Oblivion

What do you get when you cross an elephant with a rhino?
Hell if I know...

I am Legend was a better Omega Man which sort of confirms my believe that it's better to remake a bad movie than it is to remake a good movie badly. Please, Spike, don't do it! Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.

My daughter played an adventure game on her PC called Oblivion.  I used to be a FPS (first person shooter) game fanatic, but when I tried Oblivion, not an FPS, I couldn't seem to get past the first section - collecting stuff. My daughter laughed at me and called me lame.

When she was in grade 2 a guest speaker spoke to the class about the dangers of video games.  At the time the speaker cited, among others, the game, "Doom."  She told the class how bad it was and that people who play video games are violent.  My daughter put her hand up and said, "my daddy plays Doom3 and he's not violent so I don't believe you."  I was so proud.

Oblivion the video game has nothing to do with this movie. Oblivion the movie isn't a remake of anything from what I can tell, either.  So, what the hell am I talking about?

Post apocalyptic fantasies are usually interesting, if nothing else.  They show what the world could be like when we humans, sometimes helped by aliens or mother nature, truly f**k things up.  There is often much creativity in the story telling.  I kind of like post apocalyptic visions on film.

I also think Tom Cruise is still a great action hero. When his name is on the marquee for a movie, I trust that it will be entertaining.  In Cruise we trust.... He's had a few duds, for sure, but (lovely) Cameron Diaz isn't in this one.

The trailer for Oblivion shows two people, Tom, the "fixer" and his high-tech administrative colleague. They are on earth after a war that has caused humans to flee and/or be elsewhere.  Tom and partner are almost ready for "elsewhere" when they discover the underground people.  This first part of the trailer was cool, even when he goes underground, is captured and we meet antagonist, Morgan Freeman.

When you've seen as many movies, well trailers anyway, as I have you make associations. A few things came to mind.  Omega Man, for one... just because there were people living underground who "survived" the apocalyptic nightmare.  In the case of Oblivion, war.   As mentioned earlier, Omega Man became I am Legend and a bad movie was remade into a good movie... Sorry Chuck.

The more we see and hear Morgan Freeman in the trailer the more the name Michael Bay pops into my head.  As in, The Island. You know, everybody want to go to the "Island" where life is beautiful because the people don't realize that they are being harvested for their organs... kind of like that Twilight Zone episode from the 60's where the payoff is the last line spoken, "to serve man... it's a cook book!"

The second half of the trailer reveals a conspiracy of sorts and it is implied that elsewhere doesn't really exist "the people who you work for have lied to you..." says Morgan.  So he shows Tom what is really going on... thankfully I'm too dumb to truly figure it out but I know it's implied in the trailer somewhere... and now Tom has turned against his bosses and is on the side of the underground people trying to find the truth and then make things right.

Kind of a spoiler trailer, huh?

I like Tom and Morgan.  I like these types of movies even if I don't always like their trailers. I'll still see it. I might even like it.