"Oblivion"- Decent entertainment but overlong, generic, simplistic and often derivative of other (better) films. Alright popcorn adventure, but far from anything special.

Rating: 7/10 (2 February 2014)

Tom Cruise stars as what more-or-less amounts to a glorified repair man in "Oblivion", a Sci-Fi adventure from director Joseph Kosinski, who was responsible for Disney's long-awaited "Tron: Legacy." Yes, instead of being a dashing pilot, or an adventurer, action-hero Cruise is little more than the guy who comes in to fix your pipes while accidentally exposing the top of his rear-end due to slightly saggy pants. (Although to the character's credit, he repairs advanced technology- mainly drones.)
I don't know why, but the idea that Cruise is a repair-guy just sort of tickled my humorous side. Especially considering he's the most ripped, buff and "action hero"-y repair man I've ever seen... but I digress.
The film focuses on Cruise's character, Jack Harper, one of the few remaining human's colonizing Earth after a horrible battle with vile aliens known as "Scavangers" or "Scavs", which forced other survivors to flee the planet. Living with his partner (and lover) Victoria Olsen (Andrea Riseborough), Harper oversees the maintenance of heavily armed drones, which patrol the surface in order to protect hydro-plants used for the generation of fusion energy from the remaining Scavs living on the surface. However, after discovering another surviving human named Sally (Melissa Leo), and learning more about the true nature of the Scavs, Harper is forced into a fight for survival that will leave him questioning which side he should be fighting for.
The acting is actually very solid. Cruise as always proves to be a fun and charismatic lead, and despite picking on his profession above, he makes for a very solid performance, and is compelling and likable. Riseborough is also quite good in her role (and quite stunning I may add), although she doesn't have too much to do within the narrative, which was unfortunately a bit of a letdown, especially given some of the twists and turns that I will not spoil. Leo is decent in her role, and she has a lot more to do than Riseborough, although I honestly felt that both Cruise and Riseborough overshadowed her. Something about her just wasn't quite as compelling. And other supporting roles (the names of who I won't mention due to spoilers) are generally quite well-played.
The direction is also very good. Kosinski is a very capable visual storyteller, and his work here is very slick, concise and stylish. I really appreciated that unlike virtually every other director working today, he doesn't over-use "shaky-cam" or rely on crafting a dark, gritty work. He's perfectly happy with still shots and sweeping photography, which felt like a breath of fresh air compared to most other modern Hollywood films. I'm sorry, but I wish shaky-cam and grit would just sort of go away for a while. It works sometimes, but Hollywood is just too obsessed with it.
The rest of the production is also quite nice. While the costume and set design is a bit generic (for example, the Scav's suits look almost identical to predators from the movie... um... "Predator"), it's all of a very high quality. And the visual effects were quite nice, and didn't take me out of the story as they do in other films.
However, the problem here is not the production, cast or direction. The issue is the script by Karl Gajdusek and Michael DeBruyn, based on an unpublished comic by director Joseph Kosinski. It's just not very good. It's about 15 minutes too long, quite generic, overly simplistic and often derivative of many other (much better) Sci-Fi adventure films. It's not all that compelling a story either, nor is it particularly original. And it was loaded with a lot of sequences that felt like unneeded filler. Many people have commented that the film seems to contain countless tropes and ideas from Sci-Fi film history, which I agree with, and believe it cheapens the story to an extent. Unfortunately, while the rest of the film is actually very good, the script is just mediocre to the point it drags the entire thing down a few points.
Which is a shame.
I think this had potential. With another re-write or two, it could've even potentially become a modern Sci-Fi masterpiece. But with the script that they used, I unfortunately can't give this film anything more than a pretty- good 7 out of 10.
I think this film is still definitely worth giving a shot, and a lot of people will find it fun and entertaining... but don't expect much thought or heart to be there. Because it isn't there.