Another Day in Paradise

Rating: 6/10 (27 April 2013)

Greetings again from the darkness. Here we have Exhibit Number One in proving the theory that no quantity or quality of movie special effects can overcome the lack a good story. Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy) directs his own graphic novel, and the result is a beautiful and impressive looking film that lacks any substance and fails to develop any characters for us to care about.
This almost plays as a sci-fi tribute with tips of the cap to at least the following: The Matrix, Moon, Total Recall, Inception, Planet of the Apes, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2001: A Space Odyssey ... and even Top Gun! Unfortunately, it falls short of all of those except for the stunning visual effects of the patrol drones (George Lucas would be proud) and the beautiful photography of Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi).
The most obvious comparison is with Wall-E. This time, Tom Cruise plays the "mop-up crew" along with his assigned spouse played by Andrea Riseborough (very good as Wallis Simpson in W.E., and recently seen in Disconnect). We learn from the initial voice-over (by Cruise, not Morgan Freeman) that Earth was left in ruins after a long battle with aliens. Now the last bit of Earth's resources are being harvested before it is deserted forever.
The cast is pretty deep with an extremely upbeat Melissa Leo showing up in the "Hal" role on a low-res video screen, Morgan Freeman and Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau as leaders of the underground surviving humans, Olga Kurylenko (a Bond girl in Quantum of Solace, and currently in To The Wonder), and even stunt-woman extraordinare Zoe Bell making an appearance.
All the wonderful toys are present, the look and feel are really something to see, the Jetsons-style home is kinda cool, and we get the ever-present Cruise sprint ... this time in a space suit! Despite all the goodies, this one just seems to fall flat in the ability to draw us in. If you are a sci-fi visual type, you'll get a kick out of it. Otherwise, look elsewhere for an effective team.