A fun cyberpunk romp

Rating: 7/10 (4 January 2017)

I thought it was fun and interesting. It could have explored some themes a lot better but I suspect there's more depth there than people first thought. It seems like Tom Cruise is pretty into cyberpunk. Vanilla Sky, Oblivion, Minority Report. Feels like buddy likes it. And so do I. This movie deserves a 7, I think. It was enjoyable, if a bit transparent but acting was good, production values were great, some great shots, and as I said, deeper than some might have thought initially.
So I debated as to if this is cyberpunk or not and in the end I think it is. With all these movies when I give my thoughts here there will be spoilers I'm sure.
There's a stark contrast of colours in use: Tech is always white from the guns to his ship. It's always in stark contrast to organic substance.
He begins with always seeking out a more organic life as the system can't fulfill what he's looking for. Including changing into other clothes and having an existence entirely separate from his purpose and the system in place.
His very nature is what ultimately sets him free, a very cyberpunk theme and while he's searching for this elusive thing, the music is almost always very cyberpunk and it changes to something else when he's on task for the system.
When he does finally deviate from exactly what he's supposed to do in a way that is essentially a form of desertion he's told this: "... I can't protect you"
Also it's telling that the "scad" are not portrayed as human until the protagonist goes against the system and is forced to learn the truth, all the while within he's bathed in a spotlight no less. But is being held in a dirty, grungy place. Which his uniform now is, for the entire rest of the movie.
"You're not who you think you are"
A prevailing theme in it is nature vs technology, it is constantly rebelling against tech. For instance the system can't track him when he's literally inside of it, multiple lightning strikes disable tech during the course of the movie, and he continues to remember things despite whatever tech was used for him to be reprogrammed.
As in most cyberpunk, the punishment is death for not being apart of the system, often the death of others close to the protagonist. Often this comes with an unwelcome truth, as it did here as well.
Technology is neutral within the setting, with both sides using it as they see fit. While not typical of cyberpunk, it isn't straying from it either as the protagonist could be viewed as technology themselves. With nature vs tech vying over him constantly throughout the film with his memories vs programming.
When they're running away in their hideout as they're being attacked, there is flickering lights in their sanctuary meaning that the system is there and things are in contention. This seems to happen in pretty much allllll western cyberpunk films. Probably from noir?