Cruise control: Sci-Fi adventure looks good; thin story

Rating: 6/10 (20 April 2013)

He may have changed his name from "Jack Reacher" to "Jack Harper," but he still plays the same lone wolf, disgruntled, skeptic trying to fight for the little guy.
Here, in the Joseph Kosinski-directed ("TRON: Legacy," but we won't hold that against him) sci-fi epic, "Oblivion," Cruise explains the plot in a pre-credit segment which tells of an Earth in 2077 that was victimized by alien invasion, space wars, the destruction of the moon (if that's conceivable) and a radiation-poisoned planet.
Because of this and despite we supposedly won the conflict, all of Earth's inhabitants have been shipped to Titan, one of the moons of Jupiter, while giant desalination plants are sucking the oceans dry to prepare the water supply for the colonists. Guarding these plants are a series of mechanical drones which, like the ED 209 robot enforcer in "RoboCop," are lethal, and can also fly at incredible speeds and are virtually invincible.
Harper is a drone repair specialist in a sector that contains the ruins of New York City, who along with Victoria (Andrea Riseborough, "Disconnect") man a luxury sky-high apartment (no, this isn't the Jefferson's) while spending several months on duty. In addition to fixing the machines, he sometimes has to battle rogue insect-like aliens (known as Scavs) who are intent on sabotaging as many of the drones as they can.
It's pretty basic stuff, but, of course in a film like this, nothing is what it seems. While on a patrol, he discovers a beeping beacon located within the ruins of the Empire State building and then the crash of a strange spacecraft - with human cargo, mainly Julia (Olga Kurylenko, "Seven Psychopaths"). Later, he is trapped by a group of Scavs who are also not who they seem to be.
We are then introduced to Morgan Freeman ("Olympus Has Fallen") and a group of war survivalists who did not make the trip to Titan, as well as a few more surprises. Movie borrows heavily from the 2003 remake of "Solaris," as well as "Minority Report," "Clone Wars," "Planet Of the Apes," "Moon," and "Total Recall," among others.
Based on the comic book (or graphic novel, if you will) by Kosinski and Arvid Nelson, the story has been told before, but is given a leg up with good performances by Cruise and Freeman and a delightfully low key evil take by mission control leader, "Sally" (Oscar winner Melissa Leo, "The Fighter").
Production values are also first-rate, with art direction by Joseph Bahran ("The Inclination: Zombie Invasion"), production design by Darren Gilford ("TRON: Legacy") and cinematography by Academy Award winner ("Life Of Pi") Claudio Miranda. The film looks spectacular with vast deserts, massive ruins of familiar locations, a devastated moon still in orbit and even a lush green oasis in the middle of all this destruction.
Even with a thin story and some cliché situations, "Oblivion" is a worthwhile installment in the genre, certainly much better than recent efforts, including the over-hyped "Prometheus" and the awful-looking upcoming production, "AfterEarth."