Critic Reviews
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75
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San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
After a slow start, this is the rare film that gets better as it goes along. The story, about two scientists working in a post-apocalyptic New York, deepens and builds an intense rooting interest. The action sequences are too much out of a video game, but this is intelligent science fiction -- and it benefits enormously from Tom Cruise in the lead role.
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70
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The Hollywood Reporter Todd McCarthy
Oblivion is an absolutely gorgeous film dramatically caught between its aspirations for poetic romanticism and the demands of heavy sci-fi action. After a captivating beginning brimming with mystery and evident ambition, the air gradually seeps out of the balloon that keeps this thinly populated tale aloft, leaving the ultimate impression of a nice try that falls somewhat short of the mark.
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65
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NPR Scott Tobias
Oblivion occupies an awkward no-man's-land between escapist space adventure and heady science fiction, but it's neither thrilling enough nor intellectually stimulating enough to satisfy devotees of either.
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63
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Boston Globe Mark Feeney
Oblivion is a lot like its star: clean, cold, efficient, increasingly overblown, and not a little inexplicable.
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63
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Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
By the end of the film, Leo is beginning to sound suspiciously like HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Robotic, and more than a little peeved.
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63
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USA Today Claudia Puig
Oblivion is a slick spectacle - seeing the humorless but ultra-fit Tom Cruise wrestle with himself might be worth the price of admission alone.
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58
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Entertainment Weekly
Oblivion has enough special-effects artistry to keep you distracted for a while. But all the eye candy in the world can't mask the sensation that you've seen this all before...and done better.
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50
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Rolling Stone Peter Travers
For all the bells and whistles - an electronic score by M83, a screen-busting Imax presentation and Cruise going full throttle - Oblivion feels arid and antiseptic, untouched by human hands. Bummer.
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40
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New York Daily News Joe Neumaier
Kosinski's ultimately underwhelming film leads nowhere. As its palpable sense of dread - well-sustained in a gently cascading first hour - gives way to dead ends, this Omega Movie shoots itself in the foot.
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40
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Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The mystery posed by Oblivion as a whole is why its mysteries are posed so clumsily, and worked out so murkily.
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