Wildly entertaining first two-thirds makes way for a generic climax

Rating: 6/10 (7 October 2014)

Despite his questionable religious beliefs, cringe-worthy talk show appearances, and all-round general creepiness, one cannot deny the raw star power of Tom Cruise, even a shocking 28 years since his breakthrough in Top Gun (1986). Here, he brings charm to an instantly dislikeable character - a cowardly, smarmy PR major who hasn't seen a second of combat in a world battling invading alien forces. His performance - possibly one of the best in his long career - shows his true range as his character goes through a highly convincing arc from pathetic rookie to fully-fledged action hero. It's easy to forget that Cruise is a highly accomplished actor, and there is no-one better out there to spear-head a blockbuster.
As humanity prepares for a surprise attack on an alien force called Mimics who have devastated many of the large cities on Earth, General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson) orders public affairs officer Major William Cage (Cruise) to cove r the combat from the front lines during the assault. Objecting that his life will be placed in danger, Cage is arrested, labelled as a deserter, and wakes up handcuffed in the hands of Master Sergeant Farrell (Bill Paxton), a Southern drill instructor with a strange sense of humour. Cage is suited and booted with hi- tech armour and dropped into the battle, which turns out to be a disaster for the humans and they are overrun by the Mimics, who decimate their forces. Cage manages to kill a rare large Mimic, and is killed in return when the Mimic's acid-like blood dissolves his face.
He then wakes up handcuffed, and again meets Master Sergeant Farrell, who appears to have never met him. The day plays out like it did before, and once again Cage is dropped into the battlefield only to be killed again, this time surviving a little longer. It's on the battlefield that he meets famous soldier Rita 'Full Metal B***h' Vrataski (Emily Blunt), who seems to recognise his ability to anticipate events and tells him to seek her out, before they are both killed again. Cage tracks her down on the base, and Rita informs him that he is stuck in a time-loop, something she experienced after a previous battle with the Mimics but has since lost due to a blood transfusion. The two start to work together, with Cage training to survive a little bit more every time he dies.
Adapted from the Japanese light novel All You Need is Kill (a title the film adopted before it changed to the generic Edge of Tomorrow - something that may have been the cause for it's underwhelming box- office performance), the film clearly takes inspiration from video games. Every time your character dies, it starts again from the beginning of the level or checkpoint, where you can use your experience to gain the skill required to complete the level. While this can be frustrating and monotonous when bashing a game controller, Edge of Tomorrow doesn't linger on the repetitiveness of Cage's day, and instead moves the story along to the point where you don't even know how many times Cage has lived the same day.
Each time, Cage learns to duck here, fire there, take a different route; and director Doug Liman revels in killing off his hero in a variety of ways to an often comedic effect. The first two-thirds of the movie are delightfully entertaining, with the Mimics proving to be inventive creations, resembling giant, tentacled tumbleweeds, and the movie wisely choosing not to get bogged down in time-loop mumbo- jumbo. Emily Blunt, one of the most charismatic and beautiful actresses working at the moment, is excellent, portraying a female lead who, for once, isn't there simply for the male hero to rescue and fall in love with, but is the key to any hopes of success. Which is all the more disappointing when the movie begins to bow to convention during the final third, as Vrataski starts to fall for our vertically- challenged protagonist.
As with most recent blockbusters, Edge of Tomorrow also struggles at the climax. The inventiveness of the Groundhog Day approach (I almost made it through the entire review without mentioning the Bill Murray classic) makes way for a familiar, simplistic climax and a roll-your-eyes bittersweet final scene, It's sad, because this could have been one of the best blockbusters in the past couple of years; a twist on the usual crash-bang-wallop alien invasion flick. It does, however, offer plenty of great action, bolstered by a fine sense of humour, and proves that Tom Cruise can still convincingly anchor a big-budget action movie, even at the ripe old age of 52.
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