In the broadest terms, Edge of Tomorrow plays out like a nightmare version of Groundhog Day, where the main character - a smug, craven PR flack played by Tom Cruise - is stuck reliving a battle that turns into a massacre, meaning that he dies again and again and again without ever being set free from it all. That's a great premise to begin with, and Edge of Tomorrow runs with it fantastically, bringing out not only the horror of the situation, but the intriguing possibilities and even the comedy of it all, to say nothing of using it to develop its plot in satisfying ways. But more than that, Edge of Tomorrow has any number of other pleasures. There may be no movie, for instance, that's more influenced by videogames than Edge of Tomorrow is, often feeling like a save game that's played again and again and again without making any progress, or the world's most complicated speedrun. That the movie turns its videogame concept into something more human and effective about the cost of battle makes it more substantive than you might expect. Or, consider the fact that Cruise doesn't play the noble hero, but a coward who wants nothing to do with battle and in fact admits to often fainting at the sight of blood? How about the fact that the film's badass mentor figure is, in fact, a woman, and there's never really any major need to build a sexual relationship between the two characters? And if you're more of a fan of the technical side of things, you'll love the editing here, which crafts together dozens of versions of the same scene and so disorients you that you often forget which one you're watching. Yes, Edge of Tomorrow stumbles a bit in the final act, becoming more generic and simple than the rest of the movie before it, and turning into something a little blander than you might hope from the rest. But it's not bad enough to ruin the movie, and the rest is so solid that any science fiction fan will find a lot to enjoy here.
- Josh Mauthe
- Josh Mauthe
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