Great as a sci fi actioner -- perfect as a love story

Rating: 10/10 (16 March 2015)

Took 3 viewings before this review because I wanted to get it right.
On its face this seems to be Groundhog Day with a sci fi twist but in fact it is much more.
It is nuanced, and I give the stars credit for making those nuances work.
The way Cruise's character changes and matures during the film is something you don't see too often.
The riffs on time travel set against the "trope" of being sent to a battle with no preparation is also rare -- you literally would have to go to Groundhog Day to to even come close.
The big difference of course is that Murray in GD never really knew what he wanted to do -- except wake up.
Here there is a "mission" and that gives this actioner a real shot of adrenalin. The viewer is hooked like a trout.
Three viewings so far and I expect to revisit it again.
Blount's possibly best role, she doesn't have a lot of dialog but her face is like a watermark on the various scenes, making them unforgettable.
As a sci-fi actioner, it's a "9." As possibly the most existentialist love story ever filmed it is a 10 - in the course of the entire film, he propositions her and gets turned down, he tries to chat her up in a car and gets turned down, and then she kisses him just before she dies. All the elements of BOY MEETS GIRL are there. They are just really really really compressed.