Oblivion vs Elysium: Which sci-fi movie was better?

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

These movies had a few similarities. Both sci-fi, both had big stars in the lead role with lesser knowns as supporting characters, both had similar budgets and both made around the same at the BO. Both had awesome visuals and some of the best CGI of 2013.

Both were the 2nd movie of exciting new sci-fi directors as well. Now on the downside, both recieved likewarm reviews and a lot of criticism from some quarters for their story-telling and heavy handed messages.

So I am curious, which of these 2 movies do people think was better?

I personally have to go with Elysium, I think the ending is stronger and it didnt sort of cop-out like the ending of Oblivion did. It also had a much better villain and Blomkamps designs for sci-fi weapons made the action scenes a lot of fun.

But vote away, and please no bashing or hating on others opinions, lets have some nice discussion.

 

[Supernova]

Oblivion for me hands down.

Sure Oblivion borrowed from all sci-fi movies but overall it was well executed and the look and action and little bit of mystery was enough to keep me interested the whole time. Tom Cruise is really at his best with sci-fi pictures. I kind of wished though the main villain in Oblivion was something more then a floating triangle with a droid eye. My one nitpick with the film is though there was too much time spent with the "resistance" under ground and too little on Cruise's discovery of the big reveal.


With Elysium I was horribly disappointed with everything outside the weapons. The story was very meh or unfocused and the ending dragged on way too long. Anybody could have played Damon's character honestly but they wanted a big name to sell the movie. I still don't know what accent Jodi Foster was going for.

 

[RetrogradeOrbit]

There was a lot I liked about both of these films. But if I am honest I felt they both missed opportunities for telling a really epic and grand story.

Oblivion I think missed the mark by the larger amount though. There should not have been a happy ending in Oblivion.

I also found the ending of Elysium to be somewhat predictable and the Sharlto Copley antagonist to have no discernible reason for being how he was, beyond being a `tache twirling villain.

As I said, I enjoyed both films. But they could have been much better.

 

[smashmode]

Oblivion for me hands down.

Sure Oblivion borrowed from all sci-fi movies but overall it was well executed and the look and action and little bit of mystery was enough to keep me interested the whole time. Tom Cruise is really at his best with sci-fi pictures. I kind of wished though the main villain in Oblivion was something more then a floating triangle with a droid eye. My one nitpick with the film is though there was too much time spent with the "resistance" under ground and too little on Cruise's discovery of the big reveal.


With Elysium I was horribly disappointed with everything outside the weapons. The story was very meh or unfocused and the ending dragged on way too long. Anybody could have played Damon's character honestly but they wanted a big name to sell the movie. I still don't know what accent Jodi Foster was going for.

Do the poll!

 

[Erzengel]

I finally watched Oblvion the other day and I thought it was really well done, BUT I'm not a Tom Cruise fan so every time I did see Jack, I saw Tom Cruise and it kinda took me out of the movie. That red head was pretty hot.

Elysium is on my Netflix queue.

 

[Supernova]

Do the poll!

That's what she said

 

[Supernova]

I finally watched Oblvion the other day and I thought it was really well done, BUT I'm not a Tom Cruise fan so every time I did see Jack, I saw Tom Cruise and it kinda took me out of the movie. That red head was pretty hot.

Elysium is on my Netflix queue.

I found myself thinking I would totally take the red head over his in movie real wife.

 

[DaRkVeNgeanCe]

I really enjoyed Oblivion where as I only really liked certain scenes from Elysium which overall left a bad taste in my mouth so....

My vote goes to Oblivion

 

[Bim]

I honestly enjoyed Elysium a little more. Oblivion to me was kinda meh, i didnt really care for anyone in it lol.

 

[Erzengel]

It's harder to really get into a movie, when you're not emotionally attached to any of the characters.

 

[ThePowerCosmic]

Just watched Elysium for the first time yesterday. My vote goes to that one.

 

[Supernova]

I honestly enjoyed Elysium a little more. Oblivion to me was kinda meh, i didnt really care for anyone in it lol.

ironically I felt the same way about Elysium. lol

 

[hammerhedd11]

I wasn't looking forward to Oblivion at all, but surprisingly I found it to be one of the more underrated big budget films of the year. Elysium on the other hand was one of my biggest disappointments of last year and I have no desire to see it again.

 

[NosfeRomas]

Elysium for me. Better written and more tightly directed. It didn't blew my away but it was a good science fiction movie. Well composed in every way but nothing really groundbreaking.

I like Joseph Kosinski, i think his problem is he is afraid people will not take his movies seriously and he shoehornes pseudo-philosophical elements to his films at the very end and it feels forced, it doesn't really fit the tone which the movie was unfolding in the past 2 hours. It doesn't come off as smart or well thought but instead very forced.

 

[DCW]

Oblivion gets my vote, I bought the blu ray just for those amazing visuals.

 

[Bim]

Erz: indeed.

ironically I felt the same way about Elysium. lol

, that's life for ya. What works for some might not work for others

 

[Maximus One]

Elysium. Oblivion, while good, just felt some dead and lacking any real substance. Not that Elysium had much more substance but I think it is vastly under rated.

 

[Supernova]

Erz: indeed.


, that's life for ya. What works for some might not work for others

Good point, I don't know if your big on Blu-ray/ DVD commentary tracks or not but on the Transformers 1st movie Bay talks about when they had screenings for the movie, they had 2 screenings simultaneously and one had mostly kids in it and they were eating it up and the other was mostly adults and half that room was quiet. Long story short bay sat next to an older man and asked him if like it and the older guy said nah not my thing. But the movie went on to be hit so go figure.

 

[Poni_Boy]

Oblivion. Hands down. No contest. Elysium gets my vote as the most poorly executed big budget movie of 2013.

 

[DorkyFresh]

Obilivion surprised me a bit. I didn't expect it to be very good. GORGEOUS visuals to be sure but I didn't have much hope because Tron Legacy was pretty boring to me. But the story was better than I thought it would be. Unfortunately, very little else surprised me and it was pretty much what I was expecting. A lot of fantastic visuals but the action and acting fell very flat.

Elysium, was also pretty much what I was expecting, but then again I didn't have my hopes as high as others. I knew it was going to be dumbed down from D9 because it's a much bigger budget and it's meant to appeal to more people. So in that respect it met my expectations.

If I had to chose, I'd say Elysium because I can watch it more times than I can watch Oblivion. Once again, the designs and concepts in Oblivion are absolutely incredible but it wasn't very exciting. Despite the good cinematography, Kosinski just doesn't know how to direct a movie that really gets my heart going. Elysium had a couple of really well done action sequences and Blomkamp's style just lends itself better to storytelling. Elysium also had a couple of stand out characters (Kruger and Spider) who I would have a hard time imagining any other actor in those roles while Elysium had characters that almost any actor/actress could play….even Morgan Freeman's role!!

So while I enjoyed both films to an extent and neither of them got me to geek out the way say…Star Trek could, I'd say that Elysium is more enjoyable to watch and I feel that if people didn't go into it with the preconceived notion that it's going to have as much substance as D9 then they'd enjoy it a lot more as well. Kosinski needs to work on creating more memorable characters and exciting action sequences. Blomkamp should put more substance into his films rather than trying to pull a Michael Bay and do dumb action flicks. Either way, I look forward to seeing what else these guys have in store for the future.

 

[MrMaooz]

Elysium.

Oblivion was okay, but Elysium was great!

 

[Kane52630]

Oblivion was like someone made a movie just for me (Like Tron: Legacy), so it easily gets my vote. I'll see whatever Joseph Kosinski makes next on opening day.

 

[Octoberist]

Personally, I think Both won't be remember 10 years from now, but I would say Oblivion. Elysium to me will always be overshadowed by District 9, and being Neil's 'sophomore slump'. I hope he recovers. He think he will.

 

[Thundercrack85]

I really felt both were very weak movies. Excellent visuals, but rather underdeveloped story wise, and just lacking in substance overall.

But Elysium did have krazy Kruger, so it gets my vote.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Personally, I think Both won't be remember 10 years from now, but I would say Oblivion. Elysium to me will always be overshadowed by District 9, and being Neil's 'sophomore slump'. I hope he recovers. He think he will.

Yeah, pretty much.

Though I did really like the robots in Elysium. 10 years from now we might have some.