Entertaining, but in no way a masterpiece.

Rating: 6/10 (10 April 2013)

Coming out of the theatres following my viewing of this film, I was confused. I couldn't decide whether I liked it or not.
The ending was rushed, clichéd and quite cheesy, that I was sure about. But I had enjoyed the film, more or less. The visuals are stunning. The cinematography was truly impressive and I think it is these Prometheus-esque visuals (in terms of quality) that successfully manage to distract you from what is actually quite an appalling film.
The storyline is shallow and the large majority of characters undeveloped (I honestly don't see much point in Morgan Freeman's character). Even after the real human faction is revealed and a group of drones rampage around massacring everyone, you just don't feel anywhere near the amount of sympathy as you should do.
When the super villain is finally revealed, anyone who has seen 2001: A Space Odyssey will have immediately recognised a blown up version of Hal. The (fairly predictable) clone twist is reminiscent of Moon although it is accepted by the characters after only a couple of seconds of conflict.
The first twenty minutes however, were very good (minus the lightning scene). The setting of the post apocalyptic time frame was laid out beautifully with a collection of scenes which almost reminded me of a futuristic version of I Am Legend.
Yes underneath the film is a very generic amalgamation of various sci-fis that came before and it is definitely not a masterpiece in itself, but to the open minded viewer it provides more than enough to give you an easy two hours of mild entertainment and pretty landscapes.
(Does anyone else question Tom Cruise's morals in stranding his wife alone in a valley for three years, thus forcing her to give birth by herself? Oh yeah and when did that happen? Hours after she was shot? Wait how did she recover?)