A moody, thought provoking movie

Rating: 9/10 (10 July 2014)

I'm not surprised by the mediocre scores - it is a movie that wants to engage with people at a more intellectual level. It doesn't spoon feed the audience an infantile plot - you are going to need to think a little about this one. Great movie and very thought provoking.
The CGI and action sequences in this movie are very good, but it's not what this movie is about and the lack of constant action is not going to entertain some. As this movie does not move at 100 mph and has some complex ideas and a darker moodiness to it, it will not appeal to everyone. However, if you like a movie that provokes thought, that leaves some deeper philosophical questions and ties it together with high production values, you will love this one.
As I watched this movie, I queried some of the plot choices and see many of the same questions I asked myself here on this site. As the movie progressed though, these queries were answered. There are no inconsistencies and everything fits into a tight package. A lot of it does not becomes clear until we hear the flight recording toward the end. For me it was an 'oh yeh' type moment that helps fit things in place, such as why Jack was with Victoria.
Quite a few spoilers coming up.
I read some comments that criticised the ending - someone called it facile resolution. I think this is wrong. The resolution wasn't about having to go in guns blazing at the end, the resolution came from beating the system. Having to fight his way to the Tet or overcome physical barriers put up by the Tet would belittle the battle to discover who he was and why he was there.
Why did it take the scavs 60 years to bring down the spacecraft? It could have been five years or it could have been 500 years. Presumably they had not captured a drone until this point and didn't need the fuel cells from the spacecraft until then. Capturing the drone motivated this action. It took time to capture the drone because time was needed to progress to a point where spare parts were in short supply and the drones could not be reliably repaired. Why weren't there enough spare parts? I think this was a plug for the human capacity to resist and employ guerrilla tactics - something an alien being may not have expected.
What a remarkable coincidence that jack's wife was on the spacecraft. No it wasn't. Jack and his wife were both on the spacecraft originally. Jack and Victoria were the only humans to come into contact with the Tet as they were in the lunar module - the reason they were cloned and manned the towers on earth - the remainder of the spacecraft was left to orbit earth. It was clear that the Tet didn't really understand humans and human relationships. It explained why Jack and Victoria had such an unusual relationship and were not entirely compatible - which was really well portrayed and added good tension in the earlier part of the movie.
What did the aliens need all the power for? It is not explained and not relevant to progressing the story.
For me the movie raised a lot of other questions about clones. If I am a clone with the same memories as the original, am I for all intents and purposes the original. Is Jack 52 just as much the father to Julia's daughter as Jack 49?