REVIEW - Film - Edge of Tomorrow

In a not so distant future, Earth has been invaded by an alien race called the Mimics. The occupiers are - of course - menacing and über scary, resembling the offspring of  octopi who mated with some vicious space insects, with anger management issues. 

Humans have looked past each other’s racial, religious and socio-economic differences by fighting together an up hill battle against their common enemy, and failing at it royally.

It seems that, no army in the world or its arsenal of weapons can match the lightning speed or ruthlessness of the Mimic forces. 

Lt. Col. Bill Cage (Tom Cruise) has been spared from combat during most of his career however, after his sudden drop in rank, he is forced to embark on suicide mission alongside more experienced soldiers, in a last ditch effort to defend the globe against its alien invaders. Unfortunately, within a few minutes of on the ground fighting, Cage is killed.

For reasons unbeknown to him, Cage immediately wakes up in the previous day, reliving every single detail again, and again... and again. If this sounds like Groundhog Day, where Bill Murray’s character re-lives the same day over and over until he has learned to be a better human being, thankfully that’s where the similarities end.

Upon coming back to the last day he lived before going off into battle, Cage finds himself able to change his own reality. During one of his repeated visits to the battlefield he crosses paths with Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), who upon realizing that Cage is “special” demands that he find her the next time he wakes up form death. 

He does as he is told, and Vrataski takes it upon herself to mentor Cage by pushing him to his limits through intense and grueling training. After countless deaths and awakenings, Cage becomes an almost superhuman fighting machine, and they both begin to believe that he may just be the key to man’s salvation.

Edge of Tomorrow could have taken a turn down boring street very early on in the storyline, but director Doug Liman’s ability to narrate the story via a collage of sorts, cutting and splicing the repeated days together in short story snippets, make for a fast-paced and very engaging film. 

Incorporating humorous one liners, laking the cheesiness of sci-fi films of time gone by, helped break up the otherwise dark and helpless feeling conveyed by the plot. 

Though Tom Cruise is the lead actor in Edge of Tomorrow, but Emily Blunt is presented as his equal in the film. Blunt is no damsel in distress, on the contrary, she “saves” Cruise’s character and builds him up to the hero who he needs to be. Even the film’s poster shows the two actors very much on the par with each other.

To stress on the special effects and the action sequences, is like saying that four star Michelin restaurant is a good place to eat, it would be stating the obvious, but what can be said about it is that, for the first time in a long while, the role of the CGI and the stunts make for a good marriage with the plot, without overpowering it and relying solely on the smoke and mirrors’s ability to impress audiences.

Edge of Tomorrow is a movie which can be appreciated by diehard sci-fi buffs, who will recognize actors from other films of the genre, i.e.: Bill Paxton, from Aliens and The Terminator, among others. Actually, the film is sure to appeal to a wide audience, as it does not pigeonhole itself into only one demographic. Edge of Tomorrow manages to check all the boxes:

1. Chick flick - Yup. It stars Tom Cruise, whose slight sexual tension with Emily Blunt’s character brings a bit of romance in the movie’s equation. Blunt is a positive female role model.
2. Action film - Yes. There are fast cars, airplanes, martial arts, explosions, blood, and oodles of flips and body slams.
3. Sci-fi - Of course. Ah... alien invasion of Earth. Need not say more.
4. Comedy - Maybe just a tiny bit... but just enough.

Is Edge of Tomorrow a movie which will change the world? I hardly think that the producers intend it to do that, so why even go down this path? Edge of Tomorrow great flick, and it’s a very good 113 minutes spent in a dark room, and like me, you’ll probably want to experience it more than once, to then be able to discuss the endless possibilities of plot twists and alternative endings with your sci-fi compatriots over a beer and a bag of pretzels.

Out of 5 stars, I give Edge of Tomorrow a 4.5

Director:

 Doug Liman

Writing Credits  

Christopher McQuarrie	...	(screenplay) and
Jez Butterworth	...	(screenplay) &
John-Henry Butterworth	...	(screenplay)
Hiroshi Sakurazaka	...	(novel "All You Need Is Kill")

Stars:

 Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt

Runtime:

 113 min