This weekend I finally got my hands on a DVD copy of Doug Liman's Sci-Fi action movie, Edge of Tomorrow. The movie is set in the near future where mankind is in a fight for its life with alien invaders called Mimics and based pretty closely on a Japanese manga novel called All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Enter Tom Cruise as the main character, Major William Cage, a PR guy who gets himself put on the front lines of the human invasion to stop the aliens. There he is killed but not before he comes in close contact with one of the aliens and acquires the power to reset his day when he dies.
As Cage relives his day over and over he comes in contact with Rita Vrataski, played by Emily Blunt, who is a war hero, the one person who has killed more than a hundred Mimics in the battle of Verdun. Cage learns that Vrataski had also had the ability to reset until she lost it and together they try to figure out how to stop the Mimics. Through in some powered exo-skeleton armor and you have a party.
The movie plays on the usual theme of time repeating, which is of course classically portrayed in Groundhog Day. Here we see Cage living through a horrible couple of days over and over. Liman does a great job of depicting the frustration of trial and error and growth for Cage as the movie progresses. The interactions between Blunt and Cruise are also terrific with Vrataski's single-minded focus on defeating the aliens a very nice contrast to Cage's reluctance to be at the front lines. Vrataski as a character is pretty bad-ass though you don't get to see enough of her kicking butt.
Overall, I really liked Edge of Tomorrrow. I think the movie got a little rushed at the end and lost some of the deliberate, very well done, build up that the early parts had. At the end I thought that Vrataski's character might have been the more interesting and it would be nice for Liman to film a prequel about her experiences at Verdun. I know it won't happen because, a) they have already mentioned the highlights to the story in this film and b) it wouldn't have Tom Cruise's star power behind it to get it made. It would be awesome, however, as Vrataski doesn't have a mentor to guide her at Verdun the way Cage does here. Also some of the trials she mentions would have been interesting to see on film but Cage doesn't repeat those trials.
If you like Sci-Fi action films or just want to see Tom Cruise die, a lot, then Edge of Tomorrow is a great way to spend 2 hours. Could the film have been even better, sure, but what you do get is at least 4 Mick Happies worth of butt kicking for goodness. Now where can I get some time resetting powers as there are a few mistakes I would like to do over yesterday.
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