Edge of Tomorrow ✪✪✪✪½

Watch. Enjoy. Repeat.

Opens in Australia:               5^TH June 2014

USA: 6^th June 2014                UK: 30^thMay 2014

Other Countries:                   Release Information

Science Fiction films have been a real disappointment over the past few years. The trailers look so good, and we can’t wait, and then we sit there in the cinema really excited, thinking this is going to be fun, oh please take me where I haven’t been before. Repeatedly the film is a big fail, clichéd, and dull, even when they star A-listers like Johnny Depp, Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, and Matt Damon.

Then along comes Tom Cruise’s Edge of Tomorrow, and we’re not expecting much. The poster is schlock; it’s Tom Cruise (although I don’t dislike him, like everyone else seems to); Emily Blunt as a kick-ass soldier (what?), and it dives into the genre of “time slip” that is difficult to make work. It shouldn’t be amazingly good. But it is.

Edge of Tomorrow is one of the best sci-fi films in the past few years, and a lot of it has to do with a snappy script, thoughtful casting, and director Doug Liman’s (The Bourne Ultimatum) ability to balance character development, humor, and action.

Earth is losing the war against an alien invasion and Cage (Tom Cruise), a cowardly officer, finds himself at the front-line in a full-metal fighting suit that he doesn’t know how to use. Within minutes he dies on the beach battlefield and finds himself reset, back to the beginning of the day. Several more deaths, and he comes into contact with Rita (Emily Blunt), a tough as nails heroine with the nickname 'Heavy Metal Bitch.' She tells him, “Come back and find me, when you wake up.” That he does, and learns why he is continually repeating the day, and how he is the only one who can win the war for humanity.

It’s big. It’s daring. It’s a popcorn film that pays out with buckets of humor, excitement, and a clever angle on the well-tread time slip trope. Tom Cruise plays his role with wit and depth, and cross-cast Emily Blunt is his perfect match. Even though the story is about repeating a day, it doesn’t become, well… repetitive. The film is based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s 2004 book, All You Need Is Kill. It’s success proves that all you need for an enjoyable film is a good script, good casting, and good direction. Can Hollywood please take notice, and try just repeating this formula.