Edge of Tomorrow (Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton!)

The surprise of the summer? I think it could well be, because while it has supposedly underperformed so far in the box office, Edge of Tomorrow showed more panache, grit and imagination than much of the blockbuster fare served up so far this season. In a window that's drowning with uninspired sequels and reboots, it's nice to watch an original IP - and original Sci-Fi IP at that - that was equal parts thrilling, clever and confidently executed. With a wicked sense of humour that underlined the action to boot - not too much to make the entire premise seem overly goofy, nor too little that the drama became overwrought. It also follows on the heels of X-Men: Days of Future Past in being another example of a PG-13 on the harder edge of that rating: there was zero (human) blood, yet every impact, death and collision could be felt.

I suspect like a lot of time-travel based plots it's best not to stare too much into the plot's abyss, otherwise the concept may start to untangle. And while the Groundhog Day comparisons are inevitable - particularly with the extended sequence of deaths that reminded me of a similar one from the Bill Murray classic - the shadow didn't loom too heavily over this film. The script also had the confidence to present the concept as if its audience were grown adults, capable of processing a complicated enough premise. And while that's refreshing to see, it's also a bit depressing that this is a notion that deserves highlighting.

As for Cruise, while I'm no fan of his work, he did well here and his part seemed to play with some perceptions of Tom Cruise the Celebrity. His character started as an empty, slick, smooth-talking PR man, a dead-eyed mouthpiece with a permanent bleached-white grin on his face as the character tried to worm his way from responsibility. What's equally nice is that his journey wasn't a completely upward trajectory; again like Groundhog Day there was a sense of the mans growing weariness and mental instability as he dealt with the constant, hellish cycle. The side characters around him possessed a vitality that kept things breezy; Bill Paxton was clearly having a ball, Brendan Gleeson had a nice snarky air about him and the members of J-Squad had personality (albeit ones that skirted a little into stereotype). There was nothing particularly original about any of them, but there was a zest and brio in the script & portrayals that something like the recent Godzilla remake was crying out for.

Arguably though it's Emily Blunts character that'll be what many viewers will take from this film; like the rest of the cast she seemed committed to the madness, but her performance struck an entertaining balance between hard-ass and human. Just about. In fact, she kicked ass and took names with such gusto I'd wonder if in the near future her agent might be receiving a few more calls from action productions - they'd be well earned. Her character should make for a compelling example of how it's entirely possible to write a strong female protagonist who can handle herself in the action stakes. My only quibble is that because this was a Hollywood production,
Any other quibbles? Well it was a little boring that this force that finally unified Earth was so ... white, bar the token black guy. I spotted some Sikhs and soldiers with Indian flags on their shoulders marching in the background at one point, otherwise the cast was uniformly caucasian. I guess a strong female action lead was far enough for one day.

Still though, this was an entertaining, exciting, funny film that's head and shoulders above its 2014 blockbuster peers.

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Was it ever explained why,

when he died time was reset to that particular point and, at the end, why it was reset to an earlier point?

Because of the Law of Narrative Convenience

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Please note: I am going to childishly refer to the film as All You Need Is Kill, as that's so infinitely superior as a title that I am utterly baffled they didn't stick with it. I prefer to delude myself than accept the blandness of reality.
[...]

I disagree & actually liked the 'Edge of Tomorrow' title. It's not that generic tbh, that's being a bit unfair: it has that nice classical sci-fi hint about it. I'd say 'pulp' rather than 'generic' I initially laughed at the original manga version for its pure silliness - 'oh Japan' I said - but it's still a pretty awful title; the wonky grammar certainly doesn't help

veXual wrote: »

One thing I noticed but my friend who went with me didn't seem to...

For the entire film the humans are being fired upon by the mimics. Yet at no point did I actually see a mimic fire anything they just tended to flail around. Any of the mimic firing seemed to come from off screen/the horizon. Anyone else notice this?

Don't think there's a need for spoiler text, it's stuff straight from every trailer and the first few minutes of the film. You see mimics 'firing' several times; most notably during an aerial shot showing the carnage of the beach invasion. There are several mimics thrashing about in the sand, firing off shots from the tips of their tentacles