Oblivion

Oblivion is a low-budget cheesy space-western with so many in-jokes and running gags and stereotypes that it has twice been the cornerstone of video parties at my place!

The story is coherent-but-flimsy. The real fun is in the bizarre special-effects, the character references, the costumes, etc.

To enjoy this movie, make sure you know what the major players have done before. Keep it in mind. Listen to every word. Have half-a-dozen other people there. With lots of snacks or beer.

Oh, and the plot? Who cares. Much like a Batman or Addam's Family movie (for several reasons, both), this movie is about look, feel, and fun. Plot is almost incidental.

Fun-tastic sf-western, full of gags, thanks to a sassy script from Peter David: the son of a great marshall of the law is forced against his will to take the star from the deceased father and fight against a bunch of criminals, lead by a lizardman call Red-Eye. I think this is the only movie where you may find a Wishmaster, a Catwoman, a Sulu, a Lurch...

Set in the year 3031 on a frontier planet light years away from Earth, a bizarre gang of desperadoes set on turning the tumbleweed town of Oblivion into their own private haven.

Made nearly 20 years before the arguably pretentious Cowboys and Aliens, Oblivion is an obscure FullMoon nugget. Although the costumes and sets appear cheap they're fitting enough in this outlandish western futuristic alien tale.  Despite the offbeat humour and pacing director Sam Irvin gives us forcefields, cyborgs, fistfights, spaceships, guns, gadgets and giant Harryhausen- like scorpions. Oblivion is an 90s film with and 1980's b-feel and 70s stock soundtrack heart. 

The 'Biff Tannen' villain Redeye played by Andrew Divoff makeup is effective. There's an odd mix pop-culture cast including Batman's Julie Newmar, Star Treks George Takei, singing legend Isaac Hayes, Master of the Universe and They Live's Meg Foster to name a few. There's also a leather-clad whip sporting  Musetta Vander who looks particularly fetching. 

If you like B-films and enjoy the unlikely list of genre crossovers Oblivion is the closest you'll get to a live action BraveStarr.

Uncomfortable blend of sci-fi and western, never really pulls it together. Take away the stop action scorpions and you have a pretty dull western. Take away the western and you have an amateurish sci-fi. The characters are all cartoon like and some scenes are not only unnecessary, but go on far too long. Trashing the store for instance could have been left on the cutting room floor. I realize this is not "Casablanca", but "Oblivion" really doesn't know what it wants to be. Sci-fi fans are certain to be disappointed, and western fans will find the script boring. I wanted to find a gem here, but unfortunately did not. - MERK

Oblivion doesn't take itself seriously and you shouldn't take it seriously either. While it makes a virtue out of cliche and easily achieves its aim of being "so bad that it's good" it has a wagon load of in jokes, half a dozen cult actors and one very sexy woman known as Lash. It's well worth top billing at a late night beer and pizza party.