Oblivion (2013)

Yet another apocalypse movie in which the apocalypse does not, strictly speaking, take place. Never mind a destroyed moon, New York City buried beneath the prairie, nor cataclysm in the sky, the “oblivion” here is that Tom Cruise does not know that he is a clone. Megababe Olga Kurlyenko reminds him of his “human” nature and so he descends class strata, from living high in the sky in technological luxury, where the clones live, down to earth to live the cabin-life in a heavily idealized mountain valley. This is a very watchable movie that is entirely unaware of its weirder implications re cinema, celebrity and identity. The implications are:

1: “Identity” is something that is fabricated and transmitted from larger cultural structures; ie Cinema itself.

2: Tom Cruise, the actor, is a clone whose identity is maintained by the studios and who is replicated for each subsequent movie.

3: a static and immutable celebrity is techno-capital’s version of immortality.  

4: Tom Cruise has achieved immortal-god-status by virtue of his sheer replicability and there will be new Tom Cruise movies from now to perpetuity starring a Tom Cruise who will never change or die.

5. The apocalypse will not happen to Tom Cruise.