Tom Cruise zipping through the sky–shades of Top Gun. It worked in the ‘80s, why not try it again? That seemed to be the thought at the heart of Oblivion, Cruise’s new science fiction/action film. But fancy flying and beautiful vistas can only take you so far, then you start looking more deeply at the plot . . . .

The setup (from the voice-over) is that Earth was thrown into chaos, then invaded by aliens. We fought back and won the war–but the process left Earth destroyed. Now the seawater is being converted to hydroelectric power for a colony on Titan, where nearly all of the remaining humans have been evacuated. Heavily-armed drones protect the extraction rigs.

Jack Harper (Cruise) and his partner Victoria Olsen (Andrea Riseborough) are among the few remaining humans on Earth. They live in Tower 49, a gorgeous glass-enclosed apartment high up in the mountains with everything they could possibly need. It serves as their base of operations as well: Vica is in charge of communications and “watches Jack’s back” as he commutes down to Earth to maintain and repair the drones.

Vica, who spends all her time in the tower, longs for the day when they leave Earth behind for good and join the colony on Titan. Jack, who spends time on Earth and sees signs of the civilization that was, isn’t as ready to leave it behind forever.
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