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Movie Review: Oblivion, 2013
Oblivion movie still of the Sky Tower
What more can be said of Tom Cruise in sci-fi roles? He always seems to deliver, so I was expecting something a bit special when I sat down to watch Oblivion last week.
Things were looking good after half an hour; great sets, great scenery and great special effects. Cruise was, as usual, dry in his delivery of Jack's lines and held my attention.
But then I noticed something odd; Andrea Risborough, as Jack's girlfriend and teammate Victoria, was acting badly. I thought, 'Oh yeah, she must be an android and this will all be explained properly later,' but no, the further into the movie I got, the more it became apparent that Victoria was human, and therefore badly portrayed. I am not saying Risborough can't act, but she must have been at least badly cast here. It makes all the scenes with Cruise wooden and the love-making scene was just embarrassing.
But then along comes Olga Kurylenko. I won't spoil the plot by telling you what relationship she has with Jack, but her acting is convincing and the story began to take off.
Morgan Freeman then put in an appearance. His flying googles, stubbly beard and short, white hair worked very well, allowing him to bring a new level to the film in a very convincing way.
Little touches, like the Led Zeppelin song Ramble On, were nice. In general the soundtrack worked very well and the tempo of the film increased nicely.
The sets of sunken landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge were a bit cliched. Such things have become overused in sci-fi movies since the original Planet of the Apes, but I didn't mind too much.
The main twist of the movie only began to dawn on me in the second half of the movie, which may not be a bad thing, and then I was further confused by the appearance of Cruise's double. Being confused is something I expect to feel during a good sci-fi movie so all was good.
The climax of the movie is a sacrificial scene and it worked very well; the music suited and the action was muted, but poignant. I was convinced and felt my time had been well-spent.
Plot Spoiler
Do not read on if you want to watch the movie and don't want to know the ending.
Ready to turn the TV off, I saw what I hoped was the postscript scene with Olga Kurylenko. I thought, 'Ah! Now we will see that there is a child and she is happy and they both lived happily ever after.' Jack's rebel mates then appeared and – horror of horrors – Jack himself! My mind was double-taking and reeling with the stupidity of a director who had just delivered a decent sci-fi movie.
We then find out that Jack has survived, sort of. I turned the TV off in disgust.
Why, oh why, do Hollywood producers insist on happy endings? And why, oh why, do directors go along with it? This was a very decent movie without the final scene. I can just see the producers saying, "No, we can't have the take-home message that Jack has killed himself to save Earth. It must be that Cruise heroes always survive, no matter what!"
God help us if there is a post-generation-X bunch of kids who believe any of this tripe!
Four stars for everything except the last 5 minutes. A molten asteroid for that bit!
movie review Oblivion 2013
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Oblivion 2013
Oblivion Tom Cruise 2013
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How to Write a Good Book – Post 5. Varying the Pace
So you have your plot of Rudolph's adventures all worked out and you know where the climax and twist will be. Now you are considering writing the climax and want to know how to show tension when Rudolph can't get the tractor down a narrow alleyway, or gets stuck in a snowdrift. So how do you show the tension?
It's not as easy as you might think!
Action Words and Expletives
The first rule is to use more action words when you are writing action sequences. These are words like 'ripped,' 'spun,' 'yelled,' 'wrenched,' and 'panted.'
Here is an example. See how this sentence sounds quite calm.
– He knew he needed to get through the door. He put down the axe and walked up to the door. He pulled on the handle and it opened. He went thought the opening and all was well.
That definitely lacks tension. Let's try it again:
– He had to get through the door. He only had seconds left! He threw his axe down, spun round and leaped toward the door. Grabbing the handle, he pulled and pulled but the door wouldn't budge. Using all his strength, he gave it one last almighty heave and wrenched the door open. The wood cracked and splintered as the lock broke, and he was through!
"What's the problem Rudolph?" Santa yelled.
"The door! It's bloody stuck!"
Okay, so I went a bit over the top there; it's twice as long. But it's much more exciting.
Notice the use of words like 'grabbing,' 'cracked.'
Also notice saying 'had to' instead of 'knew he needed to.' Forget about considered thought in tight situations. People just act and think later when they are desperate. This is one place where we definitely don't need to know what the hero is thinking.
Also note the use of an expletive (swear word) by Rudolph. You might not want to use expletives in your writing but it's a fact that people swear a lot when under pressure. Leave swear words out and you risk losing realism.
Short Sentences
For the last reason above, short sentences are good in action sequences. We want simple action, and short sentences tend to increase the pace.
Another trick is to use time. If the hero is not only fighting against an evil adversary or obstinate door, but also against the clock, this will dramatically increase tension.
I used this a great deal in Ordo Lupus and the Temple Gate.
Adversity or Obstacles
Elements of adversity of obstacle can also add tension. In the example above the door wouldn't open easily and he had to wrench it open. Small accidents can also increase tension. He needs a key to unlock the door but he drops it, as people do when tense or in a hurry. Both accidents and obstacles also prolong the tension, which also helps create tension.
Use of Commas
The use of less commas during action sequences can increase tension, but this is a technique not all authors employ. If you try it, you still need to observe good grammar rules.
A Word of Warning about Length of Description
As you probably noticed in my example above, quite often action sequences can make the prose longer. For this reason, you will need to allow a bit more space for describing action, perhaps as much as 50% more space. But on the other hand, if you use short sentences carefully and avoid any description of inner feeling, you can sometimes keep the prose in action scenes as short as elsewhere.
Slowing the Pace
It may sound crazy, but sometimes you will want to slow the pace!
You can't have climactic scenes throughout the whole book. This would be exhausting to read, and would ignore the whole point of climaxes. But you may want more than one climax. In The Devil's Own Dice I knew there would be a big battle in the middle of the story. Inevitably this has to be very tense and a climax of some sort. But I didn't want it to be the final climax. This made things tricky. I got round it by making the lead up to the battle quite leisurely and keeping the tension high afterwards. I also had a strong 'insight' scene after the battle, so that we see a previous love affair in detail and how it affected the main character. This kept the pace up, because of the tension of an affair, but also allowed the reader a bit of a contrast to battle. I had to make sure the final climax was even more exciting, but on the whole I think the reader feels they got a bonus, rather than a let down
Using Chapter Breaks and Scene Switching
I put these 2 factors together because they sometimes amount to the same thing.
Because you will want the climax somewhere near the end of the book, each chapter should, on the whole, be more gripping than the last. This drags the reader along and won't let them put the book down. For this reason, you should normally end each chapter on a cliff-hanger. That is, they should either be just about to learn something, or have just seen some action but not know the outcome. This will make the reader want to turn the next page.
If the book has a large cast and a complex arena of action such as the invasion of Earth in my science fiction book Worlds Like Dust, you might try switching between different areas of action, either at section breaks or chapter breaks, rather than trying to describe it all simultaneously. Allowing yourself to describe one piece of action completely before switching to another increases tension, because the reader is wondering in the back of their mind what has happened to so-and-so in the other scene. Tolkien does this brilliantly in Lord of the Rings. You must handle continuity very carefully when you do this.
So, in conclusion, to vary pace, use:
Reduced Number of Commas
Chapter Breaks and Scene Switching
Join me for the final part of this series 6. Editing in two weeks' time.
Let me know what you think of my tutorials by commenting below:
March 14, 2016 August 17, 2016
Keeping up to date with Lazlo Ferran
I wanted to let you know that I will only be posting every second Monday from now on. I have to focus very hard on my latest novel and the real world tends to intrude as well so I don't have to much time.
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scifi edtor
Poll Results: Best Vampire or werewolf Acting?
Tom Cruise in Interview with the Vampire
Best Vampire or werewolf Acting?
The results are in! I wonder if you will agree or disagree with the people's choice! Please comment with your opinion or tweet me @Lazlo_F or facebook.com/lazloferran
In first place we have Tom Cruise as Lestat de Lioncourt in Interview with the Vampire.
In second place, we have Salma Hayak as Santanico Pandamonium in From Dusk till Dawn.
Tying for third place, we have Jack Nicholson as Will Randall in Wolf and Christopher Lee as Count Dracula in various Hammer movies.
Interview with the Vampire:
Tom Cruise and all the other vampire actors were required to hang upside down for up to thirty minutes at a time during the make-up application.
Johnny Depp was offered the role of Lestat.
There's a scene towards the end of the movie where Louis is watching Superman (1978) in a cinema. This scene doesn't appear in the novel because the book was written in 1976, two years before the film was made.
From Dusk till Dawn:
Salma Hayek did not have a choreographer for her dance. Director Robert Rodriguez just told her to feel the music and dance to it. Rodriguez would later use the same tactic with Jessica Alba in Sin City (2005).
If you look closely, when Cheech Marin is playing the Customs Agent, his name badge says, "Oscar Marin" which is Cheech's real-life father's name. His father was an LAPD officer.
Wolf:
Although the film is about a werewolf, that particular word is never mentioned.
Dracula movies of Hammer:
Christopher Lee's last film for Hammer as Dracula, The Satanic Rights of Dracula was the final Hammer film in which both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing appear.
Watch out for another poll soon, this time on scifi movies!
Looking for a Freelance thriller or scifi Editor?
Just a friendly reminded to all you authors out there that I still edit books. Check my Editing Services page for my portfolio and charges. I look forward to hearing from any writers that need a good editor.