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[Bombadil]

Spoiler

-It's a giant triangle, not a 'race' so to speak. As to why it doesn't make repair bots, I don't know but really, that's something worth complaining about?

-Jack built the house on the lake, something that the other Jack's wouldn't be able to do given it was a specific location that was essentially a part of his memory. Also the collection of books and other trinkets like the hat are things that maybe only that Jack did/had access to/etc..

-Energy? Everything always revolves around energy.

-It's not a matter of the tet 'allowing' them to escape, it's the tet opening up to take in visitors. It wasn't exactly at odds with the ship they were on, so why fight it?

I think you're giving the

Spoiler

tet

too much credit.

Spoiler

It is essentially an AI, not an entire 'species' as you'd call it.

Sure there are perhaps a few things that

Spoiler

the tet could have done differently, but perhaps it was established in it's programing/history/etc. to use conquered/abducted species as a working hand.

Is it really worth scrutinizing that much though? Those things you mentioned are so far from plot holes that if you really are looking for them, you weren't going to enjoy the movie in the first place.

You didn't really answer my first two questions in a satisfying way.

I'm scrutinizing the film because I think it's bad. The music was bad, the acting was bad, the pacing seemed off, the narration was pitiful, and so on and so forth.

Did you like Signs?

Because I liked Signs despite the fact that it is scrutinized in the same way. Why did an alien race that managed to get to Earth neglect the fact that 75 percent of our planet is covered in something that is poisonous to them?

 

[hoos30]

I saw it today and enjoyed it, solid 7/10 easily. It probably helped that I went in on a 100% blackout.

The first act was too slow for me

Spoiler

I must have slept thru the swimming pool and shower scenes b/c I don't remember them ha, ha

but everything after that was decent quality.

If you really think about it, the "enemy's" plan was some of the lowdown dirtiest way of fighting ever. Movie deserves credit at least for that.

This is WAY better than Tron and Prometheus, c'mon guys.

 

[t-ramp]

The first act was too slow for me

Spoiler

I must have slept thru the swimming pool and shower scenes b/c I don't remember them ha, ha

but everything after that was decent quality.

That would be unfortunate, because there's some tantalizing rear nudity and a nice wide shot of the house and pool at night.

This is WAY better than Tron and Prometheus, c'mon guys.

I actually like Tron: Legacy better, if for no other reason that Oblivion is too generic. Overall I think they're both solid, but Tron has the edge in my opinion.

 

[hoos30]

PS: Whoever cut those trailers should be fired. They do give away 70% of the plot.

Edit: On second thought, I watched The Matrix trailer and that is just as bad regarding reveals.

 

[Router]

As far as design porn goes it was decent.

 

[coldfoot]

This is WAY better than Tron and Prometheus, c'mon guys.

LOL, I agree but being better than those two isn't a ringing endorsement

 

[Hazanko]

Watched this yesterday. I thought it dragged on far too long. It was okay but nothing great and the trailer did ruin the plot twist, so already knew what was going to happen before it did really.

 

[adamsappel]

Spoiler

Why was the tet unable to wipe Harper's memory completely, but was seemingly able to wipe Victoria's memory?

What does a computer alien race need with water?

Spoiler

Victoria's memory was just as erased as Harper's, i.e. not completely. She says, "It was always her" when Jack comes back to the skyhouse with Julia and Victoria won't let them in. The life with Jack is what she always wanted, so it was easy for her to suppress or deny any random dreams/memories like Jack was experiencing.

They don't need water, they need energy, which was produced via those hydro stations.

I wonder, when people are corrected for their misinterpretations of a movie, do they then say the movie was good, or dismiss them and stick to their original judgment?

 

[Borgnine]

You people with some of these questions in spoiler tags...

Who made the bolts that secured the landing gear huh? HUH? WHO MADE THE BOLTS???? F MINUS MOVIE WOULD NOT WATCH AGAIN.

For a bloated 2 hour movie PACKED with exposition, there still wasn't enough explanation for you?

 

[Bombadil]

Spoiler

Victoria's memory was just as erased as Harper's, i.e. not completely. She says, "It was always her" when Jack comes back to the skyhouse with Julia and Victoria won't let them in. The life with Jack is what she always wanted, so it was easy for her to suppress or deny any random dreams/memories like Jack was experiencing.

They don't need water, they need energy, which was produced via those hydro stations.

I wonder, when people are corrected for their misinterpretations of a movie, do they then say the movie was good, or dismiss them and stick to their original judgment?

Those aren't the reasons why I thought the movie was bad. They're just one of many unsatisfying aspects of the film.

Do you actually think this film is good? It's a mediocre amalgamation of much better films. The first half of the film drags on in with the Tom Cruise Show. The rest is rushed as a result.

Spoiler

Even if you could explain away all the flaws with the film, that wouldn't necessarily make it a satisfying film because most of your explanations rely on us assuming that the alien/computer had some good reason for doing what it did. But we don't know what those reasons are. The film doesn't explore the alien at all. Water for energy? I would think that an advanced alien that managed to get to Earth from who knows where wouldn't need such an anthropocentric method of obtaining energy. It also doesn't make sense why the alien allows for the clones to remember that there was some kind of war with an alien species. Why not just make them think there was some kind of war between two nations and it destroyed the planet? I think that would have made for a better film because it would be an amazing twist for the audience as well as the characters. We would spend the entire film thinking the destruction of the planet was the result of our own human conflicts only to find out at the end that the whole thing was orchestrated by an alien. Seems to me like the alien inexplicably put a great deal of effort into creating a human home and human vehicles (the plane/the motorcycle) and human weapons (the rifle/the pistol) just to put on a show. Ironically, by having drones with nuclear batteries patrol the planet, the alien gave the scavengers the means of destroying those other floating structures that collected water, as well as the tetrahedron itself. Meanwhile, the film ends with Harper 52 finding Julia and the other Harper's child so the audience is supposed to think it's a happy ending. But what about all the other Harper clones out there? There must be at least 50 left and they're all going to have dreams of Julia every night with no understanding what's going on?

 

[David Incorporated Esq.]

It wasn't a very smart movie but it was pretty, it had Jaime Lannister, and there are worse ways to spend $5. I enjoyed it.

 

[Lucius86]

This is WAY better than Tron and Prometheus, c'mon guys.

I'm obviously in the minority here. I liked Tron: Legacy and Prometheus, despite their very apparent faults, but this was just garbage for me. I stand by my original score of 1.5/5. It was laughable to watch at times, it was that bad!

I'm starting to wonder if I watched a different film....

 

[Sinatar]

Spoiler

Seems to me like the alien inexplicably put a great deal of effort into creating a human home and human vehicles (the plane/the motorcycle) and human weapons (the rifle/the pistol) just to put on a show.

Spoiler

The weapons/vehicles were presumably created for the clone army that invaded in the first place, not as a show.

 

[t-ramp]

Why did

Spoiler

the Tet need an inhabited planet at all? Humans didn't do any work on the Tet or water-suckers themselves, did they?

 

[adamsappel]

Those aren't the reasons why I thought the movie was bad. They're just one of many unsatisfying aspects of the film.

Do you actually think this film is good? It's a mediocre amalgamation of much better films. The first half of the film drags on in with the Tom Cruise Show. The rest is rushed as a result.

I didn't mean you specifically with that, but you do realize you were wrong about those two questions you asked? The film shows that

Spoiler

Victoria does have her own memories/dreams

, and you misinterpreted what those

Spoiler

hydro machines

were for.

I didn't think it was a bad movie; I liked it. It's not a classic. It makes some faults just to have some cool moments:

Spoiler

The cigar smoking I mentioned earlier; if the "Scavs" hadn't covered their faces, the clones wouldn't ever think they were leftover alien invaders

. What films is it ripping off? I think your new storyline just brings up different questions.

Spoiler

How does the human civil war lie create a conflict? Does your story still use the clones? When does your exploration of the alien fall in your story? It can't come before the reveal, otherwise you ruin your twist; afterwards it just slows down the picture, the same with this film. There is no alien invasion, no Scavs. It's all an implanted lie. With the Tet destroyed, the Harper and Victoria clones are free to explore the planet or live in their homes. Who cares what happens to the other clones?

Spoiler

The weapons/vehicles were presumably created for the clone army that invaded in the first place, not as a show.

Spoiler

There was no clone army, nor invasion. When the moon was destroyed, nature did the rest.

 

[Bombadil]

Spoiler

Why does the tet need humans to repair drones? How is a computer alien race with that level of power incapable of repairing its own drones?

Why was the tet unable to wipe Harper's memory completely, but was seemingly able to wipe Victoria's memory?

What does a computer alien race need with water?

Why did the tet allow the jettisoned pods of the other astronauts to escape?

The real problem is that the alien species seems more advanced than it shows itself to be. Its plan seems at odds with its intelligence.

Spoiler

-It's a giant triangle, not a 'race' so to speak. As to why it doesn't make repair bots, I don't know but really, that's something worth complaining about?

-Jack built the house on the lake, something that the other Jack's wouldn't be able to do given it was a specific location that was essentially a part of his memory. Also the collection of books and other trinkets like the hat are things that maybe only that Jack did/had access to/etc..

-Energy? Everything always revolves around energy.

-It's not a matter of the tet 'allowing' them to escape, it's the tet opening up to take in visitors. It wasn't exactly at odds with the ship they were on, so why fight it?

I think you're giving the

Spoiler

tet

too much credit.

Spoiler

It is essentially an AI, not an entire 'species' as you'd call it.

Sure there are perhaps a few things that

Spoiler

the tet could have done differently, but perhaps it was established in it's programing/history/etc. to use conquered/abducted species as a working hand.

Is it really worth scrutinizing that much though? Those things you mentioned are so far from plot holes that if you really are looking for them, you weren't going to enjoy the movie in the first place.

I didn't mean you specifically with that, but you do realize you were wrong about those two questions you asked? The film shows that

Spoiler

Victoria does have her own memories/dreams

, and you misinterpreted what those

Spoiler

hydro machines

were for.

I didn't think it was a bad movie; I liked it. It's not a classic. It makes some faults just to have some cool moments:

Spoiler

The cigar smoking I mentioned earlier; if the "Scavs" hadn't covered their faces, the clones wouldn't ever think they were leftover alien invaders

. What films is it ripping off? I think your new storyline just brings up different questions.

Spoiler

How does the human civil war lie create a conflict? Does your story still use the clones? When does your exploration of the alien fall in your story? It can't come before the reveal, otherwise you ruin your twist; afterwards it just slows down the picture, the same with this film. There is no alien invasion, no Scavs. It's all an implanted lie. With the Tet destroyed, the Harper and Victoria clones are free to explore the planet or live in their homes. Who cares what happens to the other clones?

Spoiler

There was no clone army, nor invasion. When the moon was destroyed, nature did the rest.

Look, my first two questions weren't even answered. The first answer was, is that really something worth complaining about? And the second question isn't even answered at all. It's a plot synopsis that says

Spoiler

Jack had memories so he built a house. The only indication we have of Victoria remembering anything at all is when Julia shows up. Then it becomes clear that she's a bad guy and her memories only consisted of hating the love shared between Jack and Julia. So, it's not satisfying at all because it's not clear whether she actually knew what was going on or if she was just responding to the negative vibes she had about Julia. And why shouldn't I care about the other clones? This has a love story aspect to it. It says to me that Jack was separated from the love of his life but then he reconnected with her and decided to sacrifice himself for her. The whole thing feels very hollow because we realize that the majority of Jack Harpers will never meet Julia. They will forever be haunted by memories of this woman. But I'm supposed to ignore that because that one Harper clone found Julia? Also, I think Morgan Freeman's character mentioned a clone army of Harpers.

 

[Sinatar]

Spoiler

There was no clone army, nor invasion. When the moon was destroyed, nature did the rest.

Spoiler

Not true, as Morgan Freeman's character explained. They destroyed the moon and then thousands of Tom Cruise clones invaded.

 

[adamsappel]

Look, my first two questions weren't even answered. The first answer was, is that really something worth complaining about? And the second question isn't even answered at all. It's a plot synopsis that says

Spoiler

Jack had memories so he built a house. The only indication we have of Victoria remembering anything at all is when Julia shows up. Then it becomes clear that she's a bad guy and her memories only consisted of hating the love shared between Jack and Julia. So, it's not satisfying at all because it's not clear whether she actually knew what was going on or if she was just responding to the negative vibes she had about Julia. And why shouldn't I care about the other clones? This has a love story aspect to it. It says to me that Jack was separated from the love of his life but then he reconnected with her and decided to sacrifice himself for her. The whole thing feels very hollow because we realize that the majority of Jack Harpers will never meet Julia. They will forever be haunted by memories of this woman. But I'm supposed to ignore that because that one Harper clone found Julia? Also, I think Morgan Freeman's character mentioned a clone army of Harpers.

Spoiler

Maybe there is a finite number of bots? Maybe the Tet uses a lot of energy making bots and doesn't want to expend it? While not without merit, I agree with RoKKer that it doesn't seem that important. Jack repairs bots, that's his role in the script.

"Jack had memories so he built a house." I didn't get that vibe at all. He discovered that little green valley and all the cool stuff he found he brought there. He said he would have liked to stay there forever, but I don't think building the house had anything to do with repressed memories.

I think Victoria has two reveals about her memories. She doesn't want to discuss the matter at all, rather than just immediately deny it outright, and when she says "It was always about her," it shows she does remember Julia from before the Tet.

You're extrapolating a lot of info about the leftover clones. Who's to say Julia doesn't reject #52 as not the real thing?

I do wonder, is the narration from #49 or #52? Or does #52 only narrate the coda?

I'm not defending the film as some classic sci-fi. I can understand why someone wouldn't like it. I get mad every time I see Morgan Freeman light that cigar in the commercial, but I'm sure most people don't care how incongruous it is. It's certainly not a "this movie sucks!" moment.

Spoiler

Not true, as Morgan Freeman's character explained. They destroyed the moon and then thousands of Tom Cruise clones invaded.

You guys are right, I do remember now that Freeman said he saw thousands of him. My bad.

 

[Bombadil]

Spoiler

Maybe there is a finite number of bots? Maybe the Tet uses a lot of energy making bots and doesn't want to expend it? While not without merit, I agree with RoKKer that it doesn't seem that important. Jack repairs bots, that's his role in the script.

"Jack had memories so he built a house." I didn't get that vibe at all. He discovered that little green valley and all the cool stuff he found he brought there. He said he would have liked to stay there forever, but I don't think building the house had anything to do with repressed memories.

I think Victoria has two reveals about her memories. She doesn't want to discuss the matter at all, rather than just immediately deny it outright, and when she says "It was always about her," it shows she does remember Julia from before the Tet.

You're extrapolating a lot of info about the leftover clones. Who's to say Julia doesn't reject #52 as not the real thing?

I do wonder, is the narration from #49 or #52? Or does #52 only narrate the coda?

I'm not defending the film as some classic sci-fi. I can understand why someone wouldn't like it. I get mad every time I see Morgan Freeman light that cigar in the commercial, but I'm sure most people don't care how incongruous it is. It's certainly not a "this movie sucks!" moment.



You guys are right, I do remember now that Freeman said he saw thousands of him. My bad.

If liked the film, more power to you.

 

[BronsonLee]

I liked the film a lot. Like I said on Twitter, it's like M83 listened to the Mass Effect soundtrack while Kosinski played Halo. Pretty fun for me.

Spoilers, kinda:

Spoiler

I would've preferred Riseborough and Kurylenko switched roles, to be honest. Andrea was aces. Olga was solid too, though.

Magic Edit:

This was a terrible film. With one-third of the budget, I think 99 percent of the people on gaf could have made a much better film.

Oh good lord, man. You not liking the movie is cool. I liked Tron and I like M83, but there's still plenty of flaws with it. But saying that is pretty disingenuous. Don't turn this into that Skullgirls thread

 

[Bombadil]

Oh good lord, man. You not liking the movie is cool. I liked Tron and I like M83, but there's still plenty of flaws with it. But saying that is pretty disingenuous. Don't turn this into that Skullgirls thread

I am serious. Many Gaffers could do better with far less money. These super high budget films tend to include highly bankable stars but they are thin on quality and splurge on marketing to increase their box office revenue.

 

[johnny_park]

I work in a school and today the senior class went to watch this. I'm glad I went into this without seeing a trailer for it. Heck, I didn't even here about this movie until a couple of days ago.

 

[Triple Oceans]

Wanted to ask if the movie's plot twist has been spoiled for me already if I've only seen the first trailer? I'm really on the fence about this movie and don't want to waste my time or money on it if I don't have to.

 

[Jibbed]

Reposting my Facebook rant;

Oblivion is one of the worst films I've ever seen. Never before has something shown such potential and turned out to be so utterly shit.

 

[MadOdorMachine]

I saw the movie last night and thought it was pretty good. The first act was a bit long, but after that it picked up and I enjoyed it. I really didn't think there were that many plot holes. Overall, I would say the story was pretty well put together. It wasn't the Matrix, but I wasn't expecting that. It could have been better, but for what it was I enjoyed it. I would rate it a 3.5/5.

My main gripes with the movie:

Spoiler

1. Why didn't the mothership just make repair bots to fix the drones? Obviously it wouldn't be the same movie if they did, but they still didn't explain it.
2. Why did Tom Cruise's wife have the black box on her escape pod when it was clearly recording events from the cockpit after her escape pod was ejected?
3. The trailer for this movie gave away a pretty big plot twist. I guess they wanted to show off Morgan Freeman for advertising, but it was at a pretty high cost imo.

 

[JB1981]

I work in a school and today the senior class went to watch this. I'm glad I went into this without seeing a trailer for it. Heck, I didn't even here about this movie until a couple of days ago.

Why did a senior class go see Oblivion ?

 

[JB1981]

M83 talks about working with Hollywood on this score. Experience left him angry, stressed out. He does not seem happy with the score.

http://m.pitchfork.com/features/update/9110-anthony-gonzalez/

And now with his score to the new Tom Cruise sci-fi epic Oblivion, Gonzalez can finally add "Hollywood movie composer" to his resume. Sounds like a classic happy ending, right? Well, not so much. Looking back on his experience making the score, Gonzalez might be even more disillusioned by the film industry than before.

I started to work on this project with a lot of hope, saying, 'Oh, I'm going to do something super special and original,'" he says. "But you can't really, because there are so many people involved and so much money in the game that it's hard to change things. Hollywood kind of sucks the life out of you very quickly.

 

[Effect]

I finally saw the trailers for this. I'm really glad I just saw a few TV spots before seeing the film. The official trailers give so much of the damn film away. Really annoying and frustrating to see that they were cut that way. Horrible. Pretty sure my opinion of the film would be really different had I saw those first.

 

[dionysus]

I really liked it. Nothing went too far in overcoming my suspension of disbelief until the very last scene and I can live with it.

Movie definitely wanted to say something about memories and souls,

Spoiler

specifically downplaying the concept of a soul and claiming that memories are what make an individual.

Which kind of surprised me because doesn't Cruise's religion have a pretty strong concept of a soul.

I liked the look of the post-war technology, and thought the clean look and almost nonexistent use of color added to the mood the movie was going for in the first half.

 

[demon]

(haven't seen the movie yet)

M83 talks about working with Hollywood on this score. Experience left him angry, stressed out. He does not seem happy with the score.

http://m.pitchfork.com/features/update/9110-anthony-gonzalez/

And now with his score to the new Tom Cruise sci-fi epic Oblivion, Gonzalez can finally add "Hollywood movie composer" to his resume. Sounds like a classic happy ending, right? Well, not so much. Looking back on his experience making the score, Gonzalez might be even more disillusioned by the film industry than before.

I've listened to the soundtrack and while it's certainly not bad, and does have a bit of that M83 feel, it does seem strange that they would go out of their way to have a band like M83 compose a score that it seems any competent composer could have come up with.

 

[BronsonLee]

I am serious. Many Gaffers could do better with far less money. These super high budget films tend to include highly bankable stars but they are thin on quality and splurge on marketing to increase their box office revenue.

Then I can't really consider this a serious discussion. Stating that random people on a message board can do a job better than professionals, for less money, is patently absurd. It was in the Skullgirls thread, and it is here. It's absolutely insulting to the people that work in film, regardless of quality. You are severely overestimating the amount of talented gaffers who work in films.

We're sadly in an age when 120 million is not a lot of money for a movie like this. I also don't recall seeing any commercials or huge marketing pushes for this movie. It's by the guy who did Tron Legacy (which did ok, but didn't set the world on fire) and has a score done by M83 (which only recently started hitting a higher popularity after Midnight City). The only way this thing even gets made is if Cruise Missile is in it, for better or worse.

 

[Tom_Cody]

To those who haven’t seen it who are curious about how much the trailers spoil, Olga Kurylenko appears 1/3 of the way through (40 minutes in), Morgan Freeman appears 1/2 way through (1 hour in), and generally the trailers spoil roughly 2/3 of the film. That said, there are a few interesting twists (IMO) in that final 1/3.

 

[Maxrunner]

You didn't really answer my first two questions in a satisfying way.

I'm scrutinizing the film because I think it's bad. The music was bad, the acting was bad, the pacing seemed off, the narration was pitiful, and so on and so forth.

Did you like Signs?

Because I liked Signs despite the fact that it is scrutinized in the same way. Why did an alien race that managed to get to Earth neglect the fact that 75 percent of our planet is covered in something that is poisonous to them?

wrong, wrong, wrong. all wrong.

 

[Caboose]

This movie doesn't have a single original fiber in its body. MEH.

 

[phaze]

Watched it tonight. Thankfully I didn't follow the movie very much, only watched trailer once and managed to forget most of it. All in all I thought it was very solid though the ending was a bit of let down.

7,5/10

 

[johnny_park]

Why did a senior class go see Oblivion ?

It was a field trip that coincided with testing at the school.

 

[JdFoX187]

I saw the movie last night and thought it was pretty good. The first act was a bit long, but after that it picked up and I enjoyed it. I really didn't think there were that many plot holes. Overall, I would say the story was pretty well put together. It wasn't the Matrix, but I wasn't expecting that. It could have been better, but for what it was I enjoyed it. I would rate it a 3.5/5.

My main gripes with the movie:

Spoiler

1. Why didn't the mothership just make repair bots to fix the drones? Obviously it wouldn't be the same movie if they did, but they still didn't explain it.
2. Why did Tom Cruise's wife have the black box on her escape pod when it was clearly recording events from the cockpit after her escape pod was ejected?
3. The trailer for this movie gave away a pretty big plot twist. I guess they wanted to show off Morgan Freeman for advertising, but it was at a pretty high cost imo.

1)

Spoiler

I don't think the ship had the capabilities to repair the drones or the hydro-fusion machines. Throughout the whole film, they're harping on how they need parts to repair everything and the Tet keeps giving them the runaround. Though that wouldn't necessarily make much sense, considering the Tet obviously manufactured human weapons and vehicles for the clone army to use. The only explanation I can think of is that the war with the humans damaged it somehow.

2.

Spoiler

They played real fast and loose with the technology aspect. If the ship was as far out as they were, there's no way they could have real-time conversations with NASA. I'm guessing whatever bullshit logic they used for that (if there was any), they used the same logic to say the recorder was still recording the radio transmissions from the cockpit. Who knows, but yeah, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense and seems to be there only to service the plot.

3.

Spoiler

The whole scavs subplot was severely undercooked. Why did they run around on all fours if they were human? How is it even possible to be as mobile as they were on all fours? As for Morgan Freeman, I don't think showing him in the advertising was too much of a spoiler. The big issue was the marketing was playing up the mystery. They should just have billed this as a science-fiction movie with aliens running around what's left of Earth. Billing it as a mystery did a disservice because then everyone went in looking at the mystery. I had the whole thing figured out within the first five minutes -- as soon as he said that he had memories from before he was born. From there, it was easy to just fit everything together.

I am serious. Many Gaffers could do better with far less money. These super high budget films tend to include highly bankable stars but they are thin on quality and splurge on marketing to increase their box office revenue.

Judging from the quality of your fan fiction, you're not one of them.

 

[Bombadil]

Judging from the quality of your fan fiction, you're not one of them.

Why would I post my best stuff on Neogaf?

 

[Tom_Cody]

I saw this in Imax on Sunday and I absolutely loved it. I wanted to take a few days to let everything sink in before writing my thoughts.

At the very least this wildly succeeds as an audio/visual theater experience, but I liked it much more than that.

As far as obvious stuff, I loved all the designed bits. The skytower, the bubbleship, the electric motorcycle, and of course the landscapes. Everything in this film was gorgeous. I can definitely see myself revisiting it just for that.

I also loved the pace and the sparse dialog. I have been watching a lot of 70 SF recently and it felt like a bit of a throwback in that sense.

I definitely enjoyed the score as well. As has been discussed in this thread, it might not be a new full M83 album but it is a very enjoyable score. The moments that are just visuals + score are all fantastic.

Ending spoilers:

Spoiler

I really liked that each of the separate primary characters essentially had their own agency and story arcs even though they aren’t fully depicted in the film, leaving the audience to reflect on them after leaving the theater.

Presumably dozens/hundred of Jacks live (and have lived, each for 5 year spans), each dreaming of Julia. Similarly, presumably every Victoria has pined after Jack while having similar echoes of feelings of her former life but in her case these would be memories of unrequited love “It was always her!” (or whatever that specific line was).

In a lot of ways Morgan Freeman was the central hero. Out of this bizarre reality filled with Cruise clones, he and the other survivors bided their time and ultimately succeed in flipping Jack 49. As the film starts he is working behind the scenes to flip Jack 49 (the audience just doesn’t know this until 1 hour in) and he ultimately gets the satisfaction of seeing his plan realized and being present at the destruction of the Tet.

I love openness of the premise, that there are dozens or hundreds of Jacks around the world living out their own stories and that the audience arrives essentially in media res to witness Jack 49’s heroic arc and Jack 52’s happy ending.

I also loved the final voice over and the reveal that it is coming from Jack 52. That dialog over the score and the final visuals of the film really provided a great final note.

Jack Harper: For three years I searched for the house he built. I knew it had to be out there. Because I know him. I am him. I am Jack Harper, and I'm home.

9/10

 

[Memphis Reigns]

I think some people are getting parts of the plot wrong which creates "plot holes" to them. For example

Question/Plot Hole 1-

Spoiler

Why was the black box in the cockpit originally but then appeared on the escape pod for Julia to find?

Possible answers:

Spoiler

Its science fiction, not non fiction. It's incredibly easy to imagine that they have communication technology that allows for two black boxes that are both capable of wireless recording, so even after the other crew were detached from the main shuttle, the box in the escape pod was still recording what was happening in the cockpit. Or maybe each had a fail safe that transferred all the recorded data from a damaged or compromised box to the other one.

I don't blame the script for not explaining this.

Question/Plot Hole 2 -

Spoiler

Why did the Tet even have to make human clones to repair the drones?

Answer:

Spoiler

This is so easy it's not even funny. A super advanced AI is going to operate as efficiently as possible. Why use the energy and resources to oversee maintenance and repairs when they can make thousands of human clones to do it for them? Plus the Tet could have been programmed to do just that and study our species.

I for one absolutely loved the film. The "scavs" were one of the coolest alien designs ive seen. I also loved the mystery behind the Tet.

Spoiler

Was it an AI built buy a super advanced race, either living or extinct? Or is it a self evolved silicon based sentient life-form in the same vein as Mass Effect's Sovereign?

I may be the one person who want's a sequel to this movie.

8/10

 

[demon]

I have no idea whether or not I should go see this movie after reading this thread...

 

[Bombadil]

I have no idea whether or not I should go see this movie after reading this thread...

See it so you can have an opinion.

Some people loved the film for the very same reasons I hated it.

 

[Doodis]

Saw it last night. Kind of felt the same about this as the director's Tron. Amazing visually. Not great storywise. But it's one of those movies that's so pretty that I would watch it again later on.

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

I hope the film does well if only because it will heighten the chances of Universal re-considering Del Toro's Mountaints of Madness.

 

[lastplayed]

Just saw it the other night, really enjoyed it. Loved the music.

One question though:

Spoiler

Why was the Tet sucking the earth's oceans up? For energy? If so aren't the gas giants an easier way to accomplish this?

 

[t-ramp]

Just saw it the other night, really enjoyed it. Loved the music.

One question though:

Spoiler

Why was the Tet sucking the earth's oceans up? For energy? If so aren't the gas giants an easier way to accomplish this?

I don't think there's a good answer to this. I wondered earlier why

Spoiler

it didn't just pick a planet with water but no inhabitants.

 

[Cipherr]

I forgot to dig this thread up, I saw this and I liked it. I am a big sci fi fan though, so I'm not going to "WHY ISN'T THIS LIKE REAL LIFE" every single thing about the movie. I went in expecting fiction.

It was worth the ticket prices easily and we enjoyed it. Good stuff.

 

[Laughing Banana]

Explanation how

Spoiler

the recorder gotten from Julia's crashed ship managed to record the last conversation between the original Jack and Olivia despite the fact that the original Jack ejected Julia's compartment before entering Tet

?

 

[Memphis Reigns]

Explanation how

Spoiler

the recorder gotten from Julia's crashed ship managed to record the last conversation between the original Jack and Olivia despite the fact that the original Jack ejected Julia's compartment before entering Tet

?

http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=55296556

 

[Laughing Banana]

http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=55296556

Man, that's a reaching answer. It is basically invoking something that we cannot verify exist/applies in the universe to explain something that happens in that universe; I don't like that kind of explanation.