"Sixty years ago, Earth was attacked. We won the war, and now we have to leave." These are a few of the first words we hear from Jack Harper, Tech 49 on Earth who is a drone repairman. In 2017, Earth was attacked by aliens called Scavs, who destroyed the Moon and then launched an all-out attack on humanity. Now, Jack and Vicca, his partner, have two weeks until they're able to return to the rest of humanity, who are living on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. But when Jack finds a pod full of human survivors that's crash-landed, his world begins to turn upside-down and he soon learns from a human resistance leader still alive on Earth (Morgan Freeman), nothing is as it seems.

Directed and co-written by Joseph Kosinski, Oblivion is by far the best film of 2013 and one of the best science fiction films of the decade. He perfectly weaves romance, blockbuster action sequences, mystery, and truly visceral and ground-breaking environments with the fantastic, award-worthy cinematography. The acting was superb, with Tom Cruise being perfect as Jack Harper, the guy who asks too many questions and is too curious about the whole situation. Morgan Freeman was just amazing as Malcolm Beech, the mysterious resistance leader who tells Jack the truth about everything. Olga Kurylenko was not a show-stealer or stopper, but was very good and believable as Julia, the woman Jack saves from the pod crash. The music by M83 is just phenomenal, being incredibly different, yet familiar. The two composers (Anthony Gonzales and Joseph Trapanese) combine both epic, sweeping orchestra sounds with vibrant and heroic electronic sounds, which help create the post-apocalyptic setting and tone. The visuals effects are completely ground-breaking, being as realistic and pitch perfect as Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" and as smooth as Shawn Levy's "Real Steel." While there were a few things about the script that were a little annoying (the constant, "Are you still an effective team?), it was incredible overall, as there were great many things in the script that were note-worthy and memorable.

In the end, Oblivion is a true spectacle that not only lives up to the hype, but exceeds because of the visceral and superbly crafted world that is so perfectly interacted with by the characters. Though this film is not for everyone, because it is a science fiction epic, but for anyone who just appreciates good filmmaking, they should still see it.

9/10 Stars