When my friend John Draper asked me to see the premier showing of Oblivion, I couldn’t resist. I always get excited when I see that a movie is going to have robots in it, or spacesuits, or something that looks like a combination of the two. Normally a premier showing is held at 12:05 a.m., technically the day of the release, but still realistically pulling in that following evening’s audience. I was therefore surprised to see it scheduled at 8:10 p.m. on the day before its official release. I was also startled to see that the theater wasn’t nearly as full as I expected. In fact, there was ample room. While the story told in Oblivion finished with a fairly predictable ending (along some predictable routes), it did not go along the routes that I’d predicted. I was happy to get a few surprises thrown in. I think the reason I can’t go any higher than a seven on the rating is that Oblivion didn’t hold enough surprises for me. It had tension, action, sadness, and pluck. But it didn’t have the awe, guffaws, or big scares that would have thrown it up there with high-ranking, great sci-fi fantasy films. I should mention that while I give the movie a seven, my friend John gives it an eight.
Not to be confused with the Oblivion from 1994, starring George Takei - Oh, My!
