Edge of Tomorrow

*Wondering what movies are coming out this June? Wondering how the month of May ended up? Check out my guest post over at J&J Productions, Coming Soon: June*

People have been giving Tom Cruise a hard time for far too long now. Granted, the dislike of him has decreased substantially over these past few, "calmer" years, but if you still aren't seeing movies solely because they have Cruise in them? Well...then you're an absolute fool.

Much like his character in this film, Cruise will never go away, and with good reason. He is one of Hollywood's finest actors, stuntmen, and anchors for a film. Last year's example, that was unfairly harassed (at least in my opinion, but that's a discussion for another time) by critics was Oblivion. While the film did share many similarities with other sci-fi films, I still treasured it and was engaged from beginning to end.

This was largely in part to Cruise. He has a way in which he sucks you into the world and the character effortlessly. Whether it's Ethan Hunt, Jerry Maguire, or now Cage, he always gets you to believe who he is. That, my friends, is the mark of a truly successful actor, despite what you may think of him outside of the silver screen (but seriously the Oprah thing was ages ago. Let go of it already).

But I digress and the real point of all this rambling/defending is that Edge of Tomorrow is just another notch in Cruise's belt of successes.

"Hey guys, have you seen any of the Mission Impossible films?
You should. They are great."

Sooooooo....
Emily Blunt got jacked.

Edge of Tomorrow's premise is one that could have EASILY been done terribly. It's based rather loosely on a book called "All You Need is Kill" and takes liberties with that story quite a bit from what I've heard. Cruise plays Cage, a PR rep for the military, during a time where the world is fighting back an alien invasion. The aliens have taken all of central, eastern, and most of western Europe, and the world is planning a large scale, mechanized-warrior attack. The plot explanation as to how Cruise ends up becoming a soldier who storms the beaches is the film's weakest thread in my opinion but hey, at least it gets him there. During the storming of the beach against the alien enemy, an about-to-piss-his-pants Cruise dies. This is no spoiler, this is how the movie works. Without going into too much further detail, Cage absorbs a power from the alien enemy to restart the day whenever he dies and so begins the premise of Edge of Tomorrow. Having this videogame-esque reset sounds like it could get old real quick, and save for just a couple of scenes, it really doesn't at all. This is because Edge of Tomorrow is brilliantly edited. It assumes the moviegoer is keeping up with what's going on and that not every scene has to be "re-done" in order for us to get the point. In fact, all of the re-dos lead to some of the movie's funnier moments, and Cruise's comedic timing with curse words right before he dies is one of the best parts of the film.

"Seriously!? Has anyone here seen the Mission Impossible movies?
Guys? Answer me!"

Edge of Tomorrow also doesn't waste its premise as it explores many angles and tricks of this new found power. Often it leads to something funny happening, but it also is a new form of character development for Cage, who starts off a coward, and Rita (played exquisitely by Blunt) who is the war's hero. I found their eventual romance a little clichéd for my taste, but the film doesn't ponder it for long. Surprisingly, the only area where the film drags on slightly is when Cruise doesn't have this power for a bit of the third act. It feels very much like a different movie and it loses a bit of its zest along the way. Not much, but still enough to notice.

On the technical side, Edge of Tomorrow impressed me as well. It had some decent cinematography, some fantastic special effects, I was digging the look of the aliens, and the original score is somewhere in the space between "mediocre" and "great".

Tom Cruise just waking up from a world where no one had seen
or heard of the Mission Impossible franchise. Clearly it was a
nightmare

Reading over this review you may surmise that I would be giving Edge of Tomorrow a near perfect score. I'm not giving it that score though. To be honest, it is a fantastic film, but there were just several small things that add up to detract from the overall total. But really, sometimes those are the most enjoyable films. Ones where there is no one, glaring issue with the film and if you're less critical than I am you can ignore all the small things and enjoy one hell of a time at the theater.

Because if you're looking for one of those, Edge of Tomorrow certainly brings the goods.

CONS:

• Some of the instances where scenes are repeated do get a little annoying
• The plot explanation as to how Cruise goes from being a military PR guy to storming the beach in the first wave felt a bit forced
• Unnecessary, but very slight, romance between the leads
• The third act feels like a different movie. Not a bad one, but a significantly less energetic one
• There was one plot point about halfway through the film that was essentially a 10 minute time-killer. The film could have done without it I think

PROS:

• Some absolutely brilliant editing. Often, these "repeat time" films are annoying to watch because you see so many things over and over again. Edge of Tomorrow makes sure that this is kept to an absolute minimum
• Strong script that has a surprising amount of humor
• Great action scenes that look equally as good
• I liked the look of the aliens. They were menacing
• The film takes nearly full advantage of its premise. It explores multiple angles and uses the idea of re-setting for humor, plot progression, character development, and action set pieces. Rather genius actually
• Cruise and Blunt are a fantastic duo in roles that I'm not so sure they are used to playing (a coward and a badass, respectively). Kudos to the producers for finding that hidden chemistry
• Much funnier than you might expect
• A fun, original, summer blockbuster that keeps you engaged from start to finish

Rath's Review Score: 8.5/10