Edge of Tomorrow is about someone who starts out incompetent but gets better overtime. The movie itself however has huge problems from the start, never improves from them, and finishes off in even worse shape.
Some years into the future, the Earth has been devastated by alien beings called mimics. Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) is an army PR man who General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson) pulls from recruitment campaigns to fight on the front lines. His attempts at avoiding duty prove useless, and he’s deployed to a large full-scale battle with the mimics. And he dies.
But in Groundhog Day/Source Code/Twilight Zone/Outer Limits/Day Break fashion, he just starts the day over and all those typical rules apply. Everything plays out just the same, he’s the only one that’s cognizant of the repetition, death is not an escape, etc. He’ll have to learn to improve his skills to last longer in battle, as well as seek out help from super soldier Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), who seems to know more about what’s happening to him.
First thing’s first: the casting of the protagonist is beyond wrong. The movie is based on a novel called All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, in which the main character is a Japanese young man that’s a recruit. Here, he’s a white man over 50 and a career military officer. And there’s also a couple supporting characters – a Brazilian-Japanese man who’s a commanding officer and a mechanic that’s a Native American young woman – that have also been turned into older white men. Now I’m sure someone now is thinking of replying back “They want to make money and need a big star!” Well, their greed getting in the way of doing the material right and proper representation for marginalized groups is not something that should be condoned. That what is tantamount to yellowface is still happening in the year 2014 is downright reprehensible.
That said, Cruise isn’t terrible, but it’s obvious at every turn just how wrong he is for this role. Seeing his rise from zero to hero, going from student to master, just does not resonate as it would if he were a young man. He can play the full course of the emotions well certainly, but is still a square peg for a round hole. Blunt, who is the right race and age as her character, does fit and play the part well. She’s the shining spot in the film.
Also on the plus side, it’s never really boring. Director Doug Liman perfectly pinpoints when audience interest might wane and fast forwards when the next loop begins to where we want to be. This lends to a few intriguing moments later on when it’s unclear whether Cage is lying about knowing what’s ahead or he’s been there and we were just never shown. And the story concept itself is engaging and interesting.
Action-wise, it’s exciting at times, but on the whole disappointing. A hook has been made out of getting to see Cruise die in various ways, but none of these are particularly brutal or otherwise notable. Even when compared to other PG-13 pictures, it’s tame; the recent X-Men: Days of Future Past was quite graphically violent (and to great effect). This is one that really should have went for an R rating, as the level of violence does not do even a decent job of illustrating the nightmare that the soldiers face.
Which brings me to the ending, where they really screwed the pooch. I’m not going to go in depth on the exact events in the books and film, but will describe their tones. That’s enough of a spoiler in my book, so considered yourself warned.
The novel’s ending wasn’t the rosiest in the world, but it carried thematic weight in communicating the author’s messages about the horrors of war and the effects it has on soldiers. This one though, is the rosiest in the world and the absolute worst possible way it could’ve ended. The whole point of the story gets thrown right into the toilet and flushed down the drain.
To sum things up as succinctly as can be done: read the book instead. Edge of Tomorrow is an utter failure at handling All You Need is Kill.
