Tom Cruise is one of Hollywood’s biggest stars and for good reason. Over his career, he’s put out some massive films. The Mission: Impossible franchise might be his biggest and perhaps best known, but he’s also done some incredible work in the sci-fi genre as well. 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow is a cult favorite that many fans still want a sequel for. But there’s another, lesser appreciated sci-fi film in Cruise’s credits that might be one of his best performances and time is running out to stream it.
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Released in 2013 and directed by Joseph Kosinski (who would go on to direct Top Gun: Maverick), Oblivion may not have been a huge critical darling, but it was a box office success. The film stars Cruise as Jack Harper, a security repairman left on an Earth left empty and devastated following a war with aliens known as Scavengers. He has just two weeks left on his mission before he can join the rest of the survivors on a new colony. However, when he rescues a stranger from a downed aircraft, he suddenly finds himself questioning everything and discover the truth behind the war. The film is set to leave Netflix at the end of the month.
Oblivion Is As Much a Love Story As It Is A Sci-Fi Story
While Oblivion sets itself firmly in sci-fi with its post-alien war and a near-future desolate Earth, it’s also a love story. Jack’s discovery of Julia (Olga Kurylenko), the woman in the aircraft, causes him to discover some things about himself and in the process have to choose between the duty he’s been tasked with and his connection to this person who is a stranger to him, but feels like so much more. There are also some interesting twists about what actually happened in the war between humans and aliens and Jack’s real identity and purpose.
The film didn’t do especially well with critics. Many felt like the script wasn’t particularly great, but there was a lot of praise for Cruse’s performance as Jack and rightly so as it’s one of his most human performances even within the sci-fi action setting and for those used to seeing him in Mission: Impossible, it’s a nice contrast. The film is also visually gorgeous, giving the whole film a haunting, surprisingly elegant feel. Between the performances and the visuals, while Oblivion isn’t necessarily quite to the quality of Edge of Tomorrow, which would be released the following year, it’s still an excellent entry in Cruise’s filmography and a sci-film that truly is must see.
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