Cliché of Tomorrow

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2015)

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with this movie. Except to say that it doesn't seem to know what genre it fits into. First, it starts off feeling a little 'Minority Report'. Maybe that's Tom Cruise's presence and the sci-fi edge. But then it goes all, 'Groundhog Day' with touches of humour included. Which was kind-a cute but as the movie progressed, it was as if they forgot about that bit and proceeded with the movie properly. Oh, and then of course, we get the (ding-ding-ding - cliché blockbuster movie device - the female lead. Again, there's nothing wrong with her role. In fact, Emily Blunt is a physical tour-de-force. Think Terminator 2's version of Sarah Connor, and you'll have some idea of her physicality, if not her personality. Except for the tacky bit of sexual tension they've just thrown in for the leads. Well hey, it's Cruise. Better kiss the boy. Speaking of cliché, we have the rest of the cast. From the rag-tag bunch of supporters, there's Bill Paxton gone all 'Big Love' but his sub-ordinates aren't his wives, they're his soldiers. He's got the corny southern accent and I'm left wondering if every sergeant in the US army is a smart mouthed, small of intellect, slow on uptake nincompoop. It certainly is the case in Hollywood and he's no exception, except to say, he's not of African decent. I won't do the list but the team has a pink dressing gown wearing smartguy, a female whose attempting to channel 'Aliens' Private Vasquez, and what d'ya know, they play poker, against the good sergeant express wishes. Oh and make jokes about dead guys, foreshadowing, y'know "the jokes on you" sort of thing. Sheesh! My eyes are getting fatigued from all the rolling they're doing. They even have a slimmed down version of Ripley's power loader. Special effects? Overall they're pretty good. Some of it moves that little bit too quickly which makes it seem like the producers are trying to blur the lines of the creatures so you can't see the strings (kidding) but when Cage (Cruise) gets it from the big baddie (as opposed to the slightly smaller baddie), all I could think was that he's been taken out by a monster with lethal halitosis. So, he gets reborn and learns all the way too... +the angel of somewhere+ that he prattled on about as some army smooth guy that liaises with the media to push the propaganda, thus enabling even more rough-and-readies to enlist. Apparently. We know this because he tells it to some fat Englishman in camos, with an even fatter office in Whitehall. Oh, and it was in the opening scenes. Perhaps they think we couldn't work that one out by ourselves. The office is so ostentatious, I almost expect James Bond to walk in. Well, he has a secretary that's doing a pretty good facsimile of, well every proper English lady secretarial type. She's minor but survives. Actually, that brings me to the death toll and true to its groundhog pretensions, people who died survive. Lucky for the angel. Fat soldier in camos throws Cage into the front lines and thank goodness for Groundhog day. Well hey, the baddies even come out of the ground. Before you know it, Cage and whats-her-name are off to save the world but there's big mumma alien to find and deal with. She's one tricky creature for something that doesn't move. At all. "I'm over here" They go there. "haha.., suckers. I'm actually over here. Oops, y'bastards found me." Kissy-kissy and the bells are ringing and groundhog day concludes. What do we have - Groundhog-Aliens-An Officer and a Gentleman-World WarZ. Too long of a title. We'll call it something really inspired. "Edge of Tomorrow". Because that's so damned original. Hey, don't misunderstand me. Watch it by all means. It's a fun but predictable ride with some very clever CGI and I guess a broken heart thrown in. Or not. Hard to tell. If only Bill Murray was given a role. I'd have given it a 7/10