Ben Oliver

Now
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film

Edge of Tomorrow

You get injured on the field, you better make sure you die.
11 March 2016

The world is at war with aliens and Tom Cruise keeps repeating the same day until he sorts it out. Groundhog Day meets War of the Worlds, you might say. Doesn’t sound all that appealing.

However, Edge of Tomorrow is witty, clever, sort-of makes sense and has some fantastic action sequences. Turns out this idea wasn’t done to death, and I’m glad I finally caught up with it. It’s a triumph of originality that flies in the face of endless franchises and remakes.

The real hook is that our protagonist finds someone (Emily Blunt) who experienced the same temporal hiccup and knows how to get out of it. I breathed a sigh of relief when the tedium of trying to persuade people he isn’t insane is quickly cut short with one quick line: “find me when you wake up”. The other clever touch is that our major is trying to stay in the loop rather than break out of it.

Things only get better from there. Cruise and Blunt are at the top of their game and their relationship feels genuine, somehow evolving despite their meeting for the first time over and over again. The script is sharp and keeps the plot simple. With time travel you are always trying to sell a shaky idea but Edge of Tomorrow never has you rolling your eyes.

The action is engrossing and well-paced. I tend to nod-off during extended loud sequences but Liman is an old hand at this now and keeps us hooked.

This is a brilliant, no-bullshit sci-fi action film that came out of nowhere. In a way, Edge of Tomorrow is what broke summer blockbusters out of their super-hero based time-loop. More like this please, Hollywood!