More video game than time warp

Rating: Null/10 (6 June 2014)

In reviews of "Edge of tomorrow" the title "Groundhog days" probably appears more often than the title of the movie reviewed. There are also other movies with variations of the theme. For example, Drew Barrymore's character in "50 first dates" wakes up every day with complete loss of memory. Although this is technically not repeating the same day, the effect is similar. In any event, if I were interested in quality science fiction, I'll read Isaac Asimov (e.g. "The end of eternity" if time is the subject matter interested in). While "Edge of tomorrow" does make an effort to explain why the protagonist repeatedly wakes up after being killed in battle to start the same day all over again, the audience will do better to simply take the angle of a video game: when your character is killed, you just start again. This is easier to understand.
The other aspect about this movie is war against extraterrestrial invaders. Among the multitude of similar movies, the closest comparison is probably "Battle Los Angeles" (2011), at least in the sense of having very little preliminaries â€“ the audience is plunged right into the critical moment of Earth's and humanity's survival, with little background on the enemies other than they are here to annihilate us. All sweet and simple.
So let's set the scene. Enemy: unlike the humanoid forms in "Battle Los Angeles", this bunch here is giant-squid-shaped, menacingly all metallic, with a proliferation of tentacles and a mouth of razor sharps teeth to boot. Friends: the customary collection of tough army guys with one token army gal (not counting the heroine). Protagonist: brilliant army P.R. man Cage (Tom Cruise) who unfortunately is a complete rookie when it comes to front line action. Heroine: iconic fighting-machine-like Amazon Rita (Emily Blunt).
The details above have just about covered the story line. Sent to the front line, through repeatedly being killed and coming back to "reset" the day, Cage accumulates knowledge and courage, in equal measures. Added to that is a growing relationship through working with Rita who had experienced the same phenomenon as Cage's but somehow "lost" it. The only way to win, they find, is to locate a queen-bee type of these aliens and destroying her. Two things earn the movie's cut-about-others rating from critics and general audience alike. First, it's the filming, which includes the deft telling of repeating events without becoming a bore and the excellent action sequences. The other thing is character development, which provided Cruise an opportunity to do some very decent acting.