At Times This Story Was Very Entertaining

Rating: 8/10 (29 September 2014)

Plot
Cage (Tom Cruise) is a public relations officer and just about the worst soldier you would ever meet. General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson) orders him to the front lines. Cage doesn't want to go and even threatens the General who then strips Cage of rank, demoting him to private. Afterwards Cage is taken in handcuffs to Master Sergeant Farell (Bill Paxton) who gets him familiar with his new squad. The next day they mobilize for a massive operation, in which Cage is killed, but Cage doesn't stay dead, instead he wakes up being introduced to Master Sergeant Farell all over again. The next time Cage finds himself on the battlefield he meets Rita (Emily Blunt) who had the same problem. Together they compare notes and find a new way to strike at the enemy.
Character Development
Cage generally makes a complete turn to who he was at the beginning of the picture to where he ends up, yet the emotional reward is just not there with the Cage (Tom Cruise) like it was with Phil (Bill Murray) in "Groundhog Day" (1993). I think the character General Brigham was right when he called what was happening all around him "one big trick".
Acting
Though there were a few tender moments, this wasn't the place for much in the way of acting and much more time was utilized in reacting and stunt work. The points in this story were it slowed to lay some emotion was in my opinion a mistake where the two leads were made to touch lips, which seemed out of character and out of place on the battlefield.
Overview
At times this story was very entertaining. There is no getting around that fact though that this was another version of "Groundhog Day" (1993). The only difference was in this movie the story here tried to find a rational explanation to why the protagonist was reliving the same day over and over again. And like "Groundhog Day" (1993) Tom Cruise's character demonstrates his godlike powers of knowing everything about everyone around him. What I found disappointed about this film was how it seemed to get stuck switching gears. One minute it a series of living and dying and the next it tea time in the farmhouse. The pace was definitely off at times. Yet the action and special effects seemed to be working well, only I thought the alien moved with such incredible speed it just didn't appear to be realistic. Out of all the thought and planning that went into the production of this film the designs of the alien race had to be the weakest element. All the world's nations unite to fight them and there is nothing to see. Just a bunch of downed human aircraft and soldiers. What is the enemy using to knock our stuff out of the sky? They are like a bunch of snipers you cannot spot.