EDGE OF TOMORROW: “Groundhog Day” Meets Alien Invasion

In Edge of Tomorrow, Earth is hit by a meteor infested with a strange and highly violent alien species called the Mimics. They immediately start to destroy the world, and everything the humans do is futile. The alien species is strong and fast, and more importantly, has control over time – though no one (aside from a very select few) is aware of it.

Tom Cruise plays Major William Cage, a public relations manager of the American military. He’s a suave man, frequently on TV to manage the image of the military in this time of crisis. One day, he is summoned by the general of the British army (Brendan Gleeson), who tells him he’s going to join the armed forces and go to battle the next day. Cage is confused, angered and scared – he had never been in combat.

Despite his efforts to escape, Cage wakes up at a military base, stripped from his rank, now known as deserter. He’s taken to his battalion, who are far from happy to have him. Next, he’s strapped into a huge metal exoskeleton, and before he knows it, he’s in the middle of the war zone. With no experience, he ducks, hides and runs around the battle field. The Mimics show up: they’re impressively fast-moving spaghetti monster-like creatures that prove to be very hard to kill. When Cage finally finds how to turn off the safety on his gun, he accidentally shoots and kills a rare, blue Mimic, an alpha, and dies with its blood covering his face.

Next, he wakes up on the military base again, is taken to his battalion, strapped into the suit, and is back on the battlefield. He dies again, is strapped into the suit and dumped on the field again, dies again, wakes again, dies again. Repeat.

Live. Die. Repeat.

Imagine playing the last and hardest level of a video game, failing to complete it over and over and over, without end, without respite – this is what it’s like for Major Cage, except he actually dies. He has to find a way to stop the Mimics and to stop his day from repeating. Special Forces warrior and mascot Rita (Emily Blunt) is the only person in the entire world to have experienced what Cage has experienced, and Cage has to convince her to help him at the start of every day.

Cage is an interesting character: he started out cowardly, scared and inexperienced and gradually turned into a courageous, battle-hardened and bitter soldier. His initial reaction to the British general’s orders is amusing, but also very relatable – it’s how most people would react if they were ordered to participate in a suicide mission – I know I would try to get away as fast as possible, too. It was nice to see a movie hero not accept a suicide mission in blind obedience, for once.

Tom Cruise, The Sci-Fi Go-To Guy: Now Improved With A Cool Side-Kick

Cruise did surprisingly well in the comedic scenes and it was good to see him not take himself so seriously. Over the past decade, he has become the go-to actor for these types of science fiction films. His Oblivion was one of the most derivative science fiction films I’ve ever seen, and for Cruise one of the blandest roles he’s played, and I came to the conclusion that he should just stop doing sci-fi. Thankfully, Major Cage had a little more depth than his previous roles, and Cruise proved to still be capable of portraying this more multi-dimensional character.

What helped him considerably was his awesome sidekick: Rita, the iconic and highly decorated warrior (also known as “Full Metal Bitch”). Emily Blunt portrayed her perfectly. I loved her fierceness and strength, and she played the role with befitting intensity. I have to admit I’m always partial to a strong female warrior, and to see that the world’s conjoined military had chosen a woman as their mascot was awesome. She lived up to that status perfectly, Blunt exuded a sense of mystery as well as cool.

What stands out about Edge of Tomorrow in particular are its special effects, set design and costuming – the movie as a whole is quite stunning. The graphics are impressive: the battle scenes are overwhelming and the Mimics look neat. The sets are notable as well: especially the set in the final act, when they are in the middle of a destroyed Paris, is gorgeous. Lastly, the battle suits look great – Rita’s exoskeleton being especially rad with the red marks painted on it, and her weapon of choice, the sword, was formidable. Finally, the sound effects and cinematography (Dion Beebe) deserve an honorable mention – while not amazing, they were good.

Derivative Plot Development

Comparing Edge of Tomorrow to the all-time classic Groundhog Day (1993) is unavoidable. While the movie is based on a Japanese manga and novel called All You Need Is Kill (2004) written by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, the similarities to Groundhog Day are abundant. First of all, the mood develops similarly. It starts with the shock of reliving a day. Then, comedy, next, frustration and desperation. Then, depression. Finally: resolve and dedication to stop the loop. Even though it’s done well and the rest of the story is completely different, this development in mood is so overtly present and crucial for the story it’s too hard to ignore, and feels too blatantly copied from Groundhog Day.

Another influence seems to have been the The Matrix trilogy: the regular Mimics look a remarkable lot like The Matrix’ Sentinels. They behave similarly, too – even if the Mimics seem to be organic creatures, whereas the Sentinels were machines. Certain scenes reminded me strongly of the attack on Zion in The Matrix: Reloaded – amplified by the fact the characters in Edge of Tomorrow wear exoskeleton suits similar to those of the defenders of Zion.

As with all time-loop stories, there are some inconsistencies. The writers tried to emphasize the romance between Cage and Rita, and it felt like they were trying to obscure the fact they met over and over again every time the day reset. While Cage got to know Rita better, he was still a stranger to her, even in the final act. Any attempts to create a romance between them sorely discredited Rita’s character, and it felt like they were not allowing her to just be the strong, battle-hardened warrior she was.

The Final Word

All in all, Edge of Tomorrow is an entertaining movie. The characters are likable and relatable, and Rita was one of the coolest female soldiers I’ve seen in recent films. Tom Cruise is less bland in this film than he’s been in any of his other recent works, and I hope we’re going to see more of Emily Blunt. While the plot development and mood are derivative of Groundhog Day and certain stylistic elements seem to be taken from the The Matrix trilogy, the actual plot is still fun enough to be enjoyable.

What do you think: are time-loop stories overdone? Sound off in the comments!

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