Have you ever wondered what it’s like to die? How about what it’s like to die over and over again? And continue to die over and over again until you find the source of the “reset” and kill it before you..die, again?
In “Edge of Tomorrow”, that’s Tom Cruise’s struggle.
See, our planet is being invaded by Mimics (read: aliens) and only Major William Cage (played by Tom Cruise) stands between us and the end of the world. He dies in combat but (lo and behold) finds himself waking up the day before the battle and has to relive his last 24 hours. Over and over, he’s on a perpetual reset. Until he finds a way to make it stop. And it’s a mammoth task for a middle-aged major with no combat experience and is really no more than just a spokesman for the military’s public relations department.
Cage’s survival skills increases with each reset but it’s certainly not enough to single-handedly save the world. Luckily, he meets Sergeant Rita Vrataski (played by Emily Blunt), a victorious heroine of the United Defense Force’s (UDF) previous battle. She trains Cage and becomes his battle sidekick.
And they’re both assisted by a discredited physicist, Dr. Carter (played by Noah Taylor) who, surprise surprise, has all the tools for their quest and is the only person who believes them/shares their “visions”. Sure, no problem then. All they have to do is get through the bloodbath before Cage dies and they’re sent back into the temporal loop and hopefully Cage and Rita’s relationship doesn’t blossom into a love story of sorts and complicate things further, right?
Exactly.
On a larger scale sans spoilers, “Edge of Tomorrow” has got a sneaky way of looping the audience in with the gimmicks of repetition without an ending in sight. And believe us, you will get sucked into the momentum of the somewhat time travel concept. If you’re expecting a super serious action movie, you’d be surprised. Director Doug Liman might be known for his action flicks e.g. “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, “The Bourne Identity”, but he did start out with comedies e.g. “Swingers”, “Go”. So, expect to laugh just a little at a quirky character or two in “Edge of Tomorrow”.
In a sentence, we’d call it mindless sci-fi. The good, fun kind. The “Let’s walk into an action-time-travel movie and come out of it entertained sans a random mindf*ck!” kind, if you know what we mean. Plus, there’s Tom Cruise in it. Worth it!
“Edge of Tomorrow” is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Tickets are available via GSC or TGV.
For more information, visit the movie’s official website.
