Oblivion Reviews

Kosinski's totality of vision may not look or feel entirely original but is striking and memorable all the same.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

Are we really seeing a movie called "Oblivion" at all? Or is it merely a succession of concepts pulled from the likes of "Blade Runner," "Planet of the Apes," "Total Recall" and even the director's own "Tron: Legacy?"

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion is far from original and instead acts as yet another genre rip-off that looks shiny and expensive, but is hollow and lifeless where it counts

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5

Oblivion is a deliberate and beautifully crafted picture that embraces genre trappings without sacrificing the emotional heft of pure drama.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4

...beautifully designed but derivative science fiction that suffers more than it benefits from Tom Cruise's turbo-charged energy.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10

Amazing computer-generated imagery and a few nifty action beats, but suffers from a lack of human connection.

Full Review | Original Score: C+

This visually beautiful film falters with a meandering plot.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5

Paying lip service to sci-fi tropes, this hapless futuristic romp pilfers liberally without adding any depth.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

In the third act, motives and loyalties get twisted around so frequently that it becomes difficult to keep track of what anyone is fighting for in the first place.

Full Review

That it can't match the classics it takes as inspiration shouldn't be used to condemn it too harshly.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

A derivative sci-fi drama that blends some nifty plot twists with its mysteriously serene futuristic adventure.

Full Review | Original Score: B

A classic case of concept being better than execution.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

An intriguing look lacks a plot to match

Full Review

Oblivion is too somber to cater in escapist thrills and too vacuous to offer emotional or intellectual engagement.

Full Review | Original Score: C-

It's exactly the sort of cheesy, awkward sci-fi junk Cruise's savior L. Ron Hubbard used to crank out before he ventured into the lucrative field of cult religion.

Full Review | Original Score: C-

The action sequences are well-constructed, but forced: They're concessions to the marketplace, and they interfere with the movie's true interest in the routine rather than the extremes of postapocalyptic survival.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

Large-scale, original sci-fi is a hard thing to come by these days, and despite its familiar story Oblivion does dream up some great ideas

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

An admirable failure; an overlong, awkwardly paced mishmash of cool but familiar ideas and all-too predictable plot-twists.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

really no more derivative a science fiction thriller than most these days, it just has the unfortunate tendency of seeming to be more obvious about it

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

Unfortunately, when the story seems like an afterthought and the audience can't follow the plot progression, the movie ultimately fails

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5