Sci-Fi Trailer Mania: Godzilla, Edge of Tomorrow, Jupiter Ascending, Interstellar

Last week saw the release of no less than FOUR trailers for upcoming sci-fi behemoths. Ok, Godzilla might not be technically what you'd consider "hard" sci-fi but anywho... There's Tom Cruise donning a mecha suit battling aliens while stuck in a time-loop (Edge of Tomorrow looks like a cooler Oblivion); there's Jupiter Ascending, the new space opera from the Wachowskis' featuring Channing Tatum with ridiculous pointy ears and a ginger goatee; and the highly anticipated Christopher Nolan Matthew McConaughey-starring joint, Interstellar, the teaser for which shows barely any footage from the movie itself but should make the hairs on the back of your neck stand...

Thoughts on Oblivion

Tom Cruise's shiny new sci-fier Oblivion is out in cinemas today. Wondering how it is? Let's break it down into easy-to-digest bullet points and stray obseravtions (no spoilers):

• Director Joseph Kosinski, who previously gave us the thoroughly underwhelming Tron: Legacy, is not a natural storyteller. He's first and foremost a stylist, a lover of sleek, painstakingly designed surfaces, and it's evident in the way Oblivion's lumbering, lurching narrative is at odds with its seductive tech glossiness.
• Tom Cruise performs with his usual generic leading-man intensity.
• It's a thinly veiled anti-God screed.
• Olga Kurylenko: miscast, wooden. All the romantic stuff is dreadful.
• I was wondering where I'd seen those spherical drones before, and it just dawned on me: Phantasm! :)

 

• Actually you'll be wondering where you've seen a lot of Oblivion from, and the answer is a LOT of other sci-fi. Unfortunately Kosinski never transcends the material's lack of originality.
• The effects work on Oblivion IS superb but I'm starting to get a little iffy of the following type of shot, which I first started noticing in Prometheus.... basically it's a lone-figure-riding-in-a-vast-landscape-type shot that's meant to convey just how dwarfed the figure is by the expansive surroundings etc. But I think my problem with it is is that it doesn't (not to me anyway) - the super-crisp CGI rendering looks pretty and all, but somehow robs the image of its intended power. Too unreal? The "uncanny valley" thing? I dunno. I'm probably just talking out of my arse - but it's just something that's crossed my mind.

 

Verdict: Some nice eye candy but mediocre, leaden movie.

Trailer: Jack Reacher

Morning! Head over to Yahoo to check out the new full-length trailer for the forthcoming Tom Cruise vehicle Jack Reacher. We get a better picture of who this Reacher dude is (ex-army cop sniffing out a conspiracy!), and most excitingly, the first glimpse of Werner Herzog as a bung-eyed villain who doesn't seem to like Reacher noseying around. The film is based on the Lee Child novel One Shot, and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, maybe still best known for writing The Usual Suspects and not The Way of the Gun, the only other movie he directed - 12 years ago. Nice to see Robert Duvall alive and kicking!

High Altitude Cruise

Moviefone's posted some pics of Tom Cruise doing ker-razy stunts for the upcoming Mission: Impossible sequel. Why so crazy? Only 'cos he's hanging off the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai! Semi-hyped for this film due to the involvement of Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille), who's making his debut in live-action directing.