Edge of Tomorrow

What a shock. I haven't read the book. Moving on.

The trailers for this movie alone had me fascinated. I loved the idea, a soldier who dies again and again, forced to relive the same day over and over, knowing full well that the battle he was fighting was an incredible failure. It's a hilariously futile idea, I couldn't wait to see where it was going to be taken and how it was going to work.

This is the rare example of a science fiction film where I completely bought the bullshit science. Somehow, for some reason, I was completely fine believing the strange explanation of his time travel, and lack of memory loss. And I loved the idea of the aliens, who looked awesome I should add. Sure, the idea of "take down one to take down an army" has been done a trillion times. But for me, the trope was helpful at highlighting the bizarre story happening around Tom Cruise's character. Not just that, but every circumstance really let humor come through beautifully, subtle jokes filling the entire run time. It's funny to watch Cruise get tired of dying again and again. It's interesting to see his fear of death never completely goes away. And it's pretty badass to watch him learn to fight having no military background at the beginning of the film, and a cool idea (the "jacket" technology) that allowed him to learn quickly, as explained at the beginning of the film. It's one brilliantly wrapped up package - exciting, funny, and pretty damn cool.

The acting in this film is top notch. Tom Cruise plays a wonderfully terrified but quick learning soldier, one who you hate at the beginning and love by the end. Emily Blunt plays the wonderfully badass leader, throwing conventional action female characteristics out of the window. She's sexualized very little, left to be the soldier that she is, but never forgetting that she is a woman and showing her in that light as well. The odd spark between them is both beautiful and confusing, perfect yet awkward, sensible yet unexplainable. It shouldn't work, but goddammit it does!

And that's pretty much my theme for a film like Edge of Tomorrow. It absolutely shouldn't work. But somehow, the film pulls it off. It makes repetitive time travel with no memory loss somehow work. It makes a romance that never lasts longer than a day, somehow work. It makes a man learning to use military hardware with no background learn quickly and make sense. It has the same events happening over and over again with no problems for me in believability. It just works. It works so well, I can't wait to get it on bluray and watch it again!

Rank - 5/5