Edge of Tomorrow Review

Rating: 7/10 (3 June 2014)

My Thoughts: Watching this movie reminded me of a few other movies such as Groundhog Day and the Matrix. I shouldn't have to explain why this movie reminds me of Groundhog Day but the reason that this movie has me thinking of the Matrix is due to the Aliens that the human race are fighting; they have the look of the robots that we see in the Matrix movies. This is not to say this is a bad thing at all. This movie is a true sci-fi movie that any sci-fi fan will appreciate. Why do I say that? First, you have the futuristic mechanized armor, which, at first glance, I thought looked like it was uncomfortable to wear, but it doesn't seem that way to the actors on the screen at least. It is cool to watch them in this power armor, and they give you different variations of it as well: there is the basic grunt armor all the way up to something that looks like Heavy Infantry armor. Second, is these aliens that come to take over the earth. Yes, they look like the Matrix robots, but they are pretty cool to look at and they have better action scenes than those other pesky robots. Plus, you have at least three different kinds, though we really only see the other two a handful of the time. And third, you have this crazy time loop that Cage (Tom Cruise) is in.
The quick premise of the movie is these aliens have invaded Earth; we don't know why, we just know that its a fight for survival and it isn't really looking good for the human race. Cage is a Major in the United States Army and is a Public Relations Officer. Pretty much, it is his job to give the war a good spin, and he is really good at his job. For some reason though, General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson) who is in charge of the United Defense Force wants to put Cage on the front lines to video tape the big push to take back Europe (think WWII D-Day-type attack). Of course, Cage doesn't want to do this as he is a PR man and not really a solider, but for some reason, the General has it in his mind that one way or another, Cage will be on the front line come morning. Arrested and called a deserter, he is sent to the front line to fight instead of video tape.
Now, I will have to say, if you do not like montages or a lot of repeatable scenes, then you are not going to like this movie. It is not just the same scene over and over again, though; you do get the first kind of experience for awhile, but when the plot flushes out more, we start moving along to other areas, and we see that scene a few times. I have to say, they do a good job to give you different takes on the same scene. And regardless of what your personal opinion of Tom Cruise is, he does a good job in this movie. Another take they give you is that you do not always know if you are watching a virgin scene or one where they have repeated it before.
Another actor that I think gives us a good performance is Bill Paxton, Master Dergeant Farell, who has the distinguished job of making sure Cage doesn't run off and desert; his personality is just great to watch on the screen.
My Recommendation: If you are looking for a good sci-fi movie, then this is going to be your movie as long as you don't mind the repeatable scenes, but you should already be expecting that for this type of movie. It tells you that in the tagline: Live, Die, Repeat.