All you need is Keiji

Rating: 8/10 (8 June 2014)

Edge of Tomorrow is a terrible title.
But it is an awesome movie.
I'm one of those jaded moviegoers who has seen everything in nearly 40 years. I even read the original Sakurazaka novella and was expecting a horror show. I don't even like Tom Cruise, but darn it, I honest to goodness enjoyed the heck out of this movie.
Is it flawed? Of course it is! The opening premise is shaky. I just can't side with Hollywood replacing Japanese characters with bankable names like Cruise and Cage should be Keiji and played by a Japanese actor. But I'm going to let this stuff pass. Emily Blunt was tough as nails - and that's been a hard sell for Hollywood. Tough women - Linda Hamilton tough - haven't been handled well by the studios and that's not saying the women aren't out there. Blunt pulls off the famous red warrior with ease. I'll even say it - Cruise does a good job, however, I still cringe when proper story and characters are buried in favor of the same old faces.
And then there's that ending ripped right from Pacific Rim. We know it's coming. Even when i finished the novella, I knew it would never fly in Hollywood. That and it's quite a bit more complicated. Or maybe Liman filmed it all but the test audiences hated it. There's no telling. But I still enjoyed the ride.
Basically: Slaughterhouse Five + Groundhog Day + Pacific Rim + Elysium = Edge of Tomorrow. The movie is - literally - about ten movies you have already seen 1000 times. And it is awesome.