Yesterday, we shared a new poster for the Tom Cruise sci-fi film Oblivion, and today we have the first trailer. The movie, directed by Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy), takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where earth has been ravaged by decades of war with an alien race.

The first trailer gives viewers a good sense of the movie's grand visual scope, contrasting sleek space technology with the gritty remnants of human civilization. It also reveals a bit of the movie's mysterious plot, showing Morgan Freeman's Morpheus-like character and the existence of a world on earth that isn't supposed to exist.

Here's the official synopsis for Oblivion:

Jack Harper (Cruise) is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack’s mission is nearly complete.

Living in and patrolling the breathtaking skies from thousands of feet above, his soaring existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands.

Oblivion Trailer

While the visuals and action sequences look fairly spectacular, the mystery element to Oblivion is the most intriguing part of the trailer. If it has been 60 years since the planet was destroyed, how come Tom Cruise seems to have such a strong memory of Earth as it was? Has his memory been tampered with in some way (a la Total Recall)? Or could it be that Cruise is a clone/avatar of some kind, plugged into a machine somewhere else and doing the work on earth remotely (a la Avatar or The Matrix)?

No matter the answer, one can expect that the script, penned by Academy Award winner William Monahan (The Departed) and polished by Academy Award winner Michael Arndt (Star Wars: Episode 7), will deliver a compelling and action-packed story.

Presumably, the next trailer will reveal a bit more of the plot and answer some of these questions, hopefully without giving away too much. In the meantime, we'd love to hear your thoughts on Oblivion in the comments.

Oblivion opens in theaters on April 19th, 2013.