Bullet Points: Edge of Tomorrow
Tom Cruise isn’t the box office king that he used to be. Ever since his infamous couch-jumping incident on Oprah his American audience for his movies has slowly dwindled over the years. That is one reason that the Mission Impossible franchise brought in Jeremy Renner as a co-star. Those films have continued to produce quality action and have given the studio some serious cash flow. I think that the change of title for “Edge of Tomorrow” to “Live Die Repeat” is another case of Warner Bros not knowing quite how to promote the movie. The initial title that was going to be used was “All You Need is Kill”….which is what the original manga was titled and is pretty badass, but it’s understandable why they wouldn’t use that title for a theatrical release here in the states. If you see the film at your local Walmart then you’ll notice that “Live Die Repeat” is featured on the cover and “Edge of Tomorrow” is barely visible in the bottom corner. Maybe it’s Warner Bros attempt at gaining a new more adult audience or maybe it’s just a ploy to get people to buy it twice. Who knows? Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and recommend you check it out. On to the Bullet Points.
The Gist: Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) is a media representative with the US Military. After an invasion of the planet by hostile alien life-forms, Cage is told that he will be sent to the frontlines in order to get a story on the war and to increase enlistment. Cage refuses to go and is sent in as a deserter and forced to drop right into the thick of the fighting. During the melee, Cage is killed and realizes that each time he is killed he returns right back to the same day. With his knowledge of the day’s events, Cage enlists the help of a combat veteran named Rita (Emily Blunt) to help him stop the alien menace once and for all.
The Cast: I am not one of the Tom Cruise haters that refuse to watch his movies because he is likely crazy and worships some sort of otherworldly alien creature that requires large sums of money to be a member of his group. I am a part of the other group who thinks all of that stuff but still enjoys the shit out of his movies. I think the fact that Cruise is still out there making great action movies is fantastic. He has been making consistently great films since The Outsiders. That is an awful long time. Now I wouldn’t say that all of his films are great but even Daniel Day-Lewis has a stinker in his filmography. Emily Blunt plays the super badass Rita, who trains Cage not to be such a sissy and to help the cause by dying like a thousand times. Like most men, Cage tries to bed Rita on a couple of occasions but they spend most of the movie trying to find a way to stop the alien invasion from wiping out the humans and moving across Europe like a plague. I also liked the supporting characters that surrounded Cage and helped or hindered him in some way. It was nice to see Bill Paxton out there slaying some alien ass once again!
Even in future volunteer service they have a squad of worthless soldiers.
The Villain: The aliens are simply called “mimics” here and while I’m not exactly sure why that is I would say it mostly has to do with their ability to change the time loop and effect how they fight and mimic…blah blah blah, who cares really. They are alien-like, they kill humans, and they have an unbelievably obvious weakness. They remind me of the aliens in Independence Day. Remember when they wipe out most of the planet in about 6 minutes. Then they’re destroyed when someone uploads a virus from their laptop. Luckily for us, these aliens didn’t have wi-fi and had to be killed the old fashioned way, with bullets and true grit. I loved the short description we got of the Mimics and I’m glad they didn’t go too far into what their motivations were or anything cause this movie was about Cruise and Blunt kicking their asses!
Video game fans will like the POV-styled combat we get to see.
The Action: The first bit of fighting we see is the beach landing in France by a bunch of unproven, under-trained soldiers; sound familiar? It should look somewhat familiar to anyone who has seen Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers cause that is exactly the look and feel that these filmmakers were going for. The action was dirty; it felt like it was un-winnable and that anyone could die. That is the great thing about a story like this is that Tom Cruise dies like 30 times in this movie and he’s able to keep on coming back. Cruise probably hasn’t died in a movie since TAPS. It was almost like Cage was trapped…in a cage of some sort, but instead of iron bars it was him being trapped in a time loop. How clever. The action was top-notch though. I loved the power suit mech thingys as they seemed like they weren’t too advanced compared to the other weaponry they used. Groundhog Day is one of my favorite movies of all time and this was basically it with a heavy dose of action. Count me in!
The action is pretty great in EoT and it reminds me how much cooler future battles are when they aren’t completely rendered on some nerds MacBook Pro.
Take it Home:
- D-Day: The film was released in the USA on June 6th, 2014 which was the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion during WWII. The film is based around an attack on Normandy Beach.
- Operation Downfall: Nearing the end of World War II, the Allies actually had a plan to invade the islands of Japan called Operation Downfall. It never happended because of the atomic bombings of Hiroshimi and Nagasaki.
- Groundhog Day: There are obvious similarities with the movie Groundhog Day. One of which being the name of the main female, Rita.
- Alternate ending: There was a much gloomier ending that was in mind that I won’t tell you about so I don’t spoil the movie for anyone. If you are interested read the trivia on IMDB.com.
- ROTC: I don’t know why I find it so funny that they make Cruise’s character out to be a ROTC pansy.
Rating: 4.25/5
