Review of Edge of Tomorrow (2014) by Jack F — 16 Nov 2016

In past reviews, I've discussed how the world of cinema has been doling out some pretty decent horror movies lately. That's certainly true, but the sci-fi genre has also very quietly been churning out some real gems in recent years. "Inception." "Source Code." "Looper." "Cloud Atlas." "Oblivion." "Predestination." "Transcendence." Any one of those titles would make for some great, intelligent viewing for those who like a little bit of futuristic depth with their stories.

You could also add Doug Liman's "Edge of Tomorrow" to that list. (Incidentally, this movie came out in 2014, the same year as "Transcendence" as "Predestination." This was a particularly good year for the genre.) Combining elements of the aforementioned films "Looper" and "Source Code" as well as a dash of 2001's "Minority Report," "Edge of Tomorrow" is a perfect example of a film taking some overly familiar elements and doing some very fun things with it. It's composed of pieces of several other recent sci-fi adventures and has one of the most derivative underlying stories you could imagine, and yet its gimmick makes it seem fresh, unique and highly entertaining.

And its gimmick? Why, a "Groundhog Day" style time-loop, of course. Every time soldier William Cage (Tom Cruise) is killed in battle, he somehow wakes up back at the beginning of the same day...before the battle has begun. It's almost like a stage of a video game; get yourself killed, you simply lose a life and try again. Trial and error. (Thankfully our hero appears to have an infinite amount of lives.).

The battle in question is with a slimy band of tentacled, multi-limbed invading aliens. Code-named "mimics" due to their ability to learn from and ape their enemies' tactics--in this case, mankind--these nasty critters have world domination on the agenda. To combat them, our world's militaries have devised powerful exoskeleton suits that enhance a soldier's strength, speed, and reflexes. (Kind of like the suit Matt Damon gets equipped with in "Elysium." Hey, there's another influence, and another good recent sci-fi flick!).

Cage's unique situation would seem to give him an edge as he knows what's coming before it occurs. However, every time he "dies," he has to start from scratch, and it means exploring every possible angle and scenario to try and alter the outcome. And when he encounters a fellow soldier (Emily Blunt) that's previously experienced this same phenomenon, he learns that the stakes are even higher than he initially believed.

The screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth (based on a novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka) is clever and twisty, and it's also chock full of some wickedly dark humor. Cage finds himself at Death's door A LOT, and there are echoes of the TV show "Supernatural's" great third season episode "Mystery Spot"; in theory, a character dying over and over again shouldn't be funny--save for maybe Kenny on "South Park"--but it certainly can be. Sometimes it's the method in which he's killed, sometimes it's just the fact that it happens so damn often. And sometimes there's just a throwaway line of dialogue that had me chuckling.

The aliens themselves are nasty and intimidating, but they aren't really anything special visually. But that didn't matter to me as I was deeply invested in the story and the characters. It didn't matter who or what the aliens were. They were the enemy; that was all they had to be. And Liman ("The Bourne Identity," "Mr. & Mrs. Smith") stages the action sequences with skill and competence.

With "Minority Report," "Oblivion," and now this, Tom Cruise has started to carve out a nice niche for himself in the sci-fi action genre. (Even the "War of the Worlds" remake had its moments.) I particularly liked his role this time around as it seemed so different from other Tom Cruise roles. At the onset of the movie, Cage is a frightened neophyte, a reluctant soldier forced into combat when he'd rather literally be doing anything else. There's no trace of Cruise's normal "hero mode" here, and it was a change of pace to see him act a little...well, cowardly. It takes dying a few--and by a few, I mean "a lot"--times for Cage to find his resolve.

Blunt is also great as the tough-as-nails soldier who won't take shit from anybody, Cage included. Some of her best moments occur when she's toughening up the wormy rookie...and sometimes that even means literally killing him! You'll have to see the movie to get it.

The supporting cast is made up of reliable character actors like Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson, and Noah Taylor. All are superb, leaving memorable imprints on roles that are, at their heart, rather cliched.

"Edge of Tomorrow" is a fantastic movie, thrilling, funny, and engaging. It's a near-perfect example of taking overused subject matter (who would've thought that we really needed another hostile-alien-from-outer-space movie?) and making it interesting again. If I've said it once, I've said a thousand times: it's all about execution...particularly when your main character is himself getting executed over and over and over again.