I watched this movie at the IMAX theater in Ontario. This is the type of film that demands IMAX. To me, the IMAX experience is more about the audio upgrades than the visual experience. I also love the fact that the theater is much larger, therefore significantly increasing your chance of getting a good seat. This film starred Tom Cruise as Jack Harper, a sort of planetary janitor 70 or so years in the future. More on that later. The plot was a little bit confusing, but here’s my take on it.
Spoilers…
Apparently, there was some sort of nuclear war in the future and most humans were evacuated to another planet. Jack was left here cleaning up after things, eliminating ‘scabs’, and repairing automated lethal drones. I guess I just really didn’t understand what their true purpose was on the planet. Anyhow, one day during standard maintenance he was abducted by the scabs and introduced to Morgan Freeman’s character. He was looking for someone to help out their cause. The drones were eliminating the scabs that happened to be human. The scabs needed someone to save them and they hatched a plan with Jack to destroy the mothership, which in the end, they were successful in doing. I realize I skipped over a lot of details but that was intentional.
If you watched the trailer you are expecting Jack to be abducted by Morgan Freeman’s character. So for the first half of the film, I was waiting for this to happen. To my surprise, this did not happen until about half way through this film. This was because the first half of the film was all about Jacks’s daily routine. I really enjoyed this half of the film because it really showcased the tech, the spaceship, their living quarters, the drones, the communications, and the weaponry.
Also reflecting back on the film I would like to share some casual observations. There were a few parts in the film where Jack was riding a high-tech version of a motorcycle. Having just watched the film Top Gun, these scenes reminded me of that. Also, the music playing was slightly reminiscent of Top Gun. I might be alone in this opinion but it did bring back that memory for me. The other observation I had is they only put it out about 60 or so years into the future. They didn’t put it out far enough. Their tech was far too impressive. For example, the automated drones could literally float in the air with no propulsion visible and could ID a person and independently make the decision to kill or let live.
My overall view of the film was that I did really enjoy it and I would recommend it to others. I didn’t really enjoy the second half of the film as much as I did the first and I didn’t really like the twist near the mid to end of the film but I do recommend it.
*****
