Review: Edge of Tomorrow

by Trevor Kirkendall

★★★

Love him or hate him for what he does off the screen, Tom Cruise has actually been really solid over the last few years of his career. Film like “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” and “Oblivion” were really good movies and Cruise never looked like he was struggling to remake a tainted image. It’s almost like he didn’t even care people hated him; he was going to make the movies he wanted to do. Which is good for us because he’s been on a roll lately. Cruise’s latest film is “Edge of Tomorrow,” and it is another fine piece of work from the veteran action star.

Cruise plays Major William Cage, a PR officer for the US Army and spokesman for the United Defense Forces (UDF) at a time when the world is at war with an alien force. UDF General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson) orders Cage to cover the European invasion on the French beaches in person. Cage objects and attempts to blackmail Brigham. The next thing he knows, he’s waking up at a Forward Operating Base with orders to deploy and fight the next morning.

No one, including Master Sergeant Farrell (Bill Paxton), believes Cage to be an officer. The next day, Cage is suited up in a giant exoskeleton combat suit and dropped onto the beach with the rest of the UDF forces. Unfortunately, the invasion is a disaster and everyone, including Cage, dies. Only instead of dying, Cage wakes up back at the FOB the previous day. Once again, he’s suited up and dropped into action. He dies, and wakes up in the same spot yet again.

He continues to participate in the invasion, remembering different ways to stay alive each time. On one occasion he catches the eye of Rita Vrataski (Emil Blunt). She’s in awe of his ability to see things before they happen and instructs Cage to come find her when he wakes up after they die. She too was once stuck in a time loop similar to Cage. She thinks she knows why Cage is stuck in it now, and has a plan to use that to their advantage to beat back the alien forces for good.

The one thing “Edge of Tomorrow” kept reminding me of as I watched it was playing a video game. The more and more a person dies in a video game, the better they become the next time. The same happens with Cruise’s character here. That’s part of what makes video games fun and that’s what makes “Edge of Tomorrow” an enormously fun movie going experience.

Director Doug Liman –who hasn’t done much high concept action work since he directed “The Bourne Identity” or “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” – takes control of the complicated storyline and turns it into a movie that is never too difficult to follow. And that’s a really good thing considering the screenplay comes from frequent Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie (“The Usual Suspects”) who is known for wrapping his stories up so tight that they usually require a second viewing. “Edge of Tomorrow” never feels like it’s moving too fast for anyone to keep up.

Cruise carries the film and proves he’s still a viable action star for Hollywood movies. In a time where people still are distracted by the actions of his personal life, he’s still able to turn out the types of movies people used to expect from him on a yearly basis. The script and the film don’t really give a whole lot of character development for Cruise to work with, but he is such a solid actor that he’s still able to earn your empathy. The same goes for Blunt. Like, she’s not given much to work with in terms of character but we still end up finding rooting interest.

Ultimately, this lack of character development in the script helps “Edge of Tomorrow” become a better film. There are no slow points in this movie whatsoever. Once the action picks up, it doesn’t let go. The film holds your interest for its entire duration never feeling like it’s trying to cram in unnecessary subplots to stretch it out to two hours. This is a very engaging and captivating movie that will surely go down as one of the summer’s best blockbusters.