Imagine taking pieces from all the sci-fi classics, putting them in a blender, wrapping it in a shiny box; then pouring it on screen for mass consumption. That's pretty much the one-sentence summary of Oblivion. It doesn't make the film bad, far from it, but it strains mightily in the originality department. Tom Cruise stars as Jack Harper, a drone repair technician seventy-years in the future. Earth has been decimated by a war with alien invaders called "Scavs". They destroyed the moon, thus causing a tidal shift that wiped out most of the planet's population. Humans defeat the Scavs, but at a great cost. Survivors live on Saturn's moon, Titan. A huge v-shaped spaceship, called the Tet, operates giant machines that use fusion to create energy from ocean water; this fuel being the lifeblood of the Titan colony. Harper and his coworker/lover Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) live in the clouds. Their sole duty is to repair ultra-sophisticated attack drones that protect the fusion reactors from the remaining Scavs. Their memories have been wiped for security reasons, but Jack is haunted by dreams of a mysterious woman - Julia (Olga Kurylenko). His entire existence is thrown into question when a spectacular event leads him to find her.

Let's start with what's good. The special effects, sound, and cinematography are amazing. Claudio Miranda, who won the cinematography Oscar for Life of Pi, is still on his game. I was lucky enough to see the IMAX screening of Oblivion and was impressed by how beautifully shot the film was. Writer/director Joseph Kosinski's feature debut was the technically brilliant Tron Legacy. He's got the chops to make to a mega-budget sci-fi film and gets credit here for the craftwork. However, he needed to do better with his story, dialogue, and character development.

For all the sci-fi shenanigans throwing down, there's a soap opera-esque subplot that could have worked if it wasn't so predictable. Jack and Victoria are getting it on like rabbits in the clouds. Insert Julia, Jack's dream woman, and there's bound to be romantic conflict. This triangle affair takes up a sizable chunk of runtime. Morgan Freeman is billed as the lead costar in Oblivion, and looks to play a major part in the advertising, but this is not the case at all. The romance subplot is almost equal to the overall storyline. Andrea Riseborough's character is the primary costar. She's a good actress, but I was certainly surprised by how much time is spent on the love affairs.

Tom Cruise is becoming generic in his roles. His character of Jack Harper could easily be Jack Reacher in space. The haircut, the mannerisms, even though Jack Reacher is harder-edged tonally; it all seems so damned familiar. This is a bad sign for Cruise. You can't have different characters in two completely different genres being this similar. This is why it's called acting. Characters need to be different. Maybe Oblivion needed a director with more gravitas to force Cruise to mix it up more. Cruise produces his own films, so on set he's the boss. That kind of power can rob the director of creative discipline and I think this is the case here.

Oblivion has several plot twists that definitely do not come out of left field. It's obvious from the opening scenes, especially their interaction with their commander on the Tet, Sally (Melissa Leo), that there's something rotten. There's a lot of build-up to the big reveals, but you see it coming a mile away. This is the sci-fi axiom colada I was referring to. We've seen all this before in other films, usually done much better, so it's hard to be that impressed here.

Oblivion can be whittled down and is predictable, but I did walk out of the theater liking it. It's got enough good things going to make it entertaining and worth watching. It works as a popcorn flick, science-fiction that maybe a date who's not so interested in the genre would like. The romance aspect appeals to a different kind of audience than nerdy fanboys like me. IMAX is pricey, but I feel this film warrants the extra expense. The scenes in the clouds and with the drones are pretty cool to see on the bigger screen. Cruise gets a pass on this one for dialing it in, but he needs to start flexing some acting muscles in his films.