MOVIE REVIEW: Edge of Tomorrow - 'Live. Die. Repeat.'

Director: Doug Liman
Starring: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton
Release Date: June 6, 2013

Tom Cruise has had six action films come out over the last ten years in which he played the lead role but besides two films being part of the Mission Impossible franchise, he has only had one successful movie with his last two films being fairly disappointing. On the other hand, the director of this film Doug Liman, is no stranger to disappointments. Liman's first action film The Bourne Identity was a huge success. Since then, three more films have been added to the Bourne franchise with Liman being the executive producer of the last two and Matt Damon playing the lead. But when it comes to directing once again, Liman has yet to have another hit as Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Jumper never reached the levels of success that his first piece of work did. Can Cruise and Liman, who are both looking for another hit, help each other in this quest or will they both fall short once again?

Edge of Tomorrow kicks off with a string of news reports that show off just a glimpse of what is happening to the planet. Earth has been subject to an alien invasion by creatures given the name 'Mimics' and these Mimics are successful thus far in their attempts that the humans form the United Defense Force as an attempt at one last push to save the planet on the beaches of France. Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) has never seen a day of combat in his life and when he is summoned to London on the eve of the attack he assumes he is needed to oversee the media blitz that will accompany the attack.

Cage is greatly mistaken as General Brigham (Brendan Glesson) orders him to join the first wave so he can deliver a first hand account of what is taken place on the battle field. Cage attempts to get out of this order, being that he cannot stand the sight of blood but finds himself arrested as a deserter and handed to the military instead. Cage is given an ExoSuit and is thrown into battle in which he does not last very long in, dying 10 minutes into the film after killing a unique Mimic. Instead of finding himself in the afterlife, Cage wakes up back in the beginning of his day.

As Cage relives the same day over again, he finds himself ending his days in the same matter, dying. But after each death, Cage wakes up in the beginning of the day and it doesn't take long for him to realize that he is caught in a time loop. Cage is not the first to experience this weird time loop. Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) a.k.a Full Metal Bitch was once caught in the time loop as well. With the help from the Full Metal Bitch, Cage must become a super soldier and take down the Mimics and save the world.

We have seen this kind of story before in Bill Murray's Groundhog Day but in that film the time loop was meant to bring laughter. In Edge of Tomorrow, the time loop is meant to bring misery to Tom Cruise. With time loops you come across a plot that can get quite repetitive and with repetition comes predictability. But Liman does a great job to help avoid predictability by not showing us each day Cage has to repeat giving Liman the power when he wants to reveal a new bit of information each time.

Edge of Tomorrow ultimately feels like a video game at the end of the day. Liman gives us that first person experience. The viewer feels they are actually on the beach with Tom Cruise instead of watching other people doing the fighting. You get the feeling as if you are on the battlefield, the trenches and fighting the Mimics. And just like a video game, you never like dying because that means you need to start in the beginning of the level once again and Tom Cruise gets that feeling for two hours throughout Edge of Tomorrow. Cage grows frustrated with not being able to beat this day-long level and video gamers around the world can connect with that frustration. You'll think that Edge of Tomorrow is based on a video game due to how successful this video game concept played out but it is actually based on the Japanese military science fiction light novel All You Need Is Kill by Yoshitoshi ABe.

The third act is ultimately the weakest part of the film. A predictable love interest between the two heroes emerges. The film does not benefit from it as the duo shines brightest when Rita shoots Cage in the head whenever she feels they need a reset. Rita should be the main hero of the film as the movie wraps up but in typical Cruise fashion he becomes the main man.

Overall Edge of Tomorrow is a blast and I recommend taking your wallets out and seeing the film when it hits theaters and you must see it in IMAX. Liman was one act away from having a perfect film but predictability was unavoidable. I expect Cruise to have his biggest hit in the box office since his 2011 Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol.