You've seen the poster for this movie, right? You've read the tag line haven't you, the "LIVE, DIE, REPEAT" words emblazoned across the figures of Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt? They are to be taken quite literally in this film. Now like I said, Edge could have been crap, and in some circles the pre-buzz talk was that it was. I heard a number of things about how bad it was and that it made no sense and how spending money on a ticket was akin to lighting that money on fire. I, of course laughed in the face of those naysayers for one reason, well actually two reasons, but the MAIN reason was Doug Liman. The man behind The Bourne Identity with Matt Damon and Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Brad and Angelina just to name a few reassured me that Edge was going to deliver, and deliver it did. The second reason that assured me this movie was going to impress was that the screenplay was written by Christopher McQuarrie. If you have no idea who he is then know this, if you saw The Usual Suspects, The Way of the Gun, Valkyrie, The Tourist, or Jack Reacher and you liked any of those films, then you have him to thank because he wrote the screenplays for those movies. Adapted from the book All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, Christopher did a masterful job of taking a wonderful book and turning it into a screenplay that kept all of the magic the book brought to the reader.
Starring Tom as Major Cage, a one time advertising executive until the alien invasion hit is a straight up coward with no combat training. He's thrust to the front lines and is forced to take part in Operation Downfall. He is woefully out of place and when he lands on the beach you know it's just a matter of time before this guy buys it. The military, the United Defense Forces are battling the Mimics, the alien horde, and Cage's platoon get's wiped out. In the process however, Cage kills an Alpha Mimic and get's bathed in it's blood giving Cage the power reset the day. He wakes up that morning and starts the day all over again. He meets Rita Vrataski on the beach who is single handedly responsible for winning an earlier battle at Verdun before Downfall and is a hero to all who fight now. Cage saves her life, and after saving her life a few times, Rita knows that Cage has the power of reset because she had it too and agrees to train Cage to become a legitimate soldier. No one else in the cast really matters which is one of the drawbacks of this film. Everyone else basks in the shadows of Tom and Emily which is unfortunate because with the other characters in the film a real tapestry of emotions could have been woven into the fabric of this story. Doug however has never really cared about that in his films, he's a straight ahead story teller and if he can tell the story using just two characters to focus on then that's what he'll do.
Edge of Tomorrow is still a great movie. The action sequences are fantastic and while the body armor looked cheesy (seriously, they could have done a better job with that), they don't take away from the movie or the characters journeys. The acting is superb and as a fan of both Tom and Emily's this movie just strengthened my appreciation for what they can do. The dialogue is witty, emotional, humorous, and sparse. The sets looked like millions were spent and in a movie loaded with CG aliens which always costs a pretty penny, it looks like no expense was spared. My only other issue with this film was the music, utterly forgettable. I'm no real fan Christophe Beck and this score showed me why as it was devoid of so many key elements needed and it didn't really match much of what was on the screen. Sure he nailed the action sequences but when the movie turned quiet or funny, Christophe missed the mark. All in all though, Edge of Tomorrow is a film I highly recommend (even to you Tom Cruise haters, and you know who you are), it is worth the price of admission. Trust me and I'll see you at the theater.
MarkEricEntertainment
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