Last updated on March 29, 2015
Edge of Tomorrow (which, confusingly, also appends the tagline “Live. Die. Repeat.” often enough that discerning its title took me some time) is a surprisingly great popcorn action-thriller blockbuster movie. I mean, honestly, what kind of expectations do I have for Tom Cruise in a science fiction movie? After Oblivion, who would want such a thing ever again? Well, color me surprised, because pairing Tom Cruise apparently takes some solid screenwriting and, gasp, character development! I suppose part of it comes from being based on a 2004 Japanese light novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, but it still takes effort to adapt books to the screen – this one does it very well!
To explain the admittedly convoluted premise as quickly as humanly possible, Edge of Tomrrow sounds exactly like one of those “aliens invade earth” movies, this one taking place slightly ahead in the future. Major William Cage (Cruise), a big business turned public relations officer completelt inexperienced in combat, is forced by his superiors to join a landing operation against the aliens. Well, it’s less “forced” and more “coerced by Brendan Gleeson via tasering”, but you end up in the same place, right? Cage goes on the front lines, and then dies after blowing up an alien Mimic (the name of the invaders; how they got that name is unexplained) with a mine.
Right about here is where the movie takes an interesting, fascinating turn. In a bizarre Groundhog Day-inspired twist (at least from my American-centric perspective), he finds himself in a time loop that sends him back to the day preceding the battle every time he dies. As such, he ends up trying to save everybody, getting better at combat, and generally trying to find his way out of a hopeless situation. Clearly, after seeing the same events so many time, Cage knows the Mimics laid in wait to destroy all the human forces – how does he fix this. Cage teams up with Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt), the so called “Full Metal Bitch”. who he finds had the same thing happen to her with the repeating days and everything. Over time, they discover how to stop the aliens, but not before going through repeated loops and much trial and error.
Now, I really hate time travel films. Often, they establish too many rules, and then contravene these rules for no reason. Edge of Tomorrow remains surprisingly consistent in its use of time travel; it makes the mechanics straightforward, efficient, and communicates them with minimal fuss. Yes, the dialogue does go into heavy-handed exposition in spots (there is definitely a Matrix influence going throughout those scenes, exacerbated by the visual design of the Mimics looking a whole lot like the Machines), but it never gets too heavy-handed. The CGI, as well, remains surprisingly natural throughout; I rarely had those weird moments in the uncanny valley, and that “realism” (so to speak) let me enjoy the movie without my brain pointing out how unrealistic it all is.
Instead, like any great summer action films, the writers play the time loop for effective humor, witty banter, and actual COMEDY. Given the dark aesthetic, you’d figure they would strive for a similar vibe to the Warhammar 40K suits they used to promote the film (which, really, barely appear and exist mostly for promotional purposes). Thankfully, the film pokes fun at itself and its premise, fully self-aware that it’s almost like a video game in its dying-respawning loop. Bill Paxton makes a fun appearance as an analogue of his character in Aliens, and the majority of the character actors do their best to turn the film from its seemngly gritty appearance to something more akin to a fun 1980s action film.
That goes right to the heart of the film’s two protagonists. Cruise and Blunt make for a surprising effective team on-screen, actually selling the heck out of the strange relationship that the strange power force upon them. And, even though you would think the time loop would destroy any kind of tension for the climax of the film, they find a creative way to bring things to a head with real plot and emotional stakes for everyone involved. Everything happens rather naturally, as if they arose naturally out of the progression of the characters, and not out of unnecessary plot contrivance.
So, if you couldn’t tell, this movie is pretty great!
In recent years, I have found myself pretty disenchanted with the ever-increasing prevalence of super hero films and movies that just seem to recycle the same plotlines over and over again. Since no one in the whole Marvel cinematic universe, at least main characters, ever seem to die permanently, it’s difficult for a person to retain any kind of interest. Oh boy, things will work out, that’s great. Marvel obviously has a huge financial incentive to keep their main characters alive, but that sort of serialized plotting makes for rather poor films extricated from the Cinematic Universe contrivance.
That’s why Edge of Tomorrow works well – Tom Cruise plays a fish -out-of-water underdog (sorry for combining two animal-related metaphors) who rises to the challenge. Rita, previously thrust into a situation where should could not win, also rises to the occasion as well. We see their progression and their abilities increase over time; they do not obtain the power of a demi-god by fate or fiat. As such, you can relate to these characters in a way superhero films often fail to give. How would you respond/react in this situation? What would you do? Also, wouldn’t part of dying over and over again be pretty funny? I guess my dark comedic sense shows there, hehe…
Anyway, you should watch Edge of Tomorrow, if not just to see something new for once in a really tired genre space. I can’t call it completely original, but it arranges the parts in just such a way as to remain wholly and utterly entertaining – really, that’s all I really want from a movie like this these days.
