Edge of tomorrow

Over the last years I've started suspecting that Tom Cruise is having some sort of age crisis. All his latest movies have been spectacles. Ghost protocol, Oblivion, Jack Reacher and now Edge of tomorrow. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, I'm actually glad we get to see the energetic and very action savvy Tom Cruise again. Edge of tomorrow only proves that he is in his right element when doing action.


In Edge of tomorrow (I'm saying that alot here) the world has been invaded by parasitic aliens and humanity is quickly losing the war for earth. Major William Cage (Cruise) is the face of the American army. He is in charge of press and media relations, and has come to england to oversee the last ditch attempt to fight back against the invaders. Instead, he gets drafted and placed on the frontline of the war. Cage is not a real soldier though, he is just a posterboy, and within minutes of landing he is dead. Somehow he wakes up 24 hours before he died and has to relive his last day over and over again because everytime he dies he wakes up at that same time 24 hours before he first died.

Without any sugarcoating, I'm going to say that this is one of the best Sci-fi movies of the last 20 years. It has everything you want from a good Sci-fi. Great plot, well written characters, awesome effects and that elusive feeling of experiencing something out of this world.

The plot does a terrific job of telling you about the mechanics of it all, time travel and the awesome mechsuits, without going into too much detail. Most "good" Sci-fi gets bogged down in details and explanations and forgets to tell a compelling story. Edge of tomorrow finds the balance between world building, plot and characters like few other movies. It manages to convince the audience that the world is being taken over by aliens and that the only thing that can save us is a time manipulating Tom Cruise, weird right? Not really. To sell somerhing this crazy, you would need good actors and a good director, and this movie has both.

Tom Cruise carries the movie with the style and grace only he has but he is also backed up by the astounding Emily Blunt, bad ass warrior aptly nicknamed Full metal bitch. When you first see Cruise in action, he is playing against the typical Cruise action guy. He is a slimey, cowardly deserter who does not know the first thing about combat.
It felt good to see him try something so... un-Cruise. Then there is Emily Blunt as the angel of Verdun, Rita Vrataski. She rocks every scene she is in. She plays this hard assed, almost superhuman soldier who trains Cage and for every day he re-lives that day she manages to shape him into the classic hero.
Together the are probably the coolest action heroes since the 2010 A-team.

Doug Liman, whose previous efforts include The Bourne identity and Fair game, orchestrates the whole thing with a perfect sense of timing and humour. He manages to find the comedy in the most unexpected places but still manages to keep the over all tone grim enough so that the audience never find the whole thing silly.

Edge of tomorrow excels in all areas and rarely dissapoints. There are of course some flaws, but they are so minor that they barely even register.

If you're only going to the cinemas one time this summer, make sure you go and see Edge if tomorrow.