Movie Review: Oblivion

In the future, the earth has been devastated by a war with the alien scavengers. Humanity prevailed but the catastrophic damage resulted in the evacuation of our entire species. Only a few remain, the technicians and programmers who keep the technology that powers our new civilization up and running. Jack (Tom Cruise), however, is a little different than most technicians in that he loves earth and longs to remain here once his service is up, against the objections of his coworker, Victoria (Andrea Riseborough). When a ship crashed in Jack's zone, the discovery of its cargo leads Jack down a rabbit hole that will force him to question everything, including his own identity.

Oblivion is pretty much exactly what you expect from the trailers. It is beautiful to look out and filled with technical brilliance but falls short of its lofty goals. The movie desperately wants to be significant in addition to entertaining and while I respect that ambition, the script isn't strong enough to make that a reality. The twists and turns, some of which are at least somewhat unpredictable, keep the film moving but too often Oblivion comes across as a collection of the plot points from a number of other sci-fi films that were probably better. I'm an unabashed fan of Cruise and I like his work here but it is a bit perfunctory and uninspired. All in all, Oblivion is a solid, if underwhelming piece of science fiction that doesn't leave a lasting impression but will garner multiple lazy Sunday afternoon viewings. Grade: B+ (Rated PG-13 for a bit of language including the big one that lands right where you expect it to and one scene of semi-nudity)

Movie Review: Olympus Has Fallen

After the death of the First Lady (Ashley Judd) on his watch, secret service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) retired in disgrace. Thankfully, however, he doesn't go far and when North Korean terrorist Kang (Rick Yune) attacks the White House and kidnaps the president (Aaron Eckhart), Banning stands as our last hope for the president's survival. But as he begins systematically dispatching all of Kang's cronies, it becomes clear that there is far more at risk than meets the eye.

Olympus Has Fallen is very confusing for me in that the things I thought I would enjoy about this movie (special effects, Die Hard-like feel, general foolishness) were lacking and the parts I expected to be miserable (namely, Gerard Butler) were pretty solid. This is definitely the best performance Butler has put on the screen in a long time and almost makes me want to forgive him for such "films" as The Bounty Hunter and The Ugly Truth. Almost. He channels his inner Bruce Willis quite effectively. The movie in which he operates, however, is pretty low rent. I'm not sure I've ever seen worse special effects in a big budget movie like this and the script is incredibly inconsistent. While there is an element of stupid fun to the movie, it's not as enjoyable as it thinks it is, which is probably why Olympus Has Fallen was released in March instead of July. Grade: C+ (Rated R for fairly extensive language and a truckload of violence)