I feel like someone needs to slap almost every movie reviewer/film critic who has reviewed Oblivion and said it's 'derivative' and therefore somehow a lesser film because of it.Yes, Oblivion is derivative but you can say that about almost every movie - even some of the best. They're all derivative of something - especially science fiction films.
Oblivion is set in a post nuclear war Earth where the planet has been decimated. Never seen that in any sci-fi film ever right? The Earth was attacked by Aliens and destroyed. Haven't seen that before either, right?
If I were to keep listing how Oblivion is derivative I'd eventually destroy the plot for you, if you've yet to see it. Especially towards the end where you may even think that final solution to the alien threat was so derivative you're struggling to choose which movie you haven't seen that in.
My point is, that being derivative doesn't matter all that much. What counts is does the film tell a good story? I think Oblivion does. Don't listen to critics just go in with the least amount of knowledge as you can. This story will unfold quite nicely before your eyes and lead you somewhere that you perhaps weren't expecting by the end.
In fact, if you haven't seen it, watch the trailer below. That's all you need to know going in. If you can, see it on a big screen because the visuals and action are worth the price alone. Watching some of the tech in action is one of the best parts of seeing the movie.
Another thing I'm sick of hearing is critics complaining about Tom Cruise playing himself in movies.... WTF? Jack Nicholson's whole career is based around him playing himself. Same with Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, Hugh Grant and even Morgan Freeman. All of these actors have a few roles here and there that pushed them into something special with their performances but generally, you go to see them play themselves.
Tom Cruise is great at being Tom Cruise in Oblivion. The script doesn't require him to be anything else. It's a sci fi action film with just enough character development to get the story across. How deep can it actually be when Tom's character has had his memory erased prior to the start of his mission (that's not really a spoiler. You find that out very early on in the movie).
If there is something that does let this movie down, I'd have to say it's within the script its self because it doesn't go very deep into the back story of anything. You may come out of the film wishing you could have had more detail about everything... and maybe a bit more screen time for Morgan Freeman too (whose costume was derivative of Christian Bale's Bat Suit except with hockey pads - yeah, bad joke but he did look a little like Lucius Fox in Batman cos-play!).
If you're a sci-fi fan there's no reason you won't enjoy the film. You'll enjoy it even more if you like Tom Cruise. Probably not so much if you were going for Morgan Freeman due to his short amount of screen time.
The visuals and tech are memorable. The action is exciting. The story is probably not quite what you were expecting based upon the trailer however it will give you something to think about at the end.
I'd buy this for my sci-fi movie collection.