It was among the most exciting, intriguing, and also weirdest movies I’ve ever seen. “Oblivion”, starring Tom Cruise, was a PG-13, sci-fi conception of the aftermath of an Earth that had been destroyed by aliens. The movie opened up the mind and let you see things from a different angle.

Throughout “Oblivion” there were countless twists and turns that caught you off guard. It really strayed from the traditional theatrical plot we’re all more than used to. For about half the movie, we believe that Jack Harper (Cruise) and his partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough), are the last humans alive on Earth, only there for a temporary time to defend human machines functioning on Earth to collect water for energy before they can return to their ship in space to be with the rest of the race.

Everyone already knows Tom Cruise, and his personality fit his character quite well. Another great character choice was Morgan Freeman’s role as Malcolm Beech, the leader of the human rebellion against the aliens. Freeman’s wise, condescending, “I know something you don’t” personality matched the role like no one else could have done. But Freeman didn’t play a very big part in the movie. He was present for a fraction of a couple scenes, and as the grade A actor that he is, I think he should have had a much bigger role in the movie

Halfway through “Oblivion,” we discover that Harper and his partner are actually defending water collectors for the very aliens that destroyed their planet. Not only that, they are not the only Jack and Victoria. They are of thousands and thousands of clones who’re identical to them down to the DNA, set out in different area’s across the globe to defend water collectors exactly as the originally Jack and Victoria were assigned to do.

The special effects are breathtaking. A variety of sci-fi technology was unnaturally fast or deadly. Jack Harpers vehicle was a hybrid helicopter-plane that soared above the Earth at top speeds and shot lasers at enemies. Enemy drones hovered around the land and were vivid and vicious in their own way. You would have never thought the drones were animation, or that Harper’s vehicle was hanging in front of a green screen.

Harper finds out that he is not even working for human beings when he finds human beings, survivors, who were not killed by the aliens in the original war. They tell him the truth, what really happened, who he was really working for, and he discovers the clones of himself and his partner.

Harper’s memory was wiped clean before he started his job, so all he really knew was his job, and his goal to finish it and join his kind. But even with the brainwash, he still had dreams of a woman and him holding hands and walking together. She later came into the story and was revealed to be his wife. But Harper still has to destroy the aliens, orbiting just outside earth’s atmosphere. So he flew a nuke up to the “Tet” as it was called, saying it was for his assignment, and the alien let him side the ship. There he destroyed the alien ship in space, but himself along with it.

His wife was then left on earth, alone. Which is only resolved by a clone of the “original” Jack Harper comes to join her as her husband. From there they would live happily ever after which as an ending, wasn’t very satisfying. It was the one part that really didn’t make any sense. Who would want their husband to be replaced with a new person? Even if it’s a clone that’s weird and doesn’t really seem like the way anyone would want to live “happily ever after.”

“Oblivion” was two hours and five minutes of heart pumping firefights and eye opening plot twists. It was most definitely a movie to remember, and even more a good use of time and money. This is a movie you’ll think about when lying awake in bed, or zoning out in class. The kind that bring’s up big idea’s and deep thoughts. On a scale from one to 10, “Oblivion” earns a solid nine.