Oblivion

American commercials director Joseph Kosinski made an ambitious feature debut in 2010 with Disney’s “TRON: Legacy,” the anticipated sequel to the game-changing 1982 cult sci-fi flick “TRON” which, both in spite of and because of the hype, proved a disappointment for many: though visually dazzling, it was emotionally vacant and featured a leading performance so wooden it could be boxed up and sold at IKEA. Kosinski’s follow-up, a $120-million sci-fi thriller adapted from his unpublished graphic novel “Oblivion,” is a minor upgrade, flaunting big ideas, an intriguing plot and a leading actor who isn’t Garrett Hedlund. But for the second time in a row, Kosinski has directed a film that, while pleasingly designed and technically impressive, lacks the necessary spark to bring it to life — the result, once again, is a stunning spectacle, but a sterile one.

Set in the year 2077, “Oblivion” imagines a future Earth reduced to a nigh-uninhabitable, post-apocalyptic wasteland following a thwarted but catastrophic attack by alien invaders. What’s left of civilisation now hovers above the globe in a giant, upside-down pyramid while our planet’s last remaining resources are carefully extracted. Tom Cruise (“Jack Reacher”) is Jack Harper, a former astronaut tasked with repairing the unmanned drones that hunt down hostile alien life forms in the desolate American East Coast, as monitored from a palace in the sky by communications officer Victoria (Andrea Riseborough, “W.E.”) and overseen via video link by the chilly, disembodied voice of commander Sally (Melissa Leo, playing a perky, Southern-twanged HAL).

In two weeks, Jack and Victoria’s mission will be over and they will go join the rest of mankind on their new home, Saturn moon Titan. But when a spacecraft comes crashing down to Earth and from its fiery wreckage emerges the mysterious woman who for years has haunted Jack’s dreams (Olga Kurylenko, “To the Wonder”), Jack is forced to question the reality with which he has been presented and, to his horror, comes to realise that all is not as it seems.

There’s plenty to like in “Oblivion:” the future-tech design is neat, the techno score from M83 surges with a pulsating energy, and the tumultuous love triangle shared between Cruise, Riseborough and Kurylenko provides a brief but appreciated human element that crucially was missing from “TRON: Legacy." Unfortunately, glacial pacing means that the film drags considerably in its lengthy, world-building set-up, the story first gaining momentum well over an hour into the overstretched 120-minute runtime — by the time Morgan Freeman turns up, chomping on a cigar in a thankless supporting role as a goggled, all-knowing resistance leader, boredom has settled in, and the high-octane action that follows doesn't quite compensate.

Plus, the film is shrouded in an thick fog of eerie familiarity, far too derivative of other, better sci-fi movies: constantly borrowed, recycled and outright thieved are elements from enduring classics such as “Brazil,” “Planet of the Apes,” “The Terminator” and “Aliens,” along with newer, superior genre entries such as “Wall-E," “A.I.: Artificial Intelligence" and “Moon" — even the grand, explosive finale is a clone of that of “Independence Day," if without the goofy sense of humour and the unashamed sense of fun. As always, Cruise makes for a breezily charming action-hero and wanders the ruined Earth with the same troubled look of wistful longing recently sported by Will Smith in Francis Lawrence’s last-man-on-Earth pic “I Am Legend.” But in the realm of high-concept sci-fi blockbusters starring Mr Cruise, this is hardly “Minority Report” — still, Kosinski gives it a good go, and the barren landscapes sure are pretty.

5/10