters. Later another female character is discovered, after which the story starts snowballing. To avoid spoilers, I'll add little more. Yet, in how many movies does a quote from ancient Rome, from "Lays of Ancient Rome" by Lord Macaulay, "how can man die better than facing fearful odds," serve both to educate or remind viewers of ancient Rome and advance the story line? This is a smaller story, rather than a grand tale with a cast of thousands. Yet, this is far more than a summer fun, sci-fi shoot-em-up. From the excellent video [note- the palette is somewhat subdued rather than bright Technicolor, to match the story and dystopian, post-war theme], through the fine story and excellent audio, this one is a keeper in my view. Sci-fi is best when it makes one think of possibilities, and this movie has it in spades.

De por si se ve bien y en 4k,maaaas,la recomiendo!!!

Película realizada con una excelente calidad de imagen realmente espectacular, con una gran definición y detalle tanto en las sombras como en las luces. El color tiene una correcta saturación, pero si excesos. Los negros profundos y las altas luces brillantes pero con detalle. Se nota la calidad visual de una película rodada originalmente en formato 4K. En cuanto a la trama de ésta, es bastante original, considerando lo sobado que está todo el tema de las invasiones alienígenas y mundos arrasados. Aunque no soy fan de Tom Cruise, tengo que reconocer, y más después de ver los extras, el gran y completo actor que es, el cual realiza todas las escenas de acción "in person", lo que da credibilidad al papel. En cuanto al audio, una pena de no gozar del Máster Audio de otras lenguas, pero debo reconocer la excelente calidad del DTS normal de la versión Castellana ( no latina )donde el 5.1 se deja notar bastante. En el tema de los extras , debo destacar la excelente calidad de imagen y el sonido multicanal 5.1, cosa no muy normal en la mayoría de extras. Por si fuera poco, soy de los afortunados que he recibido la versión en caja blanca "rollo futurista" que mola un montón y es diferente a todas las demás. Por desgracia he observado un par de días después de mi adquisición, que esta versión Inglesa el BD ya se vende en caja normal. Recomiendo este film a todos lo aficionados a la ciencia ficción y en general a los amantes del buen cine y calidad visual.