As a genre fan, by the end of last summer I was staring blankly into a cup of stale coffee, circles under my eyes and unshaven bristle on my chin. With hundreds of millions of dollars to play with, Hollywood had given us Iron Man 3, After Earth, World War Z, White House Down, Olympus Has Fallen, The Lone Ranger, R.I.P.D., Elysium"¦exactly. Almost enough to make you pay attention to the critics who are always complaining about the broken Hollywood studio system and the capitalist corruption of mass entertainment, etc.
Thankfully 2014 has offered a step back from that depressing abyss, and let me start enjoying popcorn flicks once again (though the state of current popcorn quality is another matter). Already, we've had Captain America: Winter Soldier, Godzilla, and now the excellent Edge of Tomorrow.
Or more correctly: surprisingly excellent. I have a feeling that this movie is taking many people aback. I didn't see any groundbreaking trailers go viral on social media or much pre-production news buzz or hear anything about it through word of mouth. I wasn't planning on seeing it until I got the chance to review. The general feel of the project was similar to some of the duds I listed earlier"”big stars, big budgets, scifi setting"¦not much attention to anything else.
If I had looked below the surface, though, I might have been more excited. Director Doug Liman helmed The Bourne Identity and the under-appreciated Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Cinematographer Dion Beebe won an Oscar for Memoirs of a Geisha, and was previously nominated for Chicago. Art director Neil Lamont supervised on most of the Harry Potter films. Christopher McQuarrie, who did the final rewrite of the script based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka's novel All You Need is Kill, has written for Tom Cruise multiple times.
It's a team that, when combined with solid performances from Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, made a ridiculously enjoyable action blockbuster.
The plot follows Cage, an Army major"”of the press office. While serving as the face of the military's efforts to turn back an alien invasion, he is determined to stay as far away from the fighting as possible. When he blackmails a general to try and get out of going to the front lines, he wakes up in handcuffs with orders to be sent in with the invasion as a grunt. He gets caught up in a time-warp-thing caused by alien technology and has to live the same events over again and again until he can get things right. It's like the Groundhog Day of PG-13 action blockbusters.
The action is incredible. There is a District 9 feel to this future"”a clunky near-future as opposed to the sleek far-future of a Star Trek. 3D is used incredibly well in that I often forgot I had on the glasses. Some of the action set pieces are the most intense I've seen in a while. But Tom Cruise has a good character to play, and the timey wimey elements actually work quite well.
Another great thing about this movie is its sense of humor. In my screening, the audience shared more than a few moments of deep, full-throated laughter. Genuinely funny moments are all too rare in blockbuster fare these days.
Go see Edge of Tomorrow in theaters. Do not wait for TV!
