New ‘Oblivion’ Trailer Finds Tom Cruise Saving Mankind Once Again [Video]

Tom Cruise fights for the survival of mankind in the new trailer for the sci-fi action flick Oblivion.

The film finds Cruise tackling the role of Jack Harper, a soldier who is sent to Earth in order to wipe out any traces of mankind. However, Harper soon discovers that there is more to this mission than meets the eye. TRON: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski is behind the camera on this one.

Wikipedia explains the plot as follows:

“In 2073, ex-Marine Commander Jack Harper is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on an Earth destroyed by an alien invasion 60 years ago. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war, Jack’s mission is nearly complete. Currently living in huge airborne towns built in the skies from thousands of feet above, his soaring existence comes crashing down when he rescues a female stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a series of events that forces him to question everything that he knows about the war from the beginning until now.”

Kosinski explained to io9 that he wanted to tell a very character-driven story with Oblivion. He said he modeled the film after such classics as Omega Man and Silent Running. The director also explained why he decided to make the movie so bright:

“In terms of the look and my vision for it I felt that I wanted to do something that I hadn’t seen in a while, which was a daytime science fiction film. After ‘Alien,’ which is one of my favorites, science fiction kind of went into a very dark place for a long time and I thought it would be an interesting challenge to bring it into the daylight. So this aesthetic of taking this kind of very clean refined technology set against a rugged backdrop, which ended up being Iceland. For me that juxtaposition of those two looks felt like something that could be very unique.”

In addition to Tom Cruise, the $130 million sci-fi outing stars Morgan Freeman, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Olga Kurylenko, Melissa Leo, and the lovely Zoe Bell.

Although Oblivion was originally set for release this summer, the movie’s release date was later moved forward to April 19. However, the flick will hit Imax screens on April 12.

The second official trailer has been embedded below.