This movie isn’t mission impossible. It’s mission, I’m possible after dying a bunch of times by aliens and massive full body machine guns.
“The Edge of Tomorrow” is a top-notch, rapidly progressing, adventurous plotline in a “GroundHog’s Day” style story. Arguable this film is Tom Cruise’s best performances of his career.
Tom Cruise plays Major William Cage, an American military PR officer promoting military equipment, unwillingly downgraded to private on British base, destined for the frontlines of a hopeless combat mission against ferocious reprobate.
Watching Tom Cruise fall is on bucket list. It was surprising that Major Cage didn’t topple over with all the artillery attached to him while walking on medal stilts. He was promoting the badass equipment, without any interest in putting the shoe on the other foot.
Major Cage refused to participate in a being on the frontline during a futurist storming of the beaches of Normandy. As a result, Major Cage wakes up to Cruel Sergeant’s loud voice, is informed that he has been demoted to private before being introduced to Master Sergeant and his squad, strapped into full body equipment, falls from the sky into battle. Every time Cage dies, he wakes up to Cruel Sergeant.
Who doesn’t want to see Tom Cruise being called a maggot to put him in his place?
Tom Cruise executes a variety of clearly defined emotions through the entire film. The best examples of his acting versatility are when Major Cage is in a state of confusion and uncertainty. His body language and facial expressions are dedicated to that feeling in a relate-able fashion. As he continues relive “Judgment Day,” his personality evolves to become more confident and witty.
Christopher McQuarrie, John-Henry Butterworth and Jez Butterworth wrote a complex scrip based of manga and novel ‘All you need is kill’ by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. The story uses a time loop to develop characters and verbally move the story along in a fast paced environment. Our hero is dying constantly either on the battlefield or training. Every time the supporting characters are reintroduced, there is an opportunity for moments of dark comedic relief. This movie definitely hits in mark with making the audience laugh. Like when the Sergeant makes a crude remark when a car squashes Cage.
The supporting cast is filled with memorable characters. Emily Blunt’s plays Rita, a full metal force of nature mentoring Major Cage for success. She plays the badass with a past effortlessly. Bill Paxton plays Master Sergeant Farell, the officer who puts almost everyone into his or her place. His squad never misses a cue to lighten up the mood during dramatic moments.
The special effects in this movie are phenomenal. The aerial shots and close ups contain so much detail. An aerial shot of Cage and his squad are falling from the sky sets up the hopeless and chaotic atmosphere. Planes are being blown up, 100s of people are falling from the sky and there are an abundance of aliens everywhere in between. As Cage frantically tries to figure out how to operate his battle armor, a screen comes up with default language in Japanese. This little detail brings the authenticity to the original Japanese manga storyline. Also how horrifying it would be to in a massive battle zone and try to translate the default settings. Doug Liman truly took the time to make sure that everything in the shot was well constructed.
In my opinion, the films fills in story holes in a comedic fashion until the end. At times, the breath taking visuals acted as the dialogue. It was nice that not everything had to spoken while requiring your attention. This is the kind of movie that commends your attention otherwise you might miss something. I would definitely recommend this movie for anyone who wants to go on sci-fi thrill ride.
