There are few blockbusters will be presented with the surety that Edge of Tomorrow has. I mean this is a movie with a Groundhog Day plot device, aliens, military intrigue, politics and scifi tropes, it HAS to be self confident and completely in control or the movie would fall apart. Audiences taking in movies should find themselves in great hands as the team behind Edge of Tomorrow have crafted an incredibly buoyant film that combines all these elements, along with some wonderful performances from Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt.
Tom Cruise plays Major William Cage, a spokesperson for the army and a member of the army reserve. When he tries to blackmail a general so that he doesn’t end up in combat, he ends up stripped of his rank and on his way to battle with a dis functional team. It’s during this battle that he kills one of the Mimics and ends up doused with its blood, giving him the ability to reset the day. He then joins up with Rita Vrataski, a revered soldier who once had the same power, to find where the Omega and destroy the threat once and for all.
Edge of Tomorrow is a movie that’s easy to give a basic summary to, but incredibly intricate. I can’t even begin to go into how layered the script is, given the many things at play. I will say that I thought the movie did a remarkable job balancing the resets and pushing the story forward. There are many people who will have problems with certain aspects, namely the ending, but I didn’t see anything wrong with how the movie proceeded to its climax.
Visually this movie is stunning and one of the smoothest rendered summer blockbusters to come along. The mimics are incredibly well designed and the way the filmmakers employ them is both fun and incredibly scary. I also thought that Doug Liman understood exactly how to frame his shots, leading to some beautiful symmetry and a movie that wasn’t hard to follow.
Tom Cruise has been one of screen’s most enduring presences and he gives you every ounce of his energy to delivering a great performance in this film. What makes tom’s performance in Edge of Tomorrow so good is that he’s always himself (ie. competent and awesome as hell in the action scenes) but he’s using his personal history and persona to great effect. The opening scenes where he’s trying to convince the general to not send him off brings his smarmy side out, and his demented laugh and smile is such wonderful personal skewering. This is what a star performance looks like, if you’ve ever wondered. Helping him deliver this performance is one Emily Blunt, who manages to be both incredibly tough and vulnerable as Rita. I instantly believed her character and she just keeps the movie chugging along.
Grade: ***1/2/**** (A-)