Watch Tom Cruise die, again and again and again

Rating: 6/10 (15 June 2014)

Remember Oblivion? Chances are you don't. It was a poor Sci-Fi blockbuster released last year, in which mankind has left the planet after a war with aliens, and now Tom Cruise is harvesting the last natural resources. Or so he thinks, as things are not what they appear to be. Apart from Cruise, the movie co-starred Tom Cruise as several clones of the protagonist. A cynic might be inclined to think Edge of Tomorrow repeats Oblivion's mistakes, and he would not be fully wrong. Edge of Tomorrow, too, has a messy plot involving aliens in which Cruise dies multiple times, at which point Cruise takes over. However, Edge of Tomorrow utilizes a more tongue-in-cheek approach to its overall plot to underscore the absurdity of the situation. Good thing too, as it is indeed all quite laughable. Too bad such a tone does creep in eventually, to the film's detriment.
Edge of Tomorrow is set in a future where a strange extraterrestrial enemy has conquered all of Europe and threatens to do likewise to the rest of the globe. Earth's nations have banded together in an attempt to fight off the adversary. All their battles were lost, save for one, where metal armoured female soldier Rita Vrataski made the difference. By applying similar combat harnesses to every soldier and sending them en masse to invade France, humanity hopes to retake the continent and annihilate the enemy. Of course, things are not as simple as they seem, and the aliens have a few tricks up their sleeve yet. For one thing, time loops.
Enter Cruise, who does an unusual thing here: he plays against character. Cruise is not starring as the monotonously brave action hero, but instead as a cowardly marketing agent for the military, who finds himself accused of desertion when he makes it clear he doesn't feel like covering the invasion to a stern general's face. Thrown in with a bunch of ragtag recruits, Cruise is dragged off to battle and left to fend for himself. He quickly kicks the bucket in a close skirmish with one of the vicious aliens. Then he wakes up back at base, and everything starts over again, much to his dismay as he doesn't do better the second time. Or the third. Try convincing your commanding officer of being stuck in a time loop ad infinitum. Needless to say he doesn't, so Cruise must find a way to discover what has happened to him and how to use it to his advantage, instead of continue dying without end.
So far so good, as the notion of time looping is handled with enough confidence and fun not to feel repetitive. In fact, repetition is cleverly avoided after the first few loops, as Cruise's character tries to alter events in different ways so as not to get boring. This approach too causes problems in the long run, as Cruise dies so many times (hundreds, if not thousands, it is suggested) that the plot soon trots along and seemingly ignores the whole concept, just to further the intricate story. The reason behind the time loops and the method of fighting its cause start to become so convoluted and ridiculous that the ingredient of fun which at first characterized it is ever more lost. What's worse, Cruise resorts to playing a more typical heroic role as the film progresses, while it's the sleaze bag aspect that initially made him interesting to watch. At least his chemistry with the tough but unapproachable Rita is watchable enough as long as the Hollywood romance looming in the background is kept at bay. In terms of acting, Paxton's cocky performance suits the tone of the film best, which makes it all the more regrettable that when he's out of the picture, Edge of Tomorrow schizophrenically feels the need to get serious. Naturally it includes an all too predictable 'what the F!' type ending that suggests you need to think things over, but doesn't make you care enough to do so.
Until that time there's enough to make the viewing experience passable at best. Aside from Paxton, Blunt does her bit with plenty of pizazz, rife with entertainingly flamboyant demeanour. Nevertheless, it's the grandiose battle scenes that demand the most attention, as Edge of Tomorrow makes it progressively clear it intends to be an action movie more than the self aware comedy it initially appeared, until the comic elements are just discarded entirely. The notion of a futuristic landing on the beach of Normandy where men in armour fight weird creatures, proves hard to resist, but its execution is flawed. Often it's not easy to make out what is transpiring, mostly due to the chaotic camera work, which does make the fights seem more realistic. The design of the aliens doesn't help, as they keep moving about which makes it hard to see them as something other than a shapeless bunch of tentacles rolling around. It enhances the sense of battle immersion, but makes it difficult to appreciate the craftsmanship that went into designing what might have been epic war scenes.
Edge of Tomorrow is a definite step up from the forgetful Oblivion, but still a far cry from, say, Minority Report, which also starred Cruise. The movie sadly switches tones halfway through, without securing the audience's allegiance to accept this. Worse, the more the plot progresses, the harder it is for the audience to remain focused, as things have to be taken with too big a grain of salt, while the good humoured use of loops ultimately gets lost in an overly incoherent plot. Cruise pleasantly surprises the spectator at first, before reverting to his standard performance. You could state his career is caught in a similar loop; minor variations do occur, but he always reverts to his established routine.