Nice way to spend and afternoon but not earth shattering

Rating: 6/10 (21 April 2013)

This movie reportedly cost around 120 million. I assume that most of that was spent on the salaries Cruise and Freeman because as good as the effects were, in this day and age of PS3 and Xbox, let alone the next gen of PC games, it is almost impossible to distinguish between what is real and what is virtual. Too bad it wasn't spend making the set a bit more convincing or the story more original. Sure the Earth was devastated but did it have to be so total that only a few landmarks were left? The use of deserts always reeks of budget cuts. The design of the "chopper" and especially the drones wasn't as inspired as some people make it believe either. The drones could have come out of Portal and the chopper was apparently the last product Apple built before the Moon was blown up. Speaking of the shattered moon, that really looked like a painted matte. There even appeared some fire or magma which is hard to believe seeing the Moon is dead. The story had some nice twists which were pioneered in the Matrix and the end came straight out of Star Wars and Independence Day. All in all, if it wasn't for Cruise and Freeman, this movie probably would have been straight to BluRay instead of the blockbuster it undoubtedly will become.