Oblivion

The Cruise is back, this time as (what else?) one of the last human beings on earth thanks to some alien naughtiness some sixty years previous. Cruise is Jack Harper, a repairman, who along with team mate Vika (Andrea Riseborough), maintain the huge power stations that have been developed on the nearly destroyed planet and which now help to support human life on a far away space station. It's all a bit more complex than that (the screenplay by director Joseph Kosinski, Karl Gajdusek and Michael Arndt is full of smart ideas), but the slow burning plot is best discovered as fresh as possible. Kosinski has stated that the film is an affectionate nod to the science fiction films that permeated 1970's cinema and you can't deny he hasn't failed to hit his target. However, as with a lot of those films, the sumptuous visuals can't distract from the fact that when it's all said and done what you're left with is nothing more than an existential muddle. On his day Cruise can really put in a performance, but he seems to have been stuck in the same style of acting for a while now and this is no different. On the plus side (despite the good natured skimping of ideas from other films) this still has a fresh feel to it in these days of franchise film after franchise film. Be warned though, the films signature phrase ("Are you an effective team?"), which was clearly meant to cross over into the cultural zeitgeist just gets more annoying the more times you hear it. Oh yeah, and Tom does some running. Rating: 7/10.