Oblivion never registered on my radar since its release for an off-putting reason that's not relevant to anything in this review. In fact, as others pointed out, it's a common topic on this subreddit, so there's no point of bringing it up again. What matters, is that nearly 9 years later, it finally found its way into my watchlist, courtesy of Amazon Prime's recommendations based on my recent streak of fantasy and sci-fi viewings. I caved in and went ahead with the intention of turning it off the moment I felt the movie (inevitably) lost my attention.I watched Oblivion not knowing anything about it. All I saw before I hit play was the poster of Tom Cruise holding a futuristic gun. I had no idea if it's an action film, a stylized fantasy drama, or some sort of a futuristic detective story. I never saw the original trailer. Never heard anyone talk about it. Didn't read a word of the synopsis. I went in with nothing.Much to my surprise, the film blew me away. Despite a number of issues, including a flawed premise, Oblivion delivered something captivating enough to be watched again. It's a beautiful and hauntingly atmospheric film. The post-apocalyptic landscapes are a perfect combination of complexity and minimalism. The story, despite its issues, is refreshing. And the soundtrack dug right into my soul.And then, during my post-viewing research ritual, I made a surprising discovery. Oblivion's original marketing completely spoiled the film. CinemaSins (a guilty pleasure of mine) pointed out that the audience was already aware that the scavengers are humans. Most marketing material alluded to the fact that Jack is suspicious of the mission entirely, and that command (Tet) are not who he thinks they are. I was astounded by this.This reality completely changes the dynamic of the film. It also completely invalidates a recurring complaint (also pointed out by CinemaSins) that Jack repeating the premise of the story to Julia is completely redundant.To me, the viewer who knew nothing about the story, the first 5-10 minutes of the film established that the story will revolve around the remaining alien scavengers' attempts at sabotaging Jack and Vika's predeparture mission. Instead, when the drones started executing the survivors of the Odyssey, I was presented with quite a twist. From there, despite somewhat unrefined script, everything just kept on pulling me deeper and deeper into an already very atmospheric film.I know that marketing movies is challenging, especially to the North American audience, but I'm still surprised, even shocked, by how different my experience was compared to those who were exposed to its marketing-driven synopsis. The critic and audience reviews posted over the years do make sense to me. But I'm left wondering how different the viewing experience would've been if these viewers would've gone in with complete lack of knowledge of anything, like I have. Or vice versa. How blown away would I be by Oblivion if I was exposed to the studio's intended synopsis?I do agree that the premise of the film is heavily flawed. This has been covered enough by critics and the audience alike, and since I'm years late to the party, there is no point for me to resurrect that conversation. Despite the massive, glaring, hard-to-ignore hole in the story, I still consider Oblivion to be a great film.If you know someone who hasn't seen Oblivion, especially those, who like me, had a particular reason why they never took interest in it, it might finally be a good time to recommend it to them. Let them know that some stranger on the internet, who profusely refused to watch the film for years, has finally done it and has no regrets.Just don’t tell them anything about the plot. Obviously. via /r/movies https://ift.tt/3qzMCXf
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