I am rather confused by the high reviews

Rating: 5/10 (28 May 2014)

(Mild spoilers near the end by comparing to other films)
Pros: Production values are excellent CGI is seamless Action, flashing lights and booms (WHOOPEE!)
Cons: Plot quickly degrades in second half of film All major plot elements are stolen from better films, and poorly executed here in comparison So much of this left me asking "why?"
I am from the old school, and a good sci fi film for me needs more than just cool special effects and some action. Almost 1/2-way into this film I actually thought to myself "Hey, this film is really good", it was building up to something, and while you had an idea, you were not sure what. Shortly after that, it all went downhill.
(spoilers begin here)
First off, so much of the actual premise of this film is stolen directly from the much better dramatic film "Moon". Not just in the premise and use of the clones as cogs in the machine - each set being manipulated through how reality is presented to them...but right down to the radiation boundary zones keeping the clones from running into each other. The thing is the premise made a lot more sense in Moon - where humans were using humans - presumably because it was easier for us, with our limited tech, to do that than to build machines that would be versatile enough to do the work. However, why do the aliens and/or their computers in Oblivion use humans to do their work on earth? It is an interesting and devious plot device, sinister to use ones own kind against them and all...but it just doesn't make sense. One can presume that a technology that is space-traveling for resource gathering, and whose automated drones are the bane of earthlings (only really effectively fought with alien weapons built for the clones)...one would think that they would have the technology to build maintenance drones as well, no? Instead of having a system in place that works everywhere, this alien force uses a strategy of finding an alien life-form on each planet it encounters, hoping that this life-form is suitable to maintenance tasks on its drones, then cloning them, adapting an entire system to be able to deceive them, feed them, house them, etc...it just doesn't make sense when they could just be having worker drones.
Second, the quasi-knight like human warriors...with absurdly big guns. Yeah, OK, whatever.
The computer that wants to meet the enemy? Why? The existing system clearly works well enough to have removed most of the oceans. It is clever enough to analyze voices and heart rates, but cannot conceive a potential betrayal - even after this clone has defied orders in so many ways, and been contaminated by the influence of humans?
This computer intelligence that can monitor heart rates etc, is unable to notice by any means that the passenger taken into its core is male, not female? Not by satellite monitoring, not by life sign analysis of the pod, not by mass analysis of the spacecraft it designed...not by any means.
It has no defenses, yet allows a potentially dangerous force into it's most vulnerable position...makes total sense.
I won't even go into the fight scenes, like how a super-high-tech-AI- alien drone can't aim or out-fly a limited human in a craft also designed by aliens...it must be, because, you know, the human mind is so much more precise than super-intelligent-alien-made AI-drones.
Overly long sports references...because sci fi fans love sports, right? Hey guys, maybe if we throw in something about the superbowl and let him wear his Yankees hat then we can broaden the appeal of the film, you know? I am amazed they didn't find a way to work in NASCAR (Or did I just miss it?)
I am sure if I thought about it more, I could go on...but just like so much in the last half of this film...I have to just ask "why?"