Film

Oblivion

Name: Oblivion
Genre: Adventure, Science Fiction, Western, Comedy
Released: 1994
Cast: Richard Joseph Paul, Jackie Swanson, Andrew Divoff, Meg Foster, Isaac Hayes

Other titles called Oblivion: the 2013 film.

A pacifist inherits his murdered father's role as sheriff on a desert planet where robots and aliens wear cowboy hats. It's earnest sci-fi absurdism that commits fully to its premise—part western, part space opera, wholly uninterested in irony. For people who love movies that are exactly as weird as they sound.

TMDb rating

2.5

If you liked this

The Hidden1987

An alien shapeshifter hunts through human hosts in this lean, nasty action film. It has the same pulpy creature-feature energy as Oblivion, but played dead straight and devastatingly tense.

But It's genuinely violent in ways that feel less playful. Some may find the body-horror and gore effects unsettling rather than entertaining.

Cherry 20001987

A retro-futuristic western-adventure hybrid with practical effects, a winking tone, and genuine stakes underneath the silliness. It understands how to balance earnestness with the absurdity of its own premise.

But The pacing is oddly slack at times, and the romance subplot doesn't always land. It's also genuinely obscure—you may never have heard of it before.

Trancers1984

A noir-tinged time-travel cop thriller from the director of The Hidden. It has that same B-movie conviction—low budget, high idea-density, and genuine inventiveness in how it solves problems on screen.

But It looks dated even by 1980s standards, and the dialogue can feel stiff. If you're looking for slick action, this isn't it.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Oblivion

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot1967

Both films treat their absurd premises without a trace of irony, trusting the audience to follow them into completely strange worlds. That refusal to wink is where the real joy lives.

A Japanese-American TV series where a boy pilots a giant robot to fight alien invaders. Like Oblivion, it's a flat-out genre mash (kaiju, spy thriller, western aesthetics) that simply refuses to explain itself or apologize for the weirdness.

But It's Saturday-morning television from 1967, which means jerky pacing, naive dialogue, and special effects that are charmingly crude. You have to be in the mood for camp as earnest sincerity.

Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot poster

Lifeforce1985

A vampire-from-space film that swings wildly between horror, action, and science fiction. It's visually baroque, completely unafraid of its own strangeness, and genuinely compels you to keep watching.

But The tonal whiplash can feel jarring rather than charming. It's also deeply strange in ways that require a particular appetite.

Gunhed1989

A Japanese sci-fi action film with practical effects, a genuine sense of peril, and complete commitment to its weird world. It has that same cheerful disregard for genre boundaries that makes Oblivion tick.

But It's subtitled, and the English dubbing is imperfect. The plot is secondary to the experience of watching it unfold.

Phase IV1974

Giant ants invade Arizona in this cerebral, visually stunning science-fiction film. It has a meditative quality beneath the creature feature premise, treating its material with genuine care.

But It's slow-burn and philosophical rather than action-packed. The ending is experimental and abstract in ways that alienate some viewers.

Krull1983

A fantasy-sci-fi western hybrid featuring a shapeshifting villain, a rebel fortress planet, and genuine stakes. It commits to its own world-building without winking, which gives it real emotional weight.

But The pacing is uneven, and some sequences drag. Taken seriously rather than enjoyed as camp, it can feel overwrought.

Battle Beyond the Stars1980

A space-western remake of The Magnificent Seven with practical effects and real charm. It's low-budget and sincere, with genuine affection for both the source material and its own premise.

But The effects are primitive, and the script is workmanlike rather than inspired. It requires patience and a particular tolerance for 1980s sci-fi roughness.

Midnight Express1978

Both are about a pacifist or gentle soul forced by circumstance to embrace violence in a hostile environment. The moral reckoning in each is earned, not easy.

A visceral prison-escape film set in Turkey that trades sci-fi for socio-political horror. It has Oblivion's skeleton: an outsider facing an unjust system in an alien landscape, forced to become someone harder to survive.

But It's brutal and offers no catharsis—the emotional payoff is complicated and difficult. If you need your hero's arc to feel redemptive, this will feel hollow.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace1999

Both films attempt to merge the western and science-fiction genres at a structural level, not just aesthetically. Both are interested in honor, gunfights, and desert mythology colliding with space-age trappings.

A western gunslinger plot dressed in space-opera drag, complete with desert planets, unlikely heroes, and practical effects layered with nascent CGI. It wants to be a planetary adventure serial in the same earnest register as Oblivion.

But The dialogue is famously wooden, the plot is overcomplicated, and the tonal choices have not aged well. Many find it actively unpleasant to watch, not merely disappointing.