Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Synopsis
Edge of Tomorrow is a 2014 American Science fiction film starring Tom Cruise and Emily and is directed by Doug Liman. In the not so distant future the Earth has been invaded by an alien race known as Mimics. Battles between humans and Mimics break out all over the world with the humans at the losing end of it, that is, until the advent of “jackets” which are armored body suits that enhance the user’s strength, speed, and combat effectiveness. Special Forces sergeant Rita Vrataski (Blunt) uses the Jacket to great effect in the Battle of Verdun and becomes a hero to the masses and is nicknamed “The Angel of Verdun” as well as “Full Metal Bitch”.

With the success of the Jackets, mankind is able to push and contain the Mimic forces into central Europe. A joint operation by all of the militaries of the world named “Operation Downfall” is in motion and is said to be the battle to exterminate the Mimic threat. With the expected victory of the operation, General Brigham (Brendan Glesson) reassigns Major William Cage (Cruise), a media relations officer, to the front lines to capture the victory on film.  Major Cage attempts to blackmail the general and is promptly tasered, arrested, and wakes up in a forward operating base with a fake background story that claims him to be a deserter and a conman.

He is added to J-squad, a forward infantry unit, as a private and is set to take part in the operation. Upon landing on their designated beach, the military takes heavy losses, but Cage is able to grab a claymore and detonate it sacrificing himself in order to kill a very large Mimic known as an Alpha. As the Alpha’s blood covers Cage, it starts to burn his face and body, and he dies.

Cage wakes up in the same forward operating base and everyone he meets and everything that happened the day before happens again. He lands on the designated beach, dies a different death, and wakes up in the same forward operating base once again. Reliving the same day over and over again he attempts to change the outcome, but it always ends with him dying. One of the days he saves Vrataski and tells her his story, she tells him to find her when he wakes up again.

Cage is able to find Vrataski and she tells him that she experienced the same thing after she killed an Alpha and it’s blood was sprayed all over her body. She later divulges that the Mimics are able to control/manipulate time and when the Alpha’s blood kills a person, it also gives them their power. She explains that the Mimics are a Hive with a central brain known as “The Omega” that controls everything. The power they have received makes a psychic link with The Omega and in order to win the war they have to locate and kill it. She also shares that she lost her power on a day that she did not die and ended up receiving a blood transfusion.  Because of this, she impresses the importance that Cage die every day he is not successful in locating and killing The Omega.

After reliving Vrataski’s death over and over again in their attempt to win the war, Cage finally locates The Omega in the Louvre in Paris. Cage unfortunately receives a blood transfusion and loses his power to relive the same day again. Cage and Vrataski convince the members of J-squad to make an assault on The Omega against nearly impossible odds. After J-squad dies, Vrataski sacrifices herself to an Alpha which allows Cage to reach The Omega and detonates the grenades he had on his person. Before he dies, The Omega’s blood covers Cage, and he wakes up right before his meeting with General Brigham. News reports claim there was an unexplained explosion in Paris and that all of the Mimic forces have died. Cage goes into the barracks and “meets” Varataski for the first time.

Review
Overall, Edge of Tomorrow was a very enjoyable film. My only regret is not seeing it in IMAX 3D which I think I will do very soon. This movie is like a mashup of Ground Hog’s Day, Aliens, District 9, Starship Troopers, Elysium, Saving Private Ryan, and Band of Brothers. The Jackets reminded me of the suit Ripley used when fighting the alien queen in Aliens. The use of The Jackets reminded me of a very early predecessor/prototype for the suits in Warhammer 40K. This movie had me nerdgasming all over the place!

The acting was pretty good, there were just a few parts in the film that I thought that people seemed out of character and it felt very forced and weird.
In terms of cinematography the film is visually stunning. The action scenes, the suits, the Mimics, and the use of CGI was very appropriate in that it helped progress and enhance the story line rather than take away from it (latest Superman). I felt like there were some holes in the script like how not one person on the base recognized Major Cage even though through his actions, interviews, and work in the media was able to help recruit over 1 millions soldiers. It also bothered me how even though he was basically able to predict the future that people were still skeptical of his claims as outrageous as they might be. I felt the dialogue was par for the course, there were no real standout conversations or anything really long lasting or powerful.

The action was very gritty and in your face, but there was not as much blood and carnage for what was happening to some of the characters. I feel that it can be attributed the PG-13 rating. There really was not a lot of character development, we were just kind of just thrown into a situation and given information at face value. I feel that they started to touch on character development in a few parts of the movie but quickly let off the gas and went back to the script and story line instead. The sound was appropriate for what was happening on screen but I think it would have been much better in IMAX.

One scene that I really appreciated was when they were in the barn before starting the helicopter. The love that Cage showed for Vrataski was so palpable and so powerful but it was clear that the feeling was not reciprocated because how could she? She had literally only known him 12-48 hours while he has gotten to know her over countless hours and days. I feel that the situation he was in was both beautiful and tragic at the same time. I really liked that touch in the movie.

From a psychological standpoint it made me really wonder how many times a person could see their loved ones die before they completely lost their mind. I feel that reliving the same day and not being able to change the outcome must be absolutely maddening but then again, all you would have to do is die in order to start all over.

Two very big philosophical dilemmas come into play with The Ground Hog’s scenario. 1) If a person commits a crime or unethical act (rape, murder, steal, etc) but can restart the day, did the person really do it and should they still be held accountable for their acts? 2) If you kill yourself in order to restart, would you be committing suicide in the eyes of God?

Questions
-For those who acquire the Alpha’s power of time control power, do they lose it when the person receives a blood transfusion, or is it if they don’t die within a certain amount of time, or both?
-What happens to the timeline that he is currently living after he dies? Does it continue or does it just never happen?
-If The Omega’s blood covered Cage, why would it bring him back to right before he met General Brigham?
-Does he now have The Omega’s power of controlling/manipulating time or is it a one and done kind of deal?
-Can he relive the same day over and over again after bathing in The Omega’s blood as long as he kills himself?

Rating
Acting- 8
Cinematography- 10
Script- 7
Dialogue- 7
Action- 9
Character Development- 7
Sound- 10
Themes/Motifs- 8
Costume- 8
Moral/Message- 8

Total: 82/100 or B-

TLDR
I definitely recommend seeing this Edge of Tomorrow. I thought this was a very enjoyable and thought provoking movie. I would recommend seeing it in IMAX 3D in order to enjoy it in all it’s glory. I gave it a 82/100 or B-.

I dont understand how the omega's blood on him "saves" the blonde?

Thanks for the heads up...

Sounds like a good flick

Good review, thanks

Going to see it this weekend.  Thanks for review.

Just got back from seeing in in 3D Imax and I fucking loved it, way better than I had expected

*SPOILERS*

Ending definitely begged a few questions that you listed. They shoe-horned a happy ending into the movie when I didn't think it was necessary and opened up a plot-hole. He kept waking up at the FOB during all the resets but after killing the Omega he reset to before his original meeting with the general which doesn't make any sense. And it was the same day since the general said something like "When you left this office this morning I didn't ever expect to see you again...". For continuity he should have either been resetting to before his general meeting each day or the final reset at the FOB again still as a deserter with the war over.  I would have been perfectly fine with both of them dying taking out the Omega.

They also missed a golden opportunity for him to call her Rose before the cut to credits; that one detail of her personal life would have instantly told her who/what he was and would have been a better way to end instead of the goofy Tom Cruise grin.

But those are two very minor things that bugged me in an otherwise spectacular movie.

Could have used some blood and guts to really hit home how fucking brutal the fighting was but I didn't feel the lack of it hurt the movie. PG-13 means more money and I really hope this movie is successful. The more big budget well done Sci-Fi the better

It explains it in the movie.

Probably the best movie I've seen this year.

The military cliche's kind of annoyed me though.

But if "time" reset then how is the omega still dead?

I assumed that the Omega's blood was able to reset further into the past than the Alpha's

Wife and I just back from seeing Edge of Tomorrow. A solid 8-8.5 movie. I thought there were some holes in the technology of the armor, nothing that detracts from the movie in a terrible way. Unless you're an avid military sci-fi reader you'll miss the completely. The biggest blunder is the automatic rifles on the armor. They use box magazines, yet seem to put out hundreds of rounds between reloads. A one point Cage asks his armorer for four more mags of 5.56. They mags they show for reloads don't look like they contain hundreds of rounds. I know it a minor nitpick. Great action with a pretty basic story. Definitely worth seeing.



We had quite a discussion about the time cycles in the movie over a drink after the movie. Movie starts a point A, Cage gets tossed into J squad after waking up on a bunch of duffel bags, next day lands on the beach and dies, wakes up on the bags, dies, repeat. With each iteration of the time line he becomes a better and better soldier and advances the mission closer and closer to killing the omega until he finally makes it to where the Omega is supposed to be. His next iteration changes how the mission is conducted and it becomes about finding and using the "Omega reading" device for lack of a better description. Now with new information he persuades J squad to attack the Omega the night before the day on the beach. After successfully destroying the Omega and being contaminated in Omega fluids he wakes up in the helicopter he was riding in at the start of the Movie. Now the Omega has been destroyed the DAY BEFORE and the time loop of his awakening and then dying on the beach never happens. This whole thing seemed to really piss off my wife because she said it made no sense.



So what happened? Did the timeline reset with everything starting one day forward in time? Or as my wife said who killed the Omega if Cage never killed it because Paris never happened? Is Cage now able to control time?  

Exactly

I stopped long ago trying to think through time-travel paradoxes in fiction; I try to just sit back and enjoy the story. Ending bugged me a little but I didn't find it too egregious in this flick. I had the best movie going experience so far this year and I want more in the same vein.

I lost a girlfriend when I ripped apart The Time Traveler's Wife for not only being a shitty chick-flick, but for making no goddamn sense whatsoever

The book may have done a better job of explaining things regarding the timeline.
Definitely going to watch this movie!

Saw it tonight, thought it was very good.  Any movie with mobile infantry suits starts out as a 10 from me and only goes down from there...  so this ended up an 8 or so.

I saw it on the opening weekend,  I really liked it.  The idea at the end that he's fallen for her over the course of what was likely a year or more of living the same day over and over, but she's never met him was interesting.  

I would recommend this.  It's probably worth mentioning that I fucking hate Tom Cruise, so take that into consideration when weighing my recommendation.

It really was an enjoyable one. I watched it again in IMAX 3D. Totes worth it!!!!!

I saw it yesterday and loved it. Fantastic movie.

I enjoyed it, the more I think about it the more I like it too.   I treated the viewer as an adult without having to ram the plot down your throat and hand hold you

Just watched last night, and I also found it a great and enjoyable movie. Way better than Transformer 6.5 or w/e they're on now.





Great mix of plot, action, and comedy. And best of all the comedy in it actually made sense plot wise, wasn't just thrown in there to "lighten" the mood.





As other people have mentioned the ending is what really bugged me. In all previous instances of the timeline reset, including those done by the omega itself, only knowledge was gained. There was no impact on the events of the day outside of the time traveler basically. Except then at the end... big reset, and everything is changed. In my opinion that was a huge discontinuity with the canon as set throughout the movie.

And.. where was the air support, heavy bombers etc. but w/e.
All this being said, I will buy this on bluray and I would welcome a sequel. One nicely done sequel based off what was more or less an original movie (as original as something can get in this day and age), not four like everything seems to get now.
 

Finally had a chance to see this movie in its original - and proper - language.

I had been avoding peeking into this thread for fear fo spoilers.

I'm glad I didn't, all the twists were twists for me.

My peeves:

- The helicopter scene made no sense.  She trusted every "if you do this, you die" thing he tells her up to then, but always blows him off when it comes to the helicopter?  And, we are to believe there was no scenario where she did not die in that scene, but he could later go there on his own, kill the mimics where he knows they are hiding, and fly the helicopter?  Why couldn't that have worked with both of them?  Seems a contrived bit to add the emotional touch that - as mentioned - was well done.

- The mimics were ready for the planned invasion just 3 hours later, and start shooting the invasion fleet out of the sky as they reached the beach, but a drop ship that departs only a tad early makes it undetected all the way to Paris?  Really?

What impressed me:

- as mentioned, the story never talks down the audience with lengthy, unnatural, expositions.  I expect to see review online complaining abotu things from people too slow to follow what was happening.

- the pace and editing were perfectly done.  Just as one "choose your own adventure" path was getting a little stale, it switched up down a different path.  The expositions, as they did come, were also perfectly paced.

- I didn't even mind the military cliches.  The professionals had long been dead, this was a third tier Army recruited from what was left, and no doubt trained hastily.  For some reason, though, the "PT" scene still bothered me, I admit.  No showers or changes of clothes?

As for the ending.  I have mixed feelings.  While it is obviously a "Hollywood" happy ending cop-out, I can accept that a second dose of whatever made the time travel thign work might have given him more subconscious control of the time thing.

As for the questions in the OP, I too wonder what would happen if he went into a day two.  I assume if he died in day two, he would re-awake where he woke up first in day 2.  More accurately, it seems he would "reset" to wherever he last regained consciousness.  But, if that's the case, wouldn't being knocked out or taking a catnap mess things up too.  There is no warning given about that.  Even without a blood transfusion, he could have found himself waking up in the prison hospital from then on.

But, exploring those and other angles would only have messed up the excellent pacing of the movie.  I'd like to see a longer cut someday, if one can be made.

This one I can answer. Actually, it's very likely that the first invasions were wildly successful. The Mimics were caught off-guard and got their asses whomped... but in the process an Alpha got killed, allowing the Omega to reset things and try it again. Over time it turned into the massacre we see now. This is the reason their invasion has seemed to be unstoppable - it really wasn't, and they took their lumps too, but due to the Omega's time reset ability they are able to have basically infinite mulligans.

This is the reason they actively avoid engaging any Alphas during the Paris strike at the end. If they kill one, the Omega resets the day and now knows they are coming.

I liked this movie a lot.  Solid 9.

+1 for the ending being frusturating. That was the only thing that really made me wince about the movie. I understand wanting to have a "happy" ending but there was one already. We all don't get murdered by time traveling tentacle monsters, which I'm willing to put in the win category. The current ending just felt like it lessened the sacrifce to get there.

Movie disappointed me.


If you're played any shooters like Halo, the movie just seemed to be like playing a game that started over each time you die.    The plot was weak, and just didn't make me think anything other than watching someone else play Halo.  

My wife did not like the movie at all.


I enjoyed it, as did my son, but I was still disappointed.    It could have been much more original.

wow just watched this and wow!

been a long times since I have seen a good scifi and he actually acted well in this film. I liked his character how he grew.


Now one of my favorite films.

I liked it so much, I bought a copy.

I also liked last year's Oblivion.

Don't care for Cruse much, but he's a hell of an actor.

Wasn't it really good?!? I def enjoyed it.