Edge of Tomorrow is getting a lot of play from critics as a kind of Groundhog Day for the CGI, all-tentpole-all-the-time era. And in terms of the way Edge is constructed, that fits quite well. Of course, even more than Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow is styled as a Call of Duty type videogame. It is littered with production design that calls to mind past wars (and, more particularly, World War II movies) and built on the premise that has informed video games since the 80s, when home video games gave players the option to continue restarting their games and to start from a particular endpoint.
While Edge doesn't break a ton of new ground, it bogs down a bit late, and the love story gets crowded out, it is also terrifically entertaining and about as good as these big tentpoles tend to get these days. Edge also accomplishes something that is quite rare in a star-driven action movie, and that represents almost the brass ring of tentpole filmmaking: introducing a shred of doubt about the outcome in a jaded audience that knows full well that the good guys are going to win (aren't they?).
Tom Cruise stars as Major Cage, a PR officer for the military at some point in the near future after aliens have crash-landed on Earth and conquered Europe. Cruise crosses a general and ends up railroaded into a front line combat unit the day before a Normandy Invasion type offensive expected to re-take Europe (the humans have just managed their first major victory and are swelling with confidence).
Cage is an incompetent soldier and is quickly killed the next day. But something happens that causes him to shift back in time to re-live the past 24 hours. Again and again and again. Every time Cage is killed, he resets to the day before, waking up as he's being placed into the combat unit shortly before the battle. Each time, Cage gets a little better and advances a little further. He soon seeks help from Rita (Emily Blunt), who knows what Cage is going through because she went through it herself. It is now up to Rita and Cage to try to use the process to either save the day or to prevent the disastrous invasion from even happening.
Edge of Tomorrow's similarities to Groundhog Day are more than just epidermal. The film is structured very much the same way, with Cruise's character resetting time and again until he figures out what is happening and, then, ultimately embraces it and uses the opportunity to better himself (and win the girl). Hell, even the girl's name, Rita, is the same as Andie MacDowell's character in Groundhog Day. I can't complain too much because it is a great conceit and one that lends itself well to showing us the character development of a bad guy into a hero. The concept will also likely appeal to video gamers, as discussed above.
Even with a good concept at its back, it would be easy for the film to get lost in itself, to fail to make sense, or, given the repetition, to become boring. Director Doug Liman and the screenwriters (there are three that are credited), however, manage it extremely well. They keep things moving and clear, and capitalize on Cruise's still surging charisma to ensure that things never get too boring.
Here Cruise is at his best: not spending too much time trying to reassure us that he is a matinee idol (although he still gets the obligatory riding-a-motorcycle shot), but instead willing to allow himself to look like a fool early and to build his character from the ground floor. There is, however, simply no denying Cruise's likability on screen, which helps to bring the audience on his side even as he's incompetent or even a bit of a jackass when he tries to extort his way out of combat. Cruise's charisma and likability elevate the material, and image maintenance doesn't feel like it is bogging it down. It never feels like a vanity project for a star trying to reassert his position.
While the film can't help but revel in artillery and explosions, there are some interesting questions about militarism raised by the story. The humans' fatal flaw, the one that allows them to fall into the aliens' trap, is their eagerness to attack. It is that reckless attacking mentality that actually serves as the catalyst for allowing the aliens to prevail. Military leadership's unwillingness to think outside the box and penchant for isolating anyone that dares to call into question their tactics are what nearly destroys humanity. In that, it is a welcome respite from the abject glorification of the military as an institution in Hollywood movies in the post 9/11 era.
On the flip side, the film still revels in the glorification of the rank-and-file soldier that has remained a pillar of tentpole filmmaking in the last decade. While it critiques mindless war, the film is still a tale of a guy "manning up" and becoming a hero by learning to fire his gun and realizing that he must sacrifice himself for the team. While the film maintains a critical approach to some aspects of the military, it still functions as terrific recruiting material to prospective soldiers. That the film so heavily relies on video game mechanics is interesting considering that the military itself uses such video games as recruitment tools.
The film's (and Liman's) best achievement is that, while conventional in its basic elements, the film continues to leave questions throughout about the outcome. As the second act gives way to the third, Liman casts a shroud of dread over the film with the suggestion that Cage and Rita aren't supposed to make it out of this mess alive. That means that, even though we're expecting the Hollywood happy ending, the film constructs a scenario where the audience truly is left to wonder whether Cage's mission will end with success. 99 times out of 100 you can watch a big Hollywood event movie and there isn't a second where you doubt the end result. In most movies, minor tragedies, such as the loss of a secondary character, are as expected as the happy ending. At most, you hope to just be entertained while everything you have come to expect happens as expected. Credit to the Edge of Tomorrow team for threading some doubt into that.
There is one huge fly in the ointment with my praise for Edge of Tomorrow on those grounds, and that is that it ultimately falls prey to the Hollywood trap of refusing to commit to an ending one way or another. It is a major pet peeve when a film tries to have it both ways - trying to present itself as a tragedy, and then trying to eat the cake, too, by canceling (at least some aspect of) the tragedy. Edge falls prey to that as well, although at least you believe the tragedy while it is happening, unlike, say, the ridiculous bullshit ending of Star Trek: Into Darkness.
Another issue is that the love story kind of gets crowded out of the film by both the mechanics of a complicated plot and the obligatory warfare that needs to justify inclusion in a summer release schedule. It isn't a big problem - it just relegates it to a surprisingly underdeveloped plot element - but don't head to this one looking for romance.
Instead, head to this looking for a big event movie with half a brain and the kind of star power that fuels the Hollywood mystique. It is the kind of entertainment that makes going to big movies seem fun again. The likelihood that any of the big, loud event movies released this summer will be as good as Edge of Tomorrow is extremely low, so catch this one while you can before another 87 tentpoles get released in the next two weeks and crowd it out.
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