I, as well as many original fans of Tom Cruise have all but given up on the once great actor, due to his silly behavior in real life, but his performance in Oblivion is a step back to his true form.

I may eat my words with whatever potential crap he stars in in the future, but for now he has managed to get back in my good graces.

Oblivion is the second direction job for Joseph Kosinski, the mastermind behind the much heralded Tron: Legacy film. He wrote and directed this from an unpublished graphic novel he wrote under the same moniker.

Oblivion is set in the year 2077 and Tom Cruise plays Tech 49 Jack Harper, who is one of the last remaining repairmen left on earth. According to Jack Earth, when the moon was destroyed, an alien group called the scavengers invaded earth. He says we won the war but lost the earth, as the only means of defeating the scavengers was to use nuclear weapons.

Since the earth was left mostly uninhabitable, the remaining citizens of the planet were ushered off to Saturn’s moon Titan. He and his team partner Vika (Andrea Riseborough) are the only two people left on the planet and are tasked with ensuring the safety of the drones which protect the massive sea fusion energy harvesters.

The real meat of the story comes in when Jack encounters an old NASA spacecraft that appears to have been shot down by the scavengers. He goes against his orders to stand down and proceeds to check the crash site for survivors. As he approaches the craft he notices surviving crew and tries to ensure safety when a drone shows up and starts killing the crew members. He does, however, manage to save one of the crew, a woman named Julia (Olga Kurylenko).

Jack knows he has seen her before, but since his memory was wiped out he has no idea who she actually is other than he dreams about her all the time. As the twisting plot begins to unfold, Jack is captured by the scavengers and is introduced to their leader who, as it turns out is not an alien but a fellow human named Malcom (Morgan Freeman). Malcolm proceeds to enlighten Jack on the real happenings of earth and sends him on a journey to rediscover who he really is.

Overall thoughts:
Let’s start with the negative stuff. Oblivion was a bit light on some of the story and had some plot holes that took some time to figure out. This does not, however, have much affect on the movie as a whole, but I would have liked to seen a bit more of the world up to the 2077 mark. I realize though this would have made it like a 3 hour movie and not many people like sitting through a movie that long.

Now for the good stuff! Oblivion was an incredible, visual spectacle just like Joseph Kosinskis directorial debut Tron: Legacy. Though it has its faults, it was incredible to see the desolate earth that existed in this time. All of the characters were captivating and keep your attention.

It has a pretty good back story that long story short says, humans are stronger than we think and we will persevere even through a potential extinction event. It was not very fast paced which I liked; it took most of the movie to really show you what was going on. Once you’re over the low ride up to the top of the coaster it is a fast spiral down so it’s worth the wait!

I give it 7.5 out of 10