Edge of Tomorrow

One could say that Edge of Tomorrow, now near the end of its in-theater run, has under achieved at the box office. Compare it’s total gross (USA) to date of $98M to the atrocious Transformers: Age of Tomorrow’s take of $237M (foolish movie goers). I’ll guess at the main reason more people didn’t make it to Edge… it’s Tom Cruise isn’t it? Hey, that’s the guy who jumped up and down on Opra’s sofa! - Yes. Isn’t he that science religion guy? - Yep. Isn’t he the guy that kept Katie Holmes chained to a washing machine in his basement for three years? – Can’t confirm that one. Tom Cruise may be those guys (except the last one), but he is also the guy who stars in some pretty good movies – sometimes very good movies – and Edge of Tomorrow is one of the very good ones.

Edge follows on the heels of another, more mediocre, Cruise-starring, sci-fi film – Oblivion, but has a lot more kick than that stylish but flimsily held together 2013 effort. In Edge, a ferocious alien race has invaded a future earth and is quickly warring its way across the planet, crushing the world’s armies as it goes. Cruise plays William Cage, a smarmy U.S. military public-affairs officer assigned to cover the fighting on a front line. Inexperienced and cowardly, Cage refuses to go and is arrested, busted to private, and plopped down, untrained, in a combat zone as punishment. Though Cage is killed minutes after entering the battle, he finds himself starting over in a time loop, repeating the same mission and being killed over and over again. Cage isn’t the only one that keeps getting killed. The battle against the aliens is hopeless. Not only do they appear to be superior physically to the human armies, they also seem to be able to mirror and counter any human army battle strategy – this trait earning them the nickname of “Mimics”.

Each time Cage is reborn in the mission – although perpetually perplexed about what is happening to him - he learns to survive a little longer. He encounters a kindred soul of sorts in Special Forces war hero Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) during one mission and teams up with her, in each of his looped days, toward defeating the Mimics - think Groundhog Day mated with X-Box here. Cage and Vrataski are in a real-life Call of Duty video game - they move a little further down the gauntlet, die, Cage re-spawns at the beginning, finds Vrataski and they start all over. With each run they pick up a new special move, like pressing in a special controller code - A-B-Left-Right-Left then fire - but they are not holding a game controller… they are the game.

Time loops can be tricky to present on the big screen without viewer confusion and fatigue. Here director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith), with a Dante Harper script, masterfully communicates the bizarre feeling of repeating the same violent and tragic period over and over again – letting the audience understand the confusion and hopelessness of the trap without the action becoming monotonous. The film even takes on a dark comic tone as the two warriors utilize the time-loop effect to maximum advantage, quickly terminating failed tries by intentionally offing Cage so they can get on to the next attempt.

As military sci-fiers go (Starship Troopers, Independence Day, etc.), Edge’s action is as good as any. The repeated hit-the-beach battle scenes are frenetic and crisp. And the time loop is not the only attribute of the film that can be compared to the classic Groundhog Day – as Cage repeats the mission he is slowly transformed from coward to something more – buoyed by the hope and example that the warrior Vrataski provides. Cruise’ performance is good (if not deep) as usual, but Blunt is better -Vrataski is the most intriguing character in the film.

Although the crowds flocked to the likes of Captain America and the latest Planet of the Apes, the clever but forgotten Edge is the cream of the summer action film crop and, I predict, will wind up on many year-end top 10 movie lists. If you went with the masses to the lesser thrillers, don’t miss Edge when it becomes available for home viewing. 8 out of 10.