Big plot twist is not enough to save this standard Cruise sci-fi actioner from mediocrity

Rating: 5/10 (21 November 2013)

In the U.S., 'Oblivion' grossed approximately $89 million. Overseas it was close to $197 million. What does this tell us? For all those non-English speaking people, the Oblivion narrative perhaps wasn't all that important—special effects and one action scene after another, were the key to the overseas success. Here perhaps word got out that this Tom Cruise vehicle was not as gripping in terms of narrative, as the Oblivion marketing people, led us to believe. There were possible reasons for this, mainly having to do with the nature of the story itself.
As I found this sci-fi, action adventure film to be mediocre at best, I have no trepidations about giving away the main twist that the main plot rests its head on. So if you haven't seen the film, I strongly suggest you quit reading here and read some of the more critical reviews found at Metacritic, which don't give away the whole kit and caboodle.
We're led to believe that Tom Cruises' 'Jack Harper', is a drone repairman in charge of servicing various sphere-shaped drones that emanate from a tetrahedral space station dubbed 'Tet', run by the 'good 'guys'—the surviving humans, represented by the mission commander, 'Sally', who it turns out is a computer generated entity, similar to the 'HAL' of 'A Space Odyssey'. Harper has been told that the drones service and protect fusion power generators on earth that are supposedly extracting the necessary energy for a plan to have the rest of humanity migrate to the Saturn moon, Titan. All this after an apocalypse on earth, caused by alien 'Scavengers'. Harper believes that humans defeated the 'Scavs' after they destroyed the moon, decimating earth due to the resulting gravitational shifts. Remnants of the Scavengers still remain on earth, attempting to destroy the drones which must keep the power generators operating.
Before the break into the second act of the story, 'Oblivion' operates as a typical sci-fi action adventure flick. Harper's significant other, Victoria (aka Vika), has dramatically little to do, operating the computer console and assisting Harper keep track of the drones back at their house 'in the clouds'. At a certain point, Harper gets involved in a chase with the drones very reminiscent of the chase inside the death star in Star Wars. Finally, things get mildly interesting when Harper saves Julia, a human astronaut in stasis from before the apocalypse on earth. Harper has vague memories of Julia, despite having his memory 'wiped' by his overseers.
When Harper discovers that he's a clone, he finally figures out that the 'Scavs' are actually the good guys as they are not aliens but humans who are battling the true aliens, represented by 'Sally' up in the 'mother ship'. So the second half has Harper joining forces with the Scavs, in their effort to destroy the aliens. It turns out that right before the alien invasion, there was a mission to Titan with the original Harper and Vika as the astronauts at the controls. Those two turn back to engage the aliens but before doing so, jettison the rest of the crew (including Julia), who turns out to be Jack's wife before the apocalypse. Harper and Vika are the prototypes used by the aliens to create the clones.
'Oblivion' asks us to applaud the twists and turns in the plot, particularly the revelation that Harper is a clone and the Scavs are actually human. But it's not enough to make this compelling drama. The problem is that Cruise is not pitted against a well drawn out antagonist throughout the narrative. Before the 'big twist', Cruise as Harper battles the faceless 'Scavs', who look like rejects from the first Star Wars series. Even after it's revealed that Sally and her minions, are the true villains, Harper spends most of his time battling the antagonists' surrogates: the drones who are constantly trying to annihilate him. This is also true of the first half of Act II—it's the opposition to the drones that basically fuels most of the conflict in the script. 'Oblivion' really is reduced to a standard sci-fi actioner for most of the time.
'Oblivion' also feels like an amalgam of many sci-fi predecessors. We've already alluded to 'Star Wars' but one is also reminded of 'Planet of the Apes', in its scenes of a ruined New York City after the apocalypse (here it's the shell of the Empire State Building which triggers Harper's memories of meeting Julia for the first time)—of course in 'Planet', it's the 'Statue Liberty' that gets the end of the world treatment.
Both 'Oblivion' and 'I, Robot' have similar antagonists—a female voice which represents an entire computer network. Both 'Sally' and 'VIKKI', serve similar functions and both Will Smith and Tom Cruise must destroy the network in order to save the day. 'I, Robot', however, is much more compelling since Will Smith's character has a complex ally to play off of ('Sonny' the robot). Not so for Cruise, whose strongest ally is Julia (who is hardly what you would call a foil at all).
'Oblivion' just rates an average 5.0 out of 10.0 in my book. It's got some nice special effects and that one big aforementioned twist. But in the end, 'Oblivion' is nothing more than a glorified 'shoot em up', with Cruise playing his usual 'good guy' part. I certainly wouldn't discourage the first time viewer from watching it but it's not something I would want to take a peek at, on a second go-round at all.