Last night, I met up with my buddies Josh and Jeff, who brought along two of there friends William and Aaron who I met for the first time and in we went to watch Oblivion in IMAX. When the trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness came on, Jeff shut his eyes and put his hands over his ears, so he would be as sensory deprived as possible, so as to not see or hear anything of the film which would lessen his experience of seeing it for the first time when it is released. Josh took a great pic of that moment!

Oblivion was a great sic-fi film, for it had all of the elements which for me made it really enjoyable to watch. The story first and foremost was engaging, with a few plot twists which I thought were both interesting and intriguing. The cinematography and visuals were both really cool and expertly crafted, while the effects were believable and realistic.

In terms of acting, Tom Cruise did a really good job. He really “acted” within this film and made his character both a credible and sympathetic “everyman”, as well as thoughtful hero. Not since The Last Samurai did I feel Cruise really engaged me as a viewer, though to be fair, he has done films since then that I have enjoyed. My point being that he brought it home in this one.

Music for me is a very crucial aspect of the film, for it helps to set the tone and evaluate the mood of the film. As I watch a film, I very much listen carefully and attentively as to the manner in which the film score works to solidify the overall fabrication of the movie. The film composer, M83 did a beautiful job with the score, balancing and harmonizing the futuristic atmosphere via a layered synthesizer approach that is a gorgeous soundtrack. I heard a few tracks previously, so I knew going in, I would very much enjoy it, thought I was quite curious to see how it worked with the visuals of the film. It blended perfectly and effectively. Needless to say, I went and bought a copy of the soundtrack after seeing the film, so as to add to my cd collection.

My recommendation: Go see the film, in IMAX if your able to, for it very much lends itself to the scale of an IMAX screen in terms of the beautiful visuals of the film. If you are a fan of the sic-fi genre, you will, I believe be quite happy with what director Joseph Kosinski has brought to the screen. I look forward to more of his films in the future!

(Originally posted 4/27/13 on my pmpax.com blog)