Edge of Tomorrow is probably the film that will finally help people forget how crazy Tom Cruise is and get them to go see his movies again. Ironically, (or not) Tom Cruise isn’t really the main reason why this movie is so good. We can thank the source material, a manga called “All You Need Is Kill” written by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, and screenplay writers Christopher McQuarrie and Jez and John-Henry Butterworth. They keep the story moving along nicely and keep it interesting.
Aliens have attacked Earth and are fucking us right up. Tom Cruise plays Maj. Col. William Cage, a type of PR officer that has never seen combat. One day, he is sent up to the front to fight in what is believed to be a decisive battle. On his first day on the battlefield, he is killed, but suddenly awakens the day before right where he started. He relives this same day over and over, and must discover what is happening to him and with the help of one decorated soldier, must learn all he can to defeat the enemy.
This is sort of like Groundhog Day with lots of sci-fi military action. Of course there are elements of other movies like Aliens, Starship Troopers, and the like, but with the concept of time repeating itself and all they do with it, Edge Of Tomorrow manages to be different. It also allows the story to kind of change as it progresses. As we learn more along with Cage, we start to see things differently.
And the character of Cage changes dramatically, too. Tom Cruise isn’t the only guy that could have played this role, but seeing as he does, he actually does a good job of it. This is actually a Cruise movie I don’t hate him in (but I’m still glad I didn’t pay money to see it). Even though he doesn’t change his look, as per usual (mostly), he manages to really show how he progresses from a guy that’s never seen action to a guy that’s seasoned, confident and knows what’s got to be done.
Bill Paxton plays Cage’s Master Sargeant and he’s a Kentucky accented hard-ass and plays it well. It feels sort of like a conscious choice as his character is like a polar opposite of his role in Aliens. Emily Blunt is great as Rita Vratasky, the soldier that helps Cage because she once was in the same situation as him. She’s human, and yet really bad-ass.
Doug Limon does a good job on the directing front and they thankfully add some humor in places in a film that you might not expect any. I sort of tried to find big holes in the plot and time manipulation thing and I couldn’t. At least nothing glaring, so that’s a plus. ANd there’s enough action to keep the summer movie folks happy, while making it smart enough to satisfy people looking for somehitng a little more.
All in all, I have to say I actually had a good time watching this, which is saying something, for me. I do think they should have kept the original title though, but I’m guessing some suit somewhere thought “All You Need Is Kill” was too grim. So we get the more ambiguous and toned down title Edge Of Tomorrow.
But hey, it was entertaining, so go see it if you like this hard Sci-Fi kind of stuff, and don’t mind giving Tom Cruise some money. It was pretty cool. Surprisingly, four kittenhands.
~ Neil T. Weakley, your average movie-goer, weirdly suprised that I liked this.
