More than a Sum of its Parts

Rating: 7/10 (20 June 2014)

Weeks after release, I know something that Tom Cruise couldn't foresee; The Edge of Tomorrow would bomb in America. Costing an estimated $178 million, it only recovered $28 million opening weekend getting beat by a movie made for less than a tenth of its budget; The Fault in Our Stars. This failure could be attributed to Tom Cruise's falling star power (especially among teens), however I think it is due to the inability of the posters and trailers to capture how much fun the movie's formula is.
Based on the novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka (which would have been a better title) The Edge of Tomorrow combines a number of sci-fi concepts and devices with the time loop effect popularized by Groundhog Day. While nearly everything in the film is borrowed from other sources, the way the film combines them is never dull.
The film opens with Tom Cruise as Cage, a slimy war recruiter and military PR man, delivering lines of expository dialogue. We are efficiently brought up to speed with what is happening. The world is under attack by aliens, Europe has been taken over and the world is launching a unified last ditch effort to save mankind. It's the kind of background that is familiar to the genre and Doug Liman recognizes this and sends us immediately into the action.
The war effort appears to be headed by General Brigham (Brendon Gleeson) who sends Cage to the front lines. The scene feels forced. It's essentially a plot mechanic to get Cruise into the fight. After a brief introduction of some (very) flat supporting characters the battle begins. Cage manages to survive long enough to kill a large blue alien that melts acid over his face. This provides Cage with the Groundhog Day powers; every time he dies the day repeats. The twist is that he must die or else he loses them.
Cruise's performance works as he transitions from a rookie recruit to a killing machine with the help of macho Emily Blunt. The pair's chemistry is one of the reason's the film succeeds. The fight/die/repeat mechanic makes the incredible fight sequences more believable and at times surprisingly funny.
While the film reminds us it is a Hollywood production with a predictably cliché ending, when the action is going Tom Cruise shows us why he's one the best. While individual pieces are nothing original, the film adds up to more than a sum of its parts.