The year is 2077. Earth has been invaded. The humans won the war, but the planet has been completely devastated. Jack (Tom Cruise) is one of the few humans still living on the planet. The rest have been sent to a space station in preparation to moving to a new home.

There are several hydro rigs that are harvesting water to use for the spaceships reactor. Jack’s job is to repair the drones that defend the Earth from the alien invaders. Along with his tower partner/lover Victoria (Andrea Riseborough), they monitor all the drones and any activity by the Scavengers. The Scavs, as they call them take whatever they can for themselves, and pose a threat to the hydro rigs, and the remaining humans.

When the Scavs build a transmitter that causes a ship to crash. Jack goes to investigate the site. He finds only one survivor, Julia (Olga Kurylenko) the girl he has been dreaming about. Through Julia, Jack begins to learn the truth about himself, the Scavs, and the mission that was wiped from his memory.

I’ve said before that as much as I want to hate Tom Cruise, he definitely has talent. That being said, this isn’t one of his better movies. (And does Jack seem to be such a popular name for the characters he plays?) It’s a little on the dull and slow side, but nothing that makes it unwatchable. Morgan Freeman does an ok job as the leader of the scavengers. But he’s not on the level that you expect from Morgan Freeman. I mean, he was God. I hold him to higher standards than most actors.

The action was ok. It is standard science fiction fare. There are several chase scenes, and plenty of good guys shooting at bad guys. I am a little surprised this film wasn’t released in 3D. This is one of those films that could really take advantage of the format.

You do reach a certain point in the movie where you just think, “Wait, what?” I don’t want to give too much away. It was a bit of an unexpected plot twist, and they don’t really explain it until closer to the end of the movie. It’s not enough to take a mediocre movie and make it into a good movie, but it is interesting, nonetheless.

You won’t hate yourself for sitting through Oblivion. You will just find yourself wandering, “Could I have made a better choice?” Yes. Yes you could have.