Director: Doug Liman
Stars: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Brendan Gleeson, Bill Paxton.
After a meteorite crashes on Earth, humanity becomes embroiled in a war with organisms that hitched a ride on the rock. In a desperate last stand, the United Defence Force plans to send a large force onto the beaches of Europe to hopefully press home their advantage. One soldier is the reluctant Major William Cage (Cruise) who is ordered to take part in the first wave of the attack by General Brigham (Gleeson). Accused of cowardice, he instantly gets on the wrong side of Master Sergeant Farell (Paxton). When the invasion happens Cage runs helplessly along the beach, but when he dies he wakes up at the beginning of the day, and soon realizes that he can use this power to the advantage of the human defence force, but he needs help, and that comes in the form of the heroic Rita (Blunt).
Tom Cruise usually picks good sci-fi scripts and Edge of Tomorrow is no exception. I also like his character, as it’s more layered than some of his other roles. I thought he sold the transition between coward, to reluctant hero, to badass, to weary veteran, to determined soldier well. The first part of the film is littered with comedic moments.
I liked the Groundhog Day aspect to it and it reminded me of playing a video game, trying to get further and further and memorizing where the enemies are. Although a lot of scenes were repeated they didn’t get repetitive and the story moved forward at a good pace. The action scenes were clear, sharp and intense. I loved the design of the Mimics as well. When they were first mentioned I assumed that they would be mimicking human forms, but the design is very alien and it’s really cool the way they jerk and spasm.
The character work was good. I’ve already mentioned Cruise but I think Blunt did a good job too, and Paxton relished the role as the Sergeant, and I was pleased to see him after his recent role in Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. The mechanics of the time-travel seem well thought out and it manages to blend the human drama with the philosophical concept, giving a good foundation to the film.
The only thing I didn’t really care for was the ending, as it smacked of pandering for Hollywood. It reminded me of Oblivion from last year, another Cruise film, and I enjoyed that film aside from the ending as well. I just think sometimes Hollywood need to take more lessons from Philip K. Dick and realize it’s okay to have depressing endings sometimes. I think that would have helped Edge of Tomorrow.
But yes, I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Great sci-fi action, good concept, good grasp of the mechanics of his ability, the character work was solid too so Edge of Tomorrow is an all-round success.
