Edge of Tomorrow is the first of many films I will be reviewing on this blog and I have chosen it because it is what I believe to be the perfect example of the modern summer blockbuster. This sci-fi action film starring genre veterans Tom Cruise (Minority Report) and Emily Blunt (Looper) is based on the award winning Japanese light-novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. While it does indeed have a star studded cast and enough CGI aliens to keep it in the same family as any other end of the world flick, the story is essentially that of a single man's journey to be "reforged in the fiery crucible of battle".
Let us start off with the trailer.
In it we delve straight into the sci-fi goodness by hearing a roughed up and weary Tom Cruise prepare us for a story that sounds unbelievable as we watch what is essentially a futuristic D-Day, just replace boats with drop-ships and Nazis with aliens. Then we're told that this isn't his first attempt at the battle and we see why: it all goes to hell. After a few scenes of destruction we see him simply wake up safe and sound back at base ready start the battle all over again and we come to meet a very sweaty and badass Emily Blunt. Throughout the next few seconds she tells him that to meet her when he wakes up and, after dying, is shown to say that she can train him each loop in order to turn him into the weapon that will end the war. With the words "Live. Die. Repeat." flashing between yet more action it quickly becomes obvious that the movie is going to be an action packed version of Bill Murray's Groundhog Day (1993).
Sounds fun right?
All of these elements do show up over the course of the movie and sure enough Tom's promise of the premise becoming more and more rationale actually comes true. At least, as rational as science fiction goes.
The plot is simple insofar as we learn that an alien species known as Mimics have invaded Earth via asteroid impact in Central Europe and rapidly conquered the continent until only Russia and the UK are on its borders. Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) is the face of the army as he sells the public on the war effort, however, is demoted to Private and sent to the front lines after making an enemy out of Four-Star General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson). Upon joining his squad of misfits he gets one day before being strapped into his very own Jacket, a weaponized automated exo-skeleton, and sent on a terribly unsuccessful assault on the alien horde during which he is killed. Fortunately, the manner in which he die allows him to mysteriously wake up the previous day and relive the entire experience, allowing him to meet the war hero Special Forces Sergeant Rita Vrataski aka Full Metal Bitch (Emily Blunt). Having previously experienced the same phenomenon she is able to recognize what is happening to Cage and after explaining that he has "hijacked" the enemies ability to manipulate time states that she will help him. Over the course of an innumerable amount of "resets" Rita works with him to build up the experience and knowledge which allows him to defeat the Mimic's hive-mind and save humanity.
This basic summary looks over much of the alien's abilities as well as the romantic subplots and humorous nuances of the film, but highlights the basic nature of the overall plot. While this is by no means a complicated sci-fi adventure the movie excels in embracing its simplicity and instead focusing on the growth of the main character in his static environment. Cruise uses his skill as a leading man to illustrate the affects of constantly watching those around him die and the tole it has, transforming a woefully inexperienced coward into a callused war machine. This is only highlighted by Blunt's supporting role as the Full Metal Bitch who goes from being the cold and unforgiving mentor to a progressively caring love interest. It is to the credit of the two actors skill that over the course of 113 minutes they can make the audience believe that such a strong relationship can be developed over the course two days time and time again.
This is the film's greatest deviation from its source material, Hiroshi Sakurazaka's All You Need Is Kill, which focuses on the dehumanizing effects of the constant warfare. The light-novel instead takes a more broad view by pulling away of it's main character, Keiji Kiriya, and his point of view in order to explain the backstory of Rita Vrataski along with the Mimics themselves. The story of the novel explains the alien's purpose in invading the Earth, their ability to manipulate time, and a far more complicated version of their biology. This combined with a far larger scale of fighting gives mankind and thereby the characters a far bleaker outlook, with the possibility of extinction even more imminent than its Hollywood counterpart. The effect is a darker atmosphere and characters who are less relatable in their ability to cold heatedly "do what must be done".
Yet for all of the deviations Edge of Tomorrow made from its source material the movie is in fact better for it. The strong performances are key to the movies success in that they make a story, which is supposed to be about the fate of the world, into a deeply personal one. As such the aliens and even all of the other characters are easily disposable and only act as vehicles by which the main characters may reach their goal. This is not to say that they are not distinct or underdeveloped, instead it simply strips away the information overload so prevalent in stories of this genre so that it might make it more human. There are no fascinating aliens, no flashy weapon, no snarky sidekicks, or catchy one-liners. There are simply two characters you actually want to live.
How well did the trailer set up the film? 5/5
How well did the movie stick to its source material? 3/5
How well did the use of special effects help the storytelling? 4/5
Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
