Rent Watch Repeat!

Rating: 8/10 (29 November 2014)

Edge of Tomorrow is the super sleeper hit of the year! Yeah, when I saw the trailer before the opening credits of another movie I didn't really take to it at all. I wasn't a fan of the bland alien species, or the fact that we're warring with them having seen it all before (Starship Troopers, War of the Worlds, Independence Day), and I could do without a movie where Tom Cruise has to be phoning it in...
... I was wrong. Edge of Tomorrow warrants a rare 8 star rating from me, which is a MUST SEE, DEFINITE RENTAL with OPTION TO OWN. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a rare moment in time where I'm actually content with a recent sci-fi movie! Tom Cruise leads as Major William Cage, who is bestowed the unique power to reset the day of the final battle following his death; a sort of time loop. With the help of a solider who was affected the same way, Sargent Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), he uses this power in an effort to win the war against aliens.
That premise is what sets it apart from every other alien movie in the last 10 years, and director Doug Liman presents it perfectly with all of its humorous and tragic complications. At first Cage is overwhelmed by the power, and inexperienced in combat, but by the end of the movie he's nearly omnipotent. However, one would also expect this alien species to operate with this same level of omnipotence having traveled across the galaxy and taken many worlds. The conflict in this movie is unbelievably fun!
Tom Cruise nails this role down perfectly! He plays a vulnerable, fragile character in the beginning but gradually turns into a hardened elite trooper. His delivery is classic Cruise; no punch is pulled, no stone unturned. His presence and confidence are supreme throughout the entire movie and his performance NEVER lets up. Strong performance by Cruise...
Emily Blunt is also there, but her character has a different dynamic of having lost the power to reset. The tragedy is written all over her face as she let herself down and lost loved ones, and is now a hollowed killing machine. She's all business, and the movie only merely flirts with the idea of Blunt's character Rita falling in love with Cruise's Cage; but that tension is masterfully portrayed by both actors.
A couple of other faces pop up unexpectedly, such as Bill Paxton and Brendan Gleeson. For whatever reasons, I find both these actors equally refreshing because I know that whatever they're in HAS to be good. Seeing them both in this movie is a no-brainer, the ultimate foreshadowing.
The special effects are decent, and the alien designs are passable. Their origins aren't really understood and a lot of the back story and exposition is brief if not slightly obscure. I'm still not a fan of the clunky exo-suits, or whatever you'd call them, but the movie has sequences where they don't look completely inconvenient.
What can I say... the old adage is certainly true; never judge a book by its cover. So to that, I'd say Rent. Watch. Repeat. Its basically Starship Troopers meets The Matrix meets Memento; how can you argue with that?