Edge of Tomorrow

See Tom Cruise die... a lot... in different ways

For years humanity has been fighting for their planet against a race of invading aliens, and have been losing for quite sometime until they finally find victory in a battle giving them hope of defeating the menace. The battle was widely publicized as being won by a woman known as the "Full Metal Bitch" (real name Rita played by Emily Blunt). Our story follows a Lt. Col. by the name of Cage (Tom Cruise) finding out that he is going to be on the front line of a battle that will change the course of human history. The battle is the last ditch effort for humanity to take control of the struggle and finally send the aliens home packing; however, Cage doesn't want any part in this fight. He is a self admitted desk jockey (or public icon) and when General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson) tells him of his part he goes to such lengths trying to get out of it that he eventually black mails the general. The general doesn't take too kindly to this and arrests Cage. Instead of finding himself in a jail cell he finds himself in processing for the decisive battle, his rank striped and labeled a deserter. The battle begins and they lose, horribly, but not before Cage is drenched in alien blood and wakes up in the exact same place he found himself the day before. The day repeats exactly as it did, and Cage must try to find out how he has this ability and how to put it to the human advantage.

The story line in this wasn't original, but it was fascinating. It was nice to see a different interpretation of the "same day on repeat" arc that wasn't in the form of "Groundhog Day" (not that "Groundhog Day" was bad by any means). It was entertaining and I liked it so much that I would actually like to see a prequel to this to get more emotionally invested in the universe this centers around. It is hard for me to call this a good movie based on anything more than the fact that it was just really fun to watch. When you are following Cage through these events there are moments when you feel for his character, and towards the final act you are genuinely on the edge of your seat. I think the group of people this movie should try to be targeting is video game players. Seeing him die over and over again reminds the viewer of what it is like to try the hardest mission in a game over and over again until you eventually master where everything is and beat it (for some reason "The Library" level of "Halo" on Legendary difficulty screamed out to me when I was making this comparison). You see Cage getting that same frustration that you feel when you have been up for hours on end trying to beat the same level. After you see the frustration side of him, you start seeing the look of a man that has been in too many battles. You see the pain in his eyes as he has to watch the woman he is trying to protect die hundreds of times. Thankfully, there aren't any real plot twists that derail the movie's effect which makes up for Cruise's last attempt at Sci-Fi ("Oblivion"). There are points where they find out that the thing they are doing isn't the thing they should be focusing on, and have to change there mission. This is another part of the story line that reminds me of video games, like he got the end of this really hard mission and follows it up with another really hard mission.

The only part of the story line that didn't hold any attention for me was the romantic aspect between Cage and Rita. It just wasn't believable. I felt zero chemistry come off of the two, and it felt more obligatory then natural. Like the writer was thinking of some reason why Cage cared so much whether Rita lived or died and he couldn't grasp the fact that a man could be friends with a woman in this circumstance. Which is weird being that most I sensed coming off of these two was "I really just like him/her as a friend," then they start doing romantic things and I just get reminded of a step brother being interested in his step sister.

It is movies like this that make me a little upset that Tom Cruise has a reputation as a bad actor. He is not a bad actor all the time, he is just only allowed to do Action or Romance movies. That is where his talent lies. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of his movies that are hit and miss with me; but, he always tries at least. This movie was obviously a hit for me, not only a hit but right out of the ballpark. He sells me on every emotion he is portraying and ultimately makes me emotionally invested in his character. Not to say that any one else did bad in this. It was nice to see Emily Blunt portray the bad ass movie heroin, even though she was trying to get a less bad ass man to take her spot. She absolutely sells the fact that she is a soldier that has seen some shit over the years. I always have a good time with Brendan Gleeson roles, he is immensely entertaining to watch even if he does have a smaller part in this; however, my favorite part of this movie was Bill Paxton. Not only is he entertaining, not only did he do well with the role, but you could tell he was having an absolute blast portraying the character.

Let's get down to something I always love talking about in new Sci-Fi movies, the alien design. The aliens in this look like a flesh version of the squids from "The Matrix" movies. A little more colorful, and it seems like they drew a little bit of inspiration from "Chronicles of Riddick" and "Predator," but they ultimately look like the machines. You can tell some one put a lot of time and detail into them, and they were trying to make something unique. It definitely has that air of uniqueness to it; but just like all creators they probably had a point of reference. The scenes where you see the aliens in battle are very entertaining, and you can tell that these guys aren't the type to go down easy.

Finally, I need to talk about the action. The action in this isn't the best I have seen all year (the best is still "Captain America The Winter Soldier"), but it is damn good. Tom cruise fighting like he has clairvoyance is awesome and will have you thoroughly invested on thinking just how he is going to die this time. The mech-suit's gadgets and functions are pretty interesting to watch; while they aren't the greatest display of mechanized weaponry I have seen, they seem a lot more realistic. They seem like we could have suits like these using today's technology.

Final Verdict: Buy it This has been a very interesting year. A movie based around religion and another starring Tom Cruise got my highest praise so it has been a bit strange. Go see this movie, you won't be disappointed.