BY JOE TYRRELL

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

MOVIE REVIEW

As it turns out, Tom Cruise’s life on earth is the same as it is in the heavens.

In “Oblivion,” Tom’s Jack Harper lives semi-blissfully above the clouds, in a glass house with nubile Vic (Andrea Riseborough) for company and the sleekest of flying machines for a ride. There’s a lot of natural light.

It is 2077, and in this space opera, Harper has the last job on earth, one that Barack Obama would approve: drone repairman.

When she’s not making coffee, Vic watches over him from a flashy-beyond-digital console, all while dressed in a slinky gray ensemble accessorized with silver stiletto heels. That is, except when she’s undressed and pulling the fully clothed Jack into their transparent sky pool.

But as so often happens here below, the real task is for heavenly Tom to look heroic and be self-sacrificing, although not necessarily at great personal cost.

There are other characters for him to interact with, possibly including a mentor _ Tom will never forget whatshisname (Morgan Freeman) _ and yet another girlfriend (Olga Kurylenko) to help him get in touch with his emotions. To remember his true nature, if you will.

As it turns out, both Jack Harper and Planet Earth have suffered a certain amount of past-life trauma. In dreams, he flashes on mental images that are not helpful in his present situation.

As a drone repairman, Jack needs to be analytical. Earthlings have repelled an alien invasion by some sort of evil confederacy, but the Moon is in pieces, distorting magnetism and wreaking havoc on the planet below.

As a result, most humans have relocated to Titan, perhaps lured by the Sirens. They have left behind huge hydrological edifices hovering above the oceans, sucking up water and e-mailing it to the new space colony.

But remnants of the alien army, known as “Scavs,” are still lurking, and attacking all this sky-frastructure, as well as the drones that protect it. Jack flies about, at times runs about, cycles about or simply flexes about, finding and fixing damaged drones while falling into caverns and dodging laser blasts.

Meanwhile, Vic keeps track of the status of drones and water towers, relays orders to Jack and chats about cocktails with their space-based commander, Sally. As Sally, Melissa gets to repeat cryptic phrases in a cheery Southern accent.

Because he’s a man of many facets, many selves _ though all of them noble _ Jack Harper spends a lot of time exploring his inner and outer Cruiseness in “Oblivion.”

For example, down on the surface, he has a house by a lake, where he stores baseball gear and examines books he has picked up from the ruins of the New York Public Library. When he brings a flowering plant back to Vic, though, she drops it off the terrace for fear of contamination.

So perhaps he is ready for a change when he rescues Julia Rusakova, whose spacecraft has been brought down to earth by a signal from the Scavs, and then attacked by Jack’s drones. There are other crew members, but unfortunately Jack can save only the most beautiful.

From a country of lovely women, Kurylenko is among the most gorgeous. A good thing, because that’s her role here. Remarkably, Jessica Chastain was the original choice for this sketchy part. She dropped out to be the hero in “Zero Dark Thirty” instead of the new girl in “Oblivion.” Good call.

Oh yes, Martin Freeman. He’s in this movie too, eventually. If you wait long enough, his auditing will help Jack Harper recover an important truth. It makes me wonder what Freeman would have done with the Philip Seymour Hoffman role in “The Master.”

Whether their thoughts are good or ill, many moviegoers and reviewers seem fixated on Tom Cruise, but it is possible to be neutral. For example, his performance as a lizard-king rock star made last year’s “Rock of Ages” watchable, though otherwise it could only aspire to mediocrity.

Getting past the idea that the “Mission Impossible” movie franchise completely sold out fans of its television source, 2011’s “Ghost Protocol” was excitingly mindless entertainment.

But “Oblivion” is one of those Cruise movies with room for only one star, and the firmament too is his, all his. At one point, Jack Harper actually achieves his own version of heaven, seeing himself repeated endlessly.

“Oblivion” was directed by Joseph Kosinski from his own deservedly unpublished graphic novel. He is also making another “Tron” movie. Earthlings beware.

*** *** ***

Joe Tyrrell may be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or followed on Twitter @ jtyrrell87