Style Over Substance (But it's a style I like)

Rating: 7/10 (25 July 2013)

THIS REVIEW *DOES* CONTAIN SPOILERS.
Oblivion is almost very nearly the film that it so desperately wants to be: an intelligent, meditative, mind-blowing, sci-fi action epic about Humanity's last stand against a monstrous alien threat.
I absolutely adored the look of the film--the comfy little house in the clouds, the not-your-father's-Jetsons-car, the shattered Moon, the empty wasteland vistas of a ruined Earth, and the not-your-father's-ED209s-drones. The art direction, cinematography and direction come together to make this, for me, a very rich visual experience. I'll take this sort of thing any day over the A.D.D. chaos of a Transformers film or the seen-it-already visuals of the Star Trek reboots. It scratched every kewl sci-fi itch I had. The director knows his visuals.
The acting is solid, though its nothing that will end up on anyone's highlight reel. Cruise's character of Harper gets the lion's share of development here. Everyone else is sketched a bit too generically to be memorable (a common fault with movies budgeted at over $50 million nowadays).
Unfortunately, the movie fails in the plotting department and takes too many cues from other films. Is it too much to ask for my smart sci-fi films to be smart? I don't mean "not really stupid" but actually smart. Is that possible? Case in point: It's implied that the cloning of Jack and Victoria by the Tet assists it in draining the earth of its natural resources. But, given the technology level of the Tet, this clone work force doesn't seem particularly necessary to justify the elaborate process. I hard sci-fi story would have and I found Oblivion's laziness disappointing.
I gather the Tet somehow downloaded the minds of the original specimens to keep their skill sets but then modified the memory portions to keep the clones under control (explaining away the changes with a security memory-wipe fiction). There are too many questions here and no answers, which is problematic when the conceit is so central to the storyline.
Other quibbles include Victoria's gray dress and heels. Why exactly? So she can play Suzy homemaker in the sky? Seemed a little sexist. Morgan Freeman's goggle-shades just seemed weird. Everyone had cool guns, though, so there's that (priorities!). But, in the final action sequence, Cruise dives out of the way of a slow-moving fireball in a trope that's 20 years past its expiration date.
I'd also like alien invasion film in which we defeat the baddies in some way OTHER than:
1. The aliens making a grave miscalculation about hospitable conditions on Earth and perish (Signs, War of the Worlds).
2. Us nuking the mothership (everything else).
Still, I found the faults of Oblivion mostly manageable in comparison to other the far dumber sci-fi action flicks of recent years (Cowboys & Aliens, Battleship, Transformers, Star Trek reboots, etc.) and really enjoyed myself. For me, the spectacular look of the film is enough.