Is "Oblivion" The New "Matrix?"

I haven't seen this level of buzz within the alternative media about a movie in a good long while.

"Oblivion" is not only a box-office success, but is being cited by many as, simply, the new "Matrix" -- a study of revolution against the "Illuminati". (possible spoilers for the film to follow):

Like the classic film by the Wachowskis, "Oblivion" is about a dwindling humanity being exploited and oppressed by a machine-like "alien" force. As I've written before on this blog, movies like this and the upcoming "Elysium" speak to a future dystopia where the elites live "offworld" and the masses are left to fend for themselves in squalor. Ideas like outer space colonization and transhumanism are "pushed" by the mainstream, but the result could conceivably be a nightmare for humanity.

But two things really shock me about the box-office success, and alternative media embracement, of "Oblivion":

1) Tom Cruise is pretty much hated, both for his connections to Scientology and his oft-strange behavior (the infamous "Oprah's Couch' incident and his relationship with Katie Holmes being the two biggest examples). And yet, "Oblivion" has not been the first film Cruise has starred in that illustrates a struggle against sinister alien/elitist forces. I mean, he was in "Eyes Wide Shut," for Christ's sake!

2) The Scientology connection in general. Let's face it -- any movie Cruise stars in is going to be scrutinized as having symbolism related to the religion. And in the end, both "Oblivion" and Scientology are about humanity being oppressed/exploited by alien forces. Important to remember who actually inspired Scientology, however: Aleister Crowley, who has been repeatedly demonized (if you will excuse the pun) by some sectors of the alternative media community.

The most vocal supporter of "Oblivion" at the moment is current mainstream media darling villain Alex Jones, who calls the film an "Anti-Illuminati tour de force." In the video below, he goes into detail about the very symbolically-loaded design of the main baddie:

"The main alien spaceship called the Tetrad obviously represents the pyramid of control, the Illuminati power structure, centered in Rome. Note throughout the film the Tetrad pyramid spaceship, is shown upside-down to the way a pyramid is normally. This is just like satanist turning the cross of religion upside-down to disrespect it, so the inversion of the pyramid is showing disrespect to the Illuminati power structure. Also inverting the pyramid now places the people who were at the bottom of the pyramid above those who used to control them, showing the gaining of power by the awakened people."

"Stench Of Truth" has also recently reviewed it (noting especially its portrayal of drones as evil), and many mini-documentaries have popped up online analyzing its symbolism. "The Matrix" had a huge impact on the alternative media community in the late Nineties, almost tailor-made for a post-9/11 society -- David Icke has literally based a lot of his philosophy on the movie, basically co-opting the name.

Is "Oblivion" the next major "Anti-Illuminati" film? And is the Scientology "connection" (as thin and tenuous as that may be) significant at all (especially in light of the fact that the strangely-similar upcoming film "After Earth" features yet another celebrity connected to Scientology, Will Smith)?