A surprising summer flick that brings action, comedy, and Tom Cruise getting shot over and over again

Rating: 7/10 (13 June 2014)

Tom Cruise's new sci-fi flick, "Edge of Tomorrow" tells the story of Major Bill Cage (Cruise), during the war against alien creatures, the Mimics, who are determined to conquer and destroy human race. Cage, being a TV spokesman, tries his hardest to avoid field job, while the aliens are conquering Continental Europe. Things, however, change when General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson) of the British forces, sends him to join the storming of Normandy. On the fields, he encounters a special type of Mimic, and successfully blows him up. Yet the Mimic's blood corrodes Cage's body. But instead of rolling the credits, the film begins its main storyline in which Cage receiving a special power of traveling back in time, a day before the storming begins, when he first arrived to his mission. With the help of Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), a decorated soldier, Cage tries to destroy the brain of the alien forces, the Omega, in order to prevent human defeat against the Mimics. The film is based on the book by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, All You Need Is Kill, and, in a way, retells the story of the D-day invasion.
Director Doug Liman's witty approach is what makes the film successfully tell a repetitive story, without boring the audience. Every time Cage starts a new cycle by getting a bullet in the head, mostly from Vrataski during their training, we can't help ourselves but share a laugh. The influence and inspiration from The Groundhog Day is seen throughout the picture, yet it still brings a lot more action-filed atmosphere. However, what the director was not able to do is develop a real war movie feeling to "Edge". There is very little tension before the storming of Normandy begins. Minor characters are poorly developed, which does not allow the viewer to feel for them and have a strong concern about whether they will be able to survive. The reason why General Brigham experiences such strong dislike towards Cage, that he sends him into the middle of the action knowing about his lack of military experience, seems to be avoid or rather ignored. There are also a lot of questions regarding the time travel. After waking up, Cage tends to proceed with different actions, switching some of his choices from before. Yet all the character interactions, and the main action on the beach, remains unchanged from the first time Cage arrives to his mission, disregarding the fact that even a little change in his actions would somehow affect the development of future events, and not keep most of the things the same. Also, the ending makes you question whether or not the film should have taken a classic Hollywood finale.
Even with its lack of characterization and uncertain time traveling factors, "Edge of Tomorrow" is a very entertaining, action-filled mish-mash of "Groundhog Day" and "Saving Private Ryan", that delivers laughs and excitement. Also, the score by Christophe Beck (who charmed the world with it's music for Disney mega-hit "Frozen") adds it's own thrill, both during quiet and "bullet-flying-Mimic-killing" scenes. The film is self-aware and does not try to act as an emotionally serious sci-fi drama. It's a nice piece of summer blockbusters, which once again proves that this time of the year brings major excitement to the screens.