Edge of Tomorrow

Tom Cruise stars in this inventive, time-bending blockbuster… Tom Cruise stars in this inventive, time-bending- … Tom Cruise stars in this- … Tom Cruise-

Let’s start over. It’s an understatement to say Tom Cruise has had a somewhat shaky decade. Since his villainous turn in Collateral, we have witnessed Cruise’s profession career and (very public) personal life implode. Scientology rumours and Oprah’s couch-jumping made him a figure of ridicule. Will Smith eclipsed him as Hollywood’s “most bankable” movie star, followed by Johnny Depp and now Robert Downey Jr… Mission Impossible sequels aside, Cruise’s last decade has been critically and commercially underwhelming. He was robotic (Valkyrie), bland (Knight & Day) and laughably miscast (Jack Reacher). No one was more surprised than me when Cruise finally recaptured his box office mojo last year with Oblivion. Now Cruise attempts to repeat the trick with Edge of Tomorrow, a similarly high-concept action flick. Does it work?

A million Lee Child fans groaned when Tom Cruise was cast as the 6’5”, 250-pound and blond Jack Reacher. I feared the handsome 51-year-old would be equally hard to believe as a battle-hardened soldier in Edge of Tomorrow. Thankfully the film sidesteps this problem, casting Cruise as an Army Major with a winning smile – and not much else. He’s a glorified spin doctor. He spends his days spewing propaganda on news channels, leaving the actual “fighting” to millions of others. A cantankerous General Brendan Gleeson press-gangs him into active duty, creatingly a suprisingly amusing “fish-out-of-water” scenario. Cruise brings humour and charm to the role, refreshing in light of recent po-faced, dead serious blockbusters. Its a throwback to the Top Gun heyday of smirking, self-aware action heroes. For all my skepticism, Tom Cruise won me over.

Edge of Tomorrow fully exploits of its high-concept hook – unlike other recent films *cough-The Purge-cough*. “Live. Die. Repeat.” The action comes thick and fast, over and over again. And the smooth editing ensures the action is thrilling yet coherent. Unsurprisingly, the film was directed by The Bourne Identity director Doug Liman, a blink-editing pioneer. The premise also allows Cruise to develop believablyt from a hapless rookie to an ass-kicking GI. The eventual explanation is clear, not convoluted. Dramatic and action scenes are well-balanced, as per “the 11-minute rule”. And the stakes are well and truly raised before the film’s explosive finale.

Finally, it’s apt that the film is released Stateside today, June 6th 2014, the 70th anniversary of D-Day. Humanity unites on Western and Eastern fronts to fight an alien enemy which has blitzed across Europe from Germany. Cruise’s J-Company of paratroopers “fight them on the beaches”, not-so-subtly calling to mind the Operation Neptune and the Normandy landings.

But the film is not without its flaws. Firstly, Brendan Gleeson’s grumpy general is greatly under-developed. He’s the closest thing the movie has to a human villain, yet his motives remain unclear. Why does he go so far out of his way to set up Cruise? Sure someone needs to set the plot in motion, but that’s not the point. When Cruise returns to his office, the script holds back on the well-spring of bitterness and resentment we know must be resting inside the general. This single scene would have single-handedly elevated the film – think General William Stryker’s facing down Professor X in X-Men 2.

Emily Blunt is strong and steely as the“Full Metal Bitch”. Yet the romantic subplot strains credibility – Cruise is a full two decades older than Blunt. For God’s sake, she was three years old when Top Gun premiered. The romance is also somewhat undercooked. Another “on the road” scene could have done much to flesh out Blunt’s vulnerability and self-loathing. And at 113 minutes, the film could have easily afforded it. Also – SPOILER ALERT – a good five minor characters are killed off-screen – yet their deaths are barely mentioned. A noble, guns-blazing Aliens-style death scene would have been a lot more satisfying. END OF SPOILERS.

But there’s one last nit-pick I vehemently disagree with. That Edge of Tomorrow is a complete rip-off of 1993’s (admittedly superior) Groundhog Day. Listen, there is no completely original premise. Every single monster is simply a retelling of the Greek “Minotaur and the Maze” myth. Should we bin our DVDs of Jaws, Alien or The Fly for this reason? Hell, even Groundhog Day itself had a multitude of inspirations. Way back in 1887, Nietchze narrated a man living the same day over and over again in The Gay Science. In 1892, a little girl does the same in the William Dean Howell short story Christmas Every Day. In 1975, an astronaut does so in Philip K. Dick’s A Little Something for us Tempunauts. To quote South Park’s “Simpsons Did It” episode: “Every ideas been done, Butters, even before the Simpsons.” Who cares that 2006’s Déja Vu and 2011’s Source Code share a similar premise to Groundhog Day and Edge of Tomorrow? They are all enjoyable films in their own right.

Edge of Tomorrow is a surpringly enjoyable, well-crafted action film. Edge of Tomorrow is a surpringly enjoyable, well-crafted – … Edge of -… Oh not this again.