Oblivion

Olga Kurylenko and Tom Cruise star in a scene from the movie “Oblivion.” (CNS photo/Universal)

By John Mulderig, Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) — Large-scale landscapes and shiny gadgets make for arresting visuals in the science fiction epic “Oblivion” (Universal). But director Joseph Kosinski’s emotionally shallow adaptation of his own graphic novel is further undermined by logical lapses and some dubious philosophizing.

While mature movie-goers may shrug off the amateur metaphysics of Karl Gajdusek’s script easily enough, taken together with its ethical complexities — difficult to probe for fear of spoilers — they make this convoluted dystopian drama wholly unsuitable for young or impressionable viewers.

Protagonist Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) does his best to fill us in: It’s 2077; 60 years ago invading aliens known as Scavengers shattered the moon and almost conquered Earth. Though they failed, the consequences of lunar fragmentation and worldwide combat made global warming seem like meteorological chump change. Fortunately, humanity managed to find itself a new home on Saturn’s moon Titan.

So what’s Jack, a trained technician, doing back on the home planet? Along with a navigator named Victoria (Andrea Riseborough), Jack has been dispatched to tend machinery that allows the folks on Titan to continue harvesting Earth’s natural resources, especially water. A romantic as well as professional pair, Jack and Victoria lead a cosy  placid life under the watchful guidance of mission control.

All of that begins to change with the unexpected arrival of Julia (Olga Kurylenko), an astronaut from the days before the intergalactic war. Her crash landing draws an unexpected and troubling response from Jack’s superiors.

Jack’s peace of mind is further disturbed by his encounter with a group of guerilla freedom fighters. Beech (Morgan Freeman), their chief, challenges the inquisitive repairman to test the version of history mission control has long been feeding him.

The far end of Jack’s journey of discovery offers audiences some self-sacrificing heroics and a resolution that sees pride-based blasphemy receive its comeuppance. Yet potentially troubling questions about the relationship of physical and spiritual identity also are thrown into the mix. And the revelation of Julia’s true role makes Jack’s initial domestic situation retrospectively problematic.

Well-grounded audience members may succeed in winnowing through all these elements. But they may also wind up asking themselves whether the material at hand justifies so much prudential effort.

The film contains an objectively immoral living arrangement, a scene of sensuality with shadowy rear and partial nudity, a couple of uses of profanity, at least one rough term and a smattering of crude and crass language.

Escape From Planet Earth

A scene from the movie “Escape from Planet Earth” (CNS Photo/Weinstein)

By John Mulderig, Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) — “Escape From Planet Earth” (Weinstein) won’t cause either targeted children or their adult guardians to beg, in the words of the 1960s musical, “Stop the World — I Want to Get Off!”

But, though good-hearted, this animated adventure — helmed and co-written by Callan Brunker — is only moderately entertaining.

Initially set among the blue-skinned inhabitants of the distant Planet Baab — pronounced “Bob” — the film charts the partnership of, and rivalry between, brothers Scorch (voice of Brendan Fraser) and Gary (voice of Rob Corddry) Supernova. Heroic but dimwitted, Scorch is Baab’s most famous astronaut, while nerdy brainiac Gary heads Mission Control, using his position to get the unappreciative Scorch out of numerous scrapes.

On Baab, Earth is known as the mysterious and frightening “Dark Planet,” a destination from which no intergalactic traveller has ever returned. So, when Gary’s tough-as-nails boss, Lena (voiced by Jessica Alba), orders Scorch to undertake a voyage there, Gary fervently objects. But Scorch is not to be dissuaded, even after Gary quits his job in frustration, leaving Scorch without his guidance and protection.

Gary’s attitude changes swiftly after Scorch is taken prisoner by a gung-ho earthling, Air Force Gen. Shanker (voice of William Shatner). Despite their bickering, and heedless of danger, Gary feels compelled to follow his brother and rescue him.

Family solidarity is showcased not only through the central siblings’ eventual teamwork, but through Gary’s bonds with his loving wife, Kira (voice of Sarah Jessica Parker), and plucky young son, Kip, (voiced by Jonathan Morgan Heit).

Armaments-loving, alien-hating Gen. Shanker seems to be operating on his own, though he has an array of hazmat-suited troops at his command. Still, some jokes in Brunker and Bob Barlen’s script may strike mature viewers as broadly anti-military, rather than simply anti-militaristic.

Parents will also note passing instances of mild potty humour – though it’s doubtful kids will pick up on joking references to the smell of “latrines” — and a scene of implied comic nudity. While the violence is all thoroughly stylised, Scorch revels in the defeat of his adversaries, somewhat in the manner of a quarterback after a touchdown, and other characters follow his lead in this.

The film contains much cartoon violence.