I went to see the new Tom Cruise / Morgan Freeman movie Oblivion last night. While I had expected it to be reasonably good, it was better than I expected.
The premise is that after an alien attack, humans evacuate Earth for Titan. (This part of the premise was one of several things I had originally filed under "OK, work with me, here" but turned out to have a real reason behind it.) Jack (Tom Cruise) and his partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) are part of a "mop-up crew" watching over and repairing the drones that guard an energy project that is part of the evacuation.
Without getting into massive spoilers, all I can say is that the movie is about the slow unraveling of this scenario, and for me, it worked. The psychological elements were particularly well-done for an action movie.
I found the action sequences a bit too long and generally didn't contribute enough to the story for the screen time they burned, but I've had that problem with most movies I've seen lately with any action elements. I think it may be a generational change in style as much as anything.
I'll say right now that there are some plot holes and assumptions that you do have to buy -- machines capable of space flight that can be discombobulated by a lightning strike, atmospheric craft capable of the jump to low orbit, the necessity of seawater for fusion power -- but I think I've had these sorts of issues with most big-screen SF. For some reason, movies usually seem to lack the world-building rigor of the written form. And as I said, several things I wrote off as spurious turned out to be more realistic than I thought.
Anyway, I found it a worthwhile and entertaining experience; I hope others do, too.
