“Edge of
Tomorrow” (also known as “Live. Die. Repeat”) was a Tom Cruise vehicle based on
a Japanese novel entitled All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi
Sakurazaka. The film adaptation has been
described as a combination of “Groundhog Day” and “Starship Troopers”. It was a moderate box office success, but a
sequel is on the way. It was nominated
for Saturn Awards for Sci-Fi Film (losing to “Interstellar”), Director (Doug
Liman), Actor (Cruise), Actress (Emily Blunt), and Writing. It premiered on June 6, 2014 to promote
comparisons to D-Day.
The film
opens with Earth in the midst of an alien invasion. The mimics are extraterrestrials who want to
exploit Earth’s resources. They are a
whirligig of tentacles and very nasty pieces of work. As in most alien invasion movies, they are
vastly superior to Earth forces. It will
take a miracle to beat them. Cruise
plays Maj. William Cage. He is a PR
expert for the United Defense Force.
When he is tasked to embed with the planned invasion of France to start
the retaking of alien-occupied Europe, he points out to the commanding general
(Brendan Gleeson) that he is a talker, not a fighter. This gets him assigned to the first wave – as
cannon fodder. His new squad and Sergeant
Farrell (Bill Pullman) do not welcome him as a game-changer and as all predict,
he is killed almost immediately. But in
the blink of an eye, he has gone back in time 24 hours. He repeats the day over and over with the
same result, except that each of his deaths is different. Naturally, he cannot convince his mates that
he is in a time loop. Grunts and gunnies
are not noted for their cognitive imaginations.
He does end up encountering another looper, Sgt. Rita Vrataski
(Blunt). She is known as the “Angel of
Verdun” for her heroics in battle there.
She is one bad-ass warrior. The
kind of female you only find in sci-fi movies.
Together they must save Earth by destroying the alien “brain”.
“Edge of
Tomorrow” is a very creative movie. Of
course, this is mostly to the credit of the novel, but the screenplay has done
a good job adapting it and Liman has done an admirable job bringing it to the
screen. It is not without its
clichés. Farrell is a stereotype,
although Pullman plays him with such swagger that he is the upper echelon of
his type. The squad is heterogeneous, but
we don’t find out if any are from Brooklyn.
The movie is totally focused on Cage and Vrataski. They are great characters. Cage is a role tailored for Cruise. In other
words, he is a cocky asshole. Cruise did
his own stunts and was very hands on in the script tweakings. He insisted on added humor, which works
well. Blunt is amazing as a character
that would give Ripley a run for her money.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this trend of strong female
warriors in sci-fi films.
This is
clearly a war movie. Alien warriors face
off against an army. The aliens are
reminiscent of the bugs in “Starship Troopers”.
They do not fire weapons, but they are intelligent. They purposely lost at Verdun to lure the
humans into a grand invasion. That invasion
is one of the great battle scenes. It is
amphibious, but the Higgins boats are airborne.
Cage’s craft is hit and they have to drop in chaos and into chaos. It’s a slaughter. The mimics are much more difficult to kill
than the bugs in “Starship”. The
invasion scene is repeated with different deaths for Cage so it doesn’t get
old. This movie not only has a training
montage, it has a Cage death montage.
The movie finishes with a behind the lines suicide mission to take out
the command center. This is another
pulsating scene that is unfortunately marred by a sappy ending. I did mention they are making a sequel, right?
Visually the
movie is excellent. The CGI is
top-notch. The aliens are scary and
intimidating. Once again, as in all
alien invasion movies, they are virtually unbeatable and it will take a miracle
for a happy ending. Cage and his mates
are equipped with exoskeletons called Combat Jackets. They allow the soldiers to run faster and
jump higher. They are the futuristic
equivalents of PF Flyers. Unfortunately,
they provide little armored protection.
They are armed with a high caliber machine gun and a rocket
launcher. Vrataski prefers to use a
sword because she’s a badass. As usual
for this type of movie, the UDF apparently has no artillery and there is no
shore bombardment before the invasion.
Even more perplexing, there is no evidence that nukes have been used
even though Europe has fallen and appears to be uninhabited.
“Edge of
Tomorrow” is one of the best sci-fi war movies.
Cruise and Blunt make a good team and their acting is excellent. The role was perfect for Cruise and Blunt is
a revelation as one of the great sci-fi war heroines. The rest of the cast is supportive, if
marginalized. There is plenty of action
for the war movie lover and the scenario and aliens are unique so it is not
simply a WWII movie shifted to the future.
GRADE = A
I agree with your review - it's an interesting idea that is explored in a very entertaining way. An advantage of adaptations is that you already have some idea of what works and what doesn't, but a disadvantage is that you usually have to pare down some of the story to fit it into film length and avoid confusion. This time they did a pretty good job keeping the essential parts of the story and conveying it in live action.
ReplyDeleteI like your theory on why adaptations are sometimes not as good as the source.
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