Amazing visuals, OK film

Rating: 6/10 (28 April 2017)

I love Tom Cruise in action + science fiction movies. He is one of the few actors who seem to believe those futuristic roles and is usually great in this sort of films. That being the case, I was looking forward to watching this film.
From the production and design point of view, this is a fantastic film, spectacular scenery and camera takes, very sleek futuristic design and a great atmosphere. Unlike your usual galactic out space story, this is not dark or cold, but very light, airy, bright and beautiful.
The story starts very promisingly, but soon deflates because the script starts to wander unnecessarily and is not organically presented to viewers, who will feel in a constant state of What the Heck? once the action starts. The plot, albeit intriguing and original, is not well developed for the big screen, and it is not clear enough, does not have a good tempo, it does not build up properly for the ending, and the editing contributes to the narrative confusion, when, in fact, the script is not that complex.
Personally, I think Andrea Riseborough is the best of the bunch in this film; she carries most of the intrigue, drama and confusion of the story with her acting. Cruise is good in his role, although not as convincing an brilliant as in the film he would shot the following year, Edge of Tomorrow. Olga Kurylenko is really sweet as Julia, and Morgan Freeman OK as the scavenger Bleech.
This is an enjoyable film with amazing visuals and, a priori, intriguing and original script, but the story is poorly told, the dialogues not especially inspired and the acting just all right. It could have been super-duper, but it is not because amazing visuals rarely make an amazing movie by themselves.