Pretty solid Sci-Fi and a great way to start the summer.

Rating: 8/10 (19 April 2013)

Oblivion is a movie that you can go and see without any false expectations. It intents to be a Summer Blockbuster and a Tom Cruise vehicle and it does so without any qualms. However, it also manages to be good science fiction in sort of the smart end of the spectrum.
My personal rule of thumb for good science fiction is that it has to contain the following:
1.- A fully developed setting. 2.- A plausible premise. 3.- An examination of human nature (or at least some aspects of it)
Oblivion contains all three and it also provides a couple of bonuses: a) some social commentary through the mindless repetition of greetings and "power phrases" that echo the worst of corporate culture and b) a lot of neat references to other films like Terminator, Predator, Blade Runner and most prominently 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The most notorious references to the Stanley Kubric classic are shown towards the end of the movie, but is obvious that *** BIG SPOILER ALERT*** the main premise of the movie is based on "What if the alien race in 2001 had not been benign" ***END SPOILER***
The visuals of the film are fantastic and the action and the pacing are pretty good too. Overall Director Joseph Kosinski did a great job. My only complain is the very last scene / shot of the film, i feel that is somewhat unnecessary and it would have been better to let the viewer reach that conclusion with their own imagination (after all is very predictable), but what can we do, I guess that is the nature of the Hollywood beast.
The acting is solid in general, even if the characters are not fully developed. Tom Cruise shows once again why he is one of the industry's best leading men. I have to admit though, that I was not too impressed with Olga Kurylenko's performance, but that may be because I can't help thinking that Jessica Chastain would have done a much more interesting job.
All in all Oblivion is a must see movie for this summer. I would say that is some mindless fun that manages to have some brains in it.