EDGE OF TOMORROW – The Review

What to do? Can we survive? The world is under attack from vicious, unstoppable alien forces, it must be…Summertime at the multiplex! This looks like a job for…Tom Cruise! Yes, Tom Cruise, the all-American boy (for you budding archeologists, that’s a reference to the once-popular radio adventure series, Jack Armstrong, who boasted that misnomer. And for a fella’ past fifty, Cruise still has a boyish grin!). But this isn’t the high-flying Maverick from TOP GUN or even the more down-to-Earth JACK REACHER. Why this character, John Cage, has never seen combat! But somehow he’s been gifted with an edge courtesy of those invading aliens and only one person can help him use that advantage: a hard-nosed special forces hero played by Emily Blunt! The Brit beauty from THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA? You wouldn’t expect a by-the-numbers, blast the otherworldly beasties, actioner from gifted director Doug Liman (MR. AND MRS. SMITH), would you? Get ready for a wild ride by strapping into your battle gear and zoom toward the EDGE OF TOMORROW. But watch out for the whiplash, this flick goes backwards pretty darn’ fast!

In the not-too-distant future, the Earth is bombarded with meteors that unleash alien creatures dubbed “mimics”. We learn this via a deluge of media clips from cable news broadcasts many featuring interviews with Major William Cage (Cruise) and news conferences from Director of European Operations, Britain’s General Bringham (Brendon Gleeson). When Cage meets with Bringham in London to discuss the PR about an upcoming assault against said enemy, he’s stunned when the General announces that the Major will be part of the first team on the beach head. But Cage has never been in battle, he’s only the smiling TV face reassuring the public. After unsuccessfully trying to talk the General out of his involvement (including a not-so veiled threat), Cage bolts and is knocked out by an MP’s taser gun. Cage awakens at the Heathrow airbase as  no-nonsense Major Sergeant Farrell (Bill Paxton) takes him to an infantry unit, J-Squad, where he’ll be quickly trained for the upcoming ( in just 2 days!) battle. That morning Cage is strapped into a massive, heavily armed exoskeleton and before they can be dropped on to the beach, the aircraft is blasted by ground forces. The unprepared Cage plummets in the chaos as his squad is decimated by the mimics, deadly, who resemble squid-like whirling dervishes. Suddenly he spots Rita Vrataski (Blunt), “the angel of Verdun” and “Full Metal B#@&*”, the face of countless military recruitment posters. A larger version of a mimic, a blue-glowing banshee-faced alien called an “alpha” kills Rita and leaps on top of Cage. By sheer dumb luck, he empties his blaster into beast which covers Cage in neon blue goop. He blacks out and when his eyes open, he’s back at the airbase meeting Farrell and J-Squad. But this time at the battle he tells Rita of this strange version of deja’ vu. She stoicly says “Find me”, before their demise and he awakens again on the airstrip. Over the course of many more repeats, he learns bit by bit that Rita had been in the same spot as Cage via the spilled alpha blood. Before Cage loses the time-tripping power they must work together to track down and destroy the source of the mimics and alphas’ power, the massive glowering orb known as the “omega”.

I hope I’ve not described the film in a way that makes it seem way too complicated to follow because Liman has constructed EDGE in a way that rewards audiences for their recall. Every day is not strictly repeated, but we’re giving highlight flashes where we can see Cage hurriedly formulating a game plan. Kudos also should go out to frequent Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie and Liman’s FAIR GAME cohorts Jez and John-Henry Butterworth (adapting Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s young adult graphic novel “All You Need is Kill”) for a screenplay that not only packs on the stunts, but is also (an actioner rarity) witty. Many will point to the Bill Murray classic GROUNDHOG DAY (miss you, Mr. Ramis!), but EDGE may owe even more to the lesser known 2011 SF thriller SOURCE CODE (Jake Gyllenhaal has a limited amount of reboots after enduring violent deaths). And EDGE has a great enemy in the unreasoning, almost unstoppable mimics who seem to explode with deadly tentacles. Their only purpose is mayhem and complete carnage. The image of them moving forward in the distance as the ground shatters in their wake chills the bone. And with that massive beach battle we’ve got a touch of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN to toss into this cinematic stew along with ALIENS and STARSHIP TROOPERS. And the dish is expertly enhanced by Christophe Beck’s compelling music score. EDGE is a superb thrill-ride that engages the mind as so few Summer blockbusters have. It’s like assembling a puzzle while on a free-falling roller coaster

But the human beings at the center of the excitement aren’t neglected thanks to this top-notch cast. When we first meet Cage in the war room, this is a very different Tom Cruise character. Cage is frightened at the prospect of being a soldier. His uniform is a costume to him, a way to sell the public a product. He’s part twitchy Bob Hope in his 1940’s service comedies, part Don Draper of TV’s “Mad Men”, and a large bit of James Garner’s angling Charlie Madison in 1964’s great THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY. But we see him slowly change as he restarts that day. Cage sees the big picture finally and is ready to do his part and use this strange gift, going from selfishness to selflessness. A big part of that change is his relationship with Rita, played with grit and gusto by the usually glamorous Blunt. To the other soldiers, Rita’s the same glowering hard-case glimpsed on the recruitment billboards and posters, but after seeing Cage’s determination she begins to let her guard down. It’s great to see Cruise teamed up with an actress who also projects an intense screen charisma. With that intense glare, Rita’s not anyone to be trifled with, but she never loses her femininity. The shot from her initial meeting with Cage as she slowly lifts herself up with her toned forearms from her floor mat should be on display at Yoga centers worldwide. Cruise and Blunt make a formidable movie team. They get solid support from the nationally diverse actors comprising J-Squad. Plus there’s the terrific Noah Taylor as Rita’s displaced scientist confidant who has many, but not all, the answers to the mimics’ defeat. Gleeson is splendid as the gruff general who invokes memories of “Stormin'” Norman Schwartzkoff, Patton, and a touch of Churchill. The big scene-stealer may be Paxton as the military bulldog who will not be swayed by Cage in any of his reboots. He’s almost the opposite of his breakthrough role as the panicking, paranoid Hudson from ALIENS almost 30( wow!) years ago.

The film’s only fault may be a somewhat sluggish start to its third act with a pub stop in London and a stretch at an abandoned farm-house. Perhaps this is just a chance for us to catch our breath a bit before the big showdown in Paris. A few of my online pals have voiced concern that this is a follow-up to last Summer’s dismal and dull Cruise SF flick OBLIVION. Put that out of your mind. This one is an exceptional escape from the sweltering temps. Although the somewhat generic title may remind many of the TV soap opera “The Edge of Night” or the Johnny Carson Tonight Shoe take-off “The Edge of Wetness”, EDGE OF TOMORROW, much like the time-travelin’ X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST” from last month, is an entertainment blockbuster well worth watching. And re-watching And re-…

4.5 Out of 5