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Tom Cruise might be one of the most famous Hollywood superstars in recent memory, but it’s safe to say his recent output has been underwhelming. Thankfully, Edge of Tomorrow is not only his best movie in a long time, but one of the most enjoyable sci-fi flicks I’ve seen.
We pick up the action five years into a deadly war between humanity and an alien species called Mimics, so called due to their ability to copy and apparently predict human actions.
Commander of the human defences, General Brigham (Gleeson), orders one final offensive on the beaches of northern France to relieve struggling troops and turn the tide of war.
Major William Cage (Cruise), an army spin doctor more accustomed to handling the media than hi-tech weaponry, is summoned to London by Brigham and ordered to cover the event from the frontlines. When Cage refuses, he is arrested, branded a deserter and sent to an army base at Heathrow Airport to fight in the invasion.
Dumped onto the beach from a dropship, equipped with a mechanised suit called a ‘Jacket’, it is immediately clear that this version of Cruise is not the gun-toting natural hero we are accustomed to. He stumbles around while the battle rages around him, which quickly turns into annihilation as the Mimics have anticipated the attack.
He eventually manages to kill one of the baddies, but dies in the process. To his surprise, he wakes up the previous morning at Heathrow Airport and lives through the exact same course of action again. This time loop continues numerous times through a series of awesome montages.
During one such re-run, he meets fellow soldier Rita Vrataski (Blunt) who is a recognised war hero, having won a previous battle almost single-handedly. It turns out she knows something about Cage’s condition and tells him to find her next time he wakes up so that together they can find a way to resolve the alien threat.
The most enjoyable aspect of this movie is doubtless the fact that it’s almost like a video game in conception. Dying holds no real consequence for Cage as he can effectively hit the ‘continue’ button by either killing himself or being killed. Furthermore, with every fresh attempt he learns a little bit more about the over-arching Mimic plot and becomes a more competent soldier himself.
The humour in the film is top notch too. Despite the terror and desperation the protagonists find themselves in, there’s a strain of black humour running through the film that seems to make light of the situation before yet another quick death results in a new day and a grim reality.
The direction from Doug Liman is solid, as the repetition never becomes predictable like you may expect. On every reset day, Cage – and the audience – is spoon-fed a little more information about the events going on and you are never quite sure what Cage has already lived through and what he hasn’t.
The cinematography is spectacular too, the opening beach landing could easily be mistaken for Saving Private Ryan if you swapped Nazis for aliens (the Mimics being a well-designed blur of tentacles and plasma), while the sweeping score plays just the right beats to increase the tension.
Another aspect in which the film shines is subverting our expectations of the genre. So used to seeing Cruise as the cool operator full of ideas and a quick solution, it’s refreshing to see him initially play the role of a coward and a bumbling incompetent who is put through his rigorous paces.
Furthering this, Blunt brings authority to her role as Cage’s mentor. Not content to be the damsel in distress dragged along by the hero, she is frequently leading the way. Naturally, however, there is a shoehorned romantic subplot which never really feels natural considering, in reality, the characters have known each other for a few hours (although technically weeks from Cage’s perspective).
The niggles I have with the film are very minor. One of these is that a couple of characters are solely there for exposition. They enter, reel off a bullet-point list of what the Mimics are capable of and how to stop them, then leave. Finally, the ending could have done with an extra few minutes to resolve certain plot strands that don’t quite add up after immediate inspection.
Overall though, I would seriously recommend this movie. Edge of Tomorrow brings something fresh to a stagnated genre and Cruise is back on superb form, delivering breathtaking action and frequent laughs in equal measure. A must-see.
