How Oblivion, the movie, could have been much better

[Andail]

Hey, remember when sci-fi movies were only for nerds, but that didn't matter because there weren't any sci-fi movies anyway? Well, those days seem to be gone, since sci-fi has now turned mainstream. And since we know that 90% of all sci-fi is crap, this means that we have a lot more crap on our hands these days.

Well, Oblivion isn't all crap (wouldn't waste my time writing a lengthy article on it then), but it's far from good, so I've compiled a little list of suggestions on how to improve it.

* Replace alien mastermind with humanity. I think the strongest part of science fiction is when it discusses our own race, our society, and our shortcomings. This huge computer-god doesn't speak to me. I don't know what it's meant to represent. If it turned out that people were behind this deception (trying to quell a rebellion) I'd feel much more enthused. Now the ending brought back memories of Indepence Day, and boy had I been working hard to suppress them.

* Stronger female characters. Okay, first of all it makes no sense whatsoever that his companion, Vika, walks around in high heels and perfect make up all the time. I mean, all they know is that platform and each other, and all she does all day is sit in front of a giant iPad, so why wear anything but a functional and moderately sweaty jumpsuit?

On a side note, Hollywood needs to stop portraying people that mourn by having them stand quietly, stare emptily, and let huge perfect tears drip down their cheeks. That's not how you cry. Most people wipe around their salty crying fluids and sob and cough until their makeup - should they wear some - is smeared out all over their face.

When we're introduced to the second female lead, we meet someone who spends the first half of her time onscreen just looking sad and confused, following Jack around and generally acting like some kind of mute pet. I mean, she's the one who knows what happened, she remembers, so naturally she should be pissed off and vengeful and furthermore she's also an experienced astronaut so she should take command and tell Jack to tag along while she prepares to kick ass.

* Tone down the American references. I know, it's an American movie, but I don't really think even a purely American crowd needs to see famous New York landmarks in each and every scene just to stay engaged. And when Jack starts re-enacting a game of football that he can't reasonably have any knowledge or memories of, he just comes across as a dumb jock. Let him represent humanity, not a nation.

* Skip the cloning part. That's just one twist too many, and a super-clichéed one at that. It's enough to learn that he was fighting for the wrong team all along. Moon has already done the best existential take on cloning that'll likely ever be made, so just don't go down that avenue. Furthermore, the final scene, where one of Jack's clones finds Julia, is just utterly confusing. What's the message here - that his clone is just as good? That it doesn't matter if you die, as long as you have a clone around somewhere? It just seemed like the film makers had to think of a solution where Tom Cruise both awesomely sacrifices himself - since that's the whole damn point of the movie - but still lives, because Tom Cruise couldn't stand not having both? Was the focus group perfectly split between the two endings? Of all the stories ever told where we thought a character heroically sacrificed their life, only to turn out alive in the epilogue, this has to be the silliest.

* Fix the whole memory issue. We learn early on that Jack and Vika had their memories erased (for security reasons). In my opinion, that's just too... drastic. With no memories, there's no reason to come up with an intricate alternative reality, there's no reason to provide any explanations at all, you can just have them perform those mindless tasks like robots, because isn't that what Tet wants anyway? Why keep them even partly sentient? Why let them be humans at all?

I'm spending time criticizing this movie because I think it has some really strong points, and it kept me engaged for very long. First of all it's really well crafted, with lots of authentic-looking details and designs, absolutely stunning scenery and generally awesome special effects that don't go overboard with a million CGI monsters jumping around the screen, giving you migraine. I love how low-key it is at its outset, and how effectively the suspense is built up. The drones seem real and work well (at least the first couple of scenes, then they become increasingly annoying). I actually feel like I'm there.

So, here's my suggestion for a much better version:
There's no alien super computer. Natural disasters (caused by climate change?) have struck Earth and people have started evacuating. The space colony exists, but some refuse to leave Earth. The powers that be need to bring with them plenty of resources, and also to get rid of the rebels who protest about their resources being stolen. The powers that be brainwash two people into believing they're fighting aliens, so that they can stay behind for drone maintainence. Almost all of their memories are intact, only they've been programmed to see rebels as aliens. They are still being supervised and monitored, but not to the extent of Tet's omnipresence.

When the rebels finally manage to smuggle a nuclear bomb to the enemy, we don't have to see more. We don't have to see the space colony, or what the powers that be look like, because it just deprives the movie of its much needed mystery. Most of all, we don't need to see another damn alien mothership interior.

[Armageddon]

This movie was a huge missed opportunity. It just annoys me when something that had this much money poured into it isn't done right.

[Anian]

There was a short video of how the interface grid is the core of it's design, but now all I can find is this montage:
https://vimeo.com/64377100
In any case, that was the best part, the gui and interior design.

[Igor Hardy]

One simple thing that would make it much better - They should have adapted Skyrim instead.

[Armageddon]

You mean the Elder Scrolls?

[Baron]

I think Disney should buy the Oblivion franchise because a) Victoria would make a great addition to the Disney Princess lineup and b) quirky and erratic metrosexual pirate Jedis can spice up any movie.

[wisnoskij]

You made me think that their was an Elder Scroll movie, now I am disappointed.
Someone should pay that guy who made the LotRs film trilogy to make some fantasy film(s) based on TES. Or maybe we could have a TV series.

[Trapezoid]

I was really surprised by how much I liked Oblivion. I mean, nothing mind-blowingly great, but an original self-contained sci-fi film isn't exactly common these days. I'm sure I could find problems with it on a rewatch, but honestly after Prometheus, it was just a relief.

I'm not as excited for After Earth and Pacific Rim, but then again, I didn't think much of Oblivion's trailers either. If they all turn out pretty good (despite Shyamalan on AE) this will be a nice year for non-franchisey sci-fi movies.

[Ryan Timothy B]

I've finally gotten around to watching this movie. I have to agree with your suggestions, Andail. Although I did highly enjoy this movie, at least mostly up until the ending.

I had my predictions while I was watching it, but they were all wrong. When Jack had just been made aware of the surviving humans not being aliens, I thought the tet ship was actually filled with aliens that simply couldn't live on Earth as it was. That blowing up the moon was one step to speed up the terraforming process. That the large ships that were collecting hydrogen and such from the oceans, I had believed they were large terraforming crafts and the story of them "collecting" was to give him a sense of why he needs to protect them. Why else would a sentient alien machine need to blow up the moon? Why not just send that explosive towards earth and just start collecting the resources years later after all humans died - they're machines, they can all wait.

I really didn't like the clone idea. If the robot aliens were that sophisticated, why not just make their own robotic "clean-up crew". Why would a sentient machine ever believe that creating thousands of Jacks was a better alternative than to just create a massive biological weapon, or even more robotic defense drones.

I would've preferred to see the man from base 52 to not actually be a clone. One that he would have to explain that the "aliens" are actually humans and later team up with to destroy the tet mothership. Or possibly even having him turn on Jack because he believes he's an alien - or is brainwashed like Jack should've been, and sees other humans as aliens.

The whole time Victoria was onscreen I would feel absolutely nothing for her. It was as if she was a robot or had her own agenda. They're having a serious conversation, Jack talking about how the scavs wanted to capture him, not kill. She then decides to completely change the subject and seduce him. Everything about her felt fake - but probably so we're happy to see her die, and to agree with him as to not care about rescuing the second Victoria.

Too many plot issues with this movie. Overall, yes it was quite fantastic. Everything except maybe the last 10 minutes make one hell of a movie - just not as good as it could've been.

[InCreator]

You made me think that their was an Elder Scroll movie, now I am disappointed.
Someone should pay that guy who made the LotRs film trilogy to make some fantasy film(s) based on TES. Or maybe we could have a TV series.

Yeah, that guy, what a fine choice.
Elder Scrolls: Trip from Leyawiin to Anvil while nothing happens, spun over 6 seasons of TV show

Re-enacting this in game would at least have occasional wolf or khajiit robber to slay, in addition to fine music and scenery

Coming back to the real topic, I cannot understand what people liked about Oblivion, the movie. I found it mediocre sci-fi at best, even though gfx was really pretty at times

[Azure]

I watched it on the plane the other day, I didn't mind it that much. Though I always find these aliens stealing resources plots silly though.

[Atelier]

Ive noticed that theres a mssive surge in films about ruined earths recently - elysium, oblivion, after Earth.... it seems to be really in vogue at the moment, and none of them really lived up to my expectation.

[selmiak]

that's because different hollywood studios probably talked with each other and decided summer 2013 shall be the dystopian scifi summerblockbuster year.

So what 2014 be? all Fantasy? teenie slasher horror? epics based on true historic evens? warmovies? I'm too lazy atm to imdb this.

[KodiakBehr]

My money is on Cthulu.