I should begin with the caveat that I generally avoid all Tom Cruise films. The blending of his personal life and film career has put me off. The trailer for Oblivion intrigued me and I was soothed by the fact that Morgan Freeman was in the film.
Based on an unpublished graphic novel, the film focuses on a post planetary-war world some 40 years after the human race has been sent off to a new life on Titan. The final two human beings have been left to oversee the final mining of the earth's resources. The two have had their memories wiped clean, but look forward to leaving earth and joining the surviving humans in a couple of days.
Jack (Cruise) dreams of images of an earth he can't explain from before the war. He and his partner talk about their memories having been wiped so they can function as the final survivors of mankind on earth. His job is to provide maintenance for the droids which kill any remaining life forms. As Jack investigates a remaining building, he discovers a library and is drawn to the world the books describe. We recognize the rubble among the unfamiliar terrain as being New York City. Jack's encounters suggest that there may be other remants of the human race left. Unbeknownst to his partner, Jack has a small cabin near a lake all set up with his books and it becomes his refuge when he want to recapture his memories of earth.
From the remains of the Empire State building, Jack realizes a beacon impulse is being sent into space. When an earth-made rocket ship crashes on earth, he saves the only survivor from the droids which kill all other survivors. Later he recognizes the survivor as the woman he has been remembering ...his wife, thus creating jealousy of the partner as she sees Jack's affections recentered.
Later as Jack and his wife find other humans living in the seeming rubble of the earth, Jack also discovers the world he knows may not be at all the world that really exists. The film poses many intriguing questions: What makes us who we are? Do memories define us? If we could duplicate people, what happens to the concept of self.
What more can be said about a film that references the Lays of Ancient Rome and A Tale of Cities. Filled with high energy action and many special effects, I found myself totally caught up in the story and highly satisfied with the ending and the questions the film poses.
Oblivion (2013) ****
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