Oblivion

The world didn't end last year. So now, we face Oblivion.

Actually, it's only a movie.

It's directed by Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy), who pitched the story as a graphic novel. The end result looks great, sounds great, but its story is only OK.

Jack (Tom Cruise) and Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) live on Earth in 2077. Sixty years earlier, alien Scavengers invaded the planet. They got driven off, but Earth got wasted. So now, humanity is on Saturn's moon Titan.

Our heroes have to extract Earth's resources for the new home world. They also have to repair the drones who battle the remaining Scavengers.

A space ship crashes to Earth one day. In the wreckage is Julia (Olga Kurylenko), the literal woman of Jack's dreams. For some reason, the drones tried to kill her. Jack tries to find out why, which results in some big secrets.

(Excuse me while I catch my breath.)

(So anyway...)

Its scenery, filmed mainly in Iceland, looks great. It's supposed to be New York in the future, but you wouldn't know that from first glance. Its CGI additions make it look like a real wasteland. The futuristic vehicles, a mix of CGI and on-set props, are creative as well.

As Jack, Tom Cruise is a confident, likable action hero. He helps the film even as the story gets murky overtime. In particular, there's a final plot twist that's more perplexing than shocking. Meanwhile, the film treats some supposedly important supporting characters as background.

It's not in 3D, so the choice is whether to see Oblivion at all. It's an adequate pre-summer blockbuster, but it could've been quite better.