A not-too-bad future

Rating: 7/10 (5 June 2014)

Bill Cage(Cruise, charming as always, here in spite of a role that starts out thanklessly grating) is the strawman coward nothing' like those self-sacrificing warriors that we need in order to win! Seriously, it's not new that Hollywood can be years behind reflecting the actual public opinion, but for it to be this aggressive and while pro-war is by its nature on the wrong side of history, regardless of what people think at the time, now, today, with a couple of recent(some unfinished) wars that should never have been started just, wow. Anyway, he has to go with the memorable lot(if it does feel a tad like they were just going through the token minorities to stock the group; in general, characterization is good, albeit no one gets to be all that deep), J Squad, into the Invasion-of-Normandy-like(rather well-done) retaking of France. He gains the ability to repeat the same 24 hours infinitely, and trains as a soldier and works towards victory.
Let's deal with the other elephant in the room immediately. Yes, the core concept is doomed from the onset for this genre. There is simply almost no tension for the 110 minute running time(not counting the end credits). Surprise, yes, because we don't know what'll happen. Our protagonist, however, does, and since he feels no fear, neither do we. This does get a lot of its solid humor from the repetition that tends towards not being tedious, but rather imaginative. But yes, sad as it is, this has no real excitement. And it is a real shame. Because the action is fun, well-choreographed, as well as personal and intimate in its perspective, making it chaotic(without ever being overpowering or unpleasant to watch). The gags are great. Still, for "lots of epic stuff-go-boom with little consequence 'cause that's hard", this is by no means, yet easily the worst.
With a mix of practical and CGI, the FX are another strong suit. The 3D is barely noticeable, though. The look is at points similar to Terminator for the post-apocalyptic war-zone(other spots in this are just abandoned), with Matrix-like Sentinels, without any ripping off of other, better movies. Y'know, other than at least two bits it lifts directly from Aliens(and they're not even related to Paxton he does enjoy himself, and so do we). Little insight into the outer space threat is nothing new, especially these days, but we know so little about the Mimics that we viewers can't "play along", such as the few times where our guys hidewhen we, the audience, have no clue how they detect humans!
This has a lot of implied violence and a little brutal, bloody, gory and/or disturbing content. I recommend it to those looking for light(outside of maybe the sci-fi) Summer Blockbuster. 7/10