Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Unlike with Tom Cruise's last big sci-fi film "Oblivion" there don't appear to be quite so many people fuming about "Edge of Tomorrow" simply because Tom Cruise earns money from it. Of course, the reason for getting upset about Tom Cruise's enormous paychecks has not changed. He is still one of the main financiers of the Church of Scientology including its paramilitary wing, Sea Org, which was recently found to run forced child labour camps. Members of Sea Org experience sleep deprivation, food deprivation, coerced abortions and are all expected to sign billion year contracts. (Yes, that's right, they are committed to Sea Org not only in this life, but in the hereafter too.) All this is still happening and Tom Cruise's enormous paycheck still funds it.
All that being said, "Edge of Tomorrow" is a product of more than just Tom Cruise. There's the director, the writers, the rest of the cast, the costume designers, the make-up team, and so in. And let us not forget the visual effects artists who are often horribly underpaid even when their projects are award-winning and colossal box-office successes (i.e. "Life of Pi"). So I'll now stop talking about the horrible consequences of how Tom Cruise spends his wages and get down to the film itself....
The basic premise of "Edge of Tomorrow" (adapted from the novel "All You Need Is Kill") is that a soldier (played by Tom Cruise) involved in a war defending the Earth from aliens suddenly discovers that he has the power to relive the same day over and over again. A much-lauded hero in the battle against the aliens (played by Emily Blunt) is the only one who will believe our protagonist when he explains that time is repeating on him.
The obvious comparison here is with the awesome Bill Murray comedy "Groundhog Day". I must admit, I was very pleased to discover that "Edge of Tomorrow" is not essentially sci-fi Groundhog Day with the comedy removed. "Edge of Tomorrow" is actually very funny. Our protagonist Tom Cruise begins the film as an absolute coward and so it is much to the audience's amusement when we see him character dying again and again in a variety of inventive ways (always only to wake up at the same point in time, ready for a repeat of his less than pleasant first meeting with Bill Paxton's Sergeant character). There are plenty of moments where I found myself bursting out laughting.
I really enjoyed "Oblivion" and some elements that I liked are still here. As has already been noted, this is a film which recycles some elements from other films. I'd also note that, like "Oblivion", this is yet another film where Tom Cruise doesn't have that annoying smugness that is found in some of his earlier films (perhaps most notably in the role of Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible movies). Still, apart from the wonderful soundtrack music, this exceeds "Oblivion" in pretty much every way.
For example, side-characters. In "Oblivion" the resistance movement felt a little under-explored being a mass of essentially inter-changeable characters (with even Morgan Freeman seeming a little 2-dimensional in spite of his gravitas). In "Edge of Tomorrow" even the least important characters feel like there is a full distinctive personality behind their characters. Everyone feels like a real person leading a real life.
The aliens have a rather cool design. Some have claimed that they appear like a disease. I'm not sure about that, but they certainly have a very unearthly way of moving. I don't know that they are better than the incredible drones in "Oblivion", but there's a similar inventiveness to them. Still, much of the story involves avoiding the aliens and so the creativity in "Edge of Tomorrow" revolves around organising the careful day-repetition sequences, often hinting to us what must have happened on other repeated days which we haven't seen. Any spectacular set-pieces tend to be tied closely to that particular point in the story, rather than being shown for their own sake.
In the end, I think this is perhaps less like "Oblivion" and perhaps more like "Looper". Whatever you felt about any of these films, there seems to be a growing tendency for intelligent action sci-fi. As a sci-fi fan first and foremost, I think this is a good trend. We possibly have Christopher Nolan to thank for keeping this trend going with films like "The Prestige" and "Inception". Sadly, I doubt the planned Star Wars films will take much from this trend.
"Edge of Tomorrow" is laugh-out loud funny, exciting, emotional, visually impressive, intricately choreographed with well-formed characters. Believe the hype.
A+