spectacular visuals but story is weak

Rating: 6/10 (21 December 2013)

Although I enjoyed Oblivion there were moments where I found myself beginning to lull. I certainly am not knocking the film for it's obvious nods and similarities to other sci-fi because there's nothing wrong with that but it never really is able to wow or fully grasp my attention. I really enjoyed the first part of the movie where you are initially introduced to the character and the setting. This kind of apocalyptic setting is one of my favorites and it really shines in this film.
Unfortunately there's never any draw towards the character and in my opinion Cruise was lackluster. He seemed very forced throughout the film and unnatural. Much like reading a Stephen King novel (especially It) as soon as I discovered what the aliens were (humans) it was a dull moment, not to mention the fact that if you see a trailer for a movie you can guess what's going to happen. They really tried to throw in as much as they could, what with clones, droids, etc.
Nothing just ever seemed to hold any weight. I was expecting an epic battle of thousands of Tom Cruises being sent to destroy the human resistance but instead the evil entity sent two drones. That for me was a let down, I certainly expected a big bang of a battle but was underwhelmed. I enjoyed seeing Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau but his character was so underdeveloped, he was just a familiar face. The story overall took a lot from other films but never gave the audience anything to hold onto.
There's certainly a homage to Hal 9000 but didn't give me the eerie feeling as a Space Odyssey did. All in all I thought the movie was an enjoyable one time experience and that's all it needed to be. It wasn't able to hold the atmosphere for the entire movie, only the beginning. Here's my biggest beef with the film; the ending. Tom Cruise flies into the evil triangle up in space with a nuke set to destroy it and put an end to the drones so humanity and repopulate Earth. The main issue here is from the beginning of the movie to the end-ish, the drones scan everything to tell if they're a threat or friend. Not here, not after Tom Cruise had defied Tet (Hal 9000) and just let him stroll on through with a nuke. Oh, and Morgan Freeman. Apparently they didn't want to check that the passenger he had with him was his wife but instead it was Morgan Freeman with a nuke.
Whereas earlier in the film the drones could even pick up his DNA particles in the air but they can't tell the difference between a white lady and a black man. It just didn't add up for me. Why would this super being even care about the survivor in the first place when it had just blasted them before. It seemed like an easy cop out. Then it goes back to earth and one of his clones meets up with his wife who apparently gave birth on her own and he intends to fill in as the father/husband role. I imagine it will be really awkward when they find the other 998 Tom Cruise's scouring the planet, maybe they'll take turns being the father/husband. Who knows!