Live, Die, Repeat

Rating: 8/10 (29 October 2014)

Major William Cage works as a press officer; he has never seen combat and has no expectation of seeing any then he finds himself on the front line in a war against alien invaders known as 'Mimics'. It turns into a massacre and he is one of the many casualties. He doesn't stay dead though! Instead it is as if time resets to the moment where he first met the combat unit the day before the attack. He has no idea why this happened and finds himself doomed to repeat the day over and over again. He always dies but each time things go slightly differently as he learns from his experiences. Eventually he meets somebody else who was like him Sergeant Rita Vrataski; she explains that he became able to reset time after getting the blood of a specific type of Mimic, called an Alpha, on him she also warns that he must never get a blood transfusion or he will lose the ability as she did. She also advises against telling anybody as he is likely to end up being certified insane or worse. Together they train and plan a mission that will, if all goes well, lead to the defeat of the Mimics once and for all.
I started watching this film knowing nothing about it; I even thought 'Live, Die, Repeat' was the title not the tag line! Early on I thought it was going to be yet another loud film with nonstop action but little in the way of character; thankfully that proved wrong. As the events start repeating there is an enjoyable wit about how it is handled. Tom Cruise does a fine job as Major Cage; a character who starts of as a coward hardly a typical Cruise roll. He is able supported by Emily Blunt as the tough Sgt Vrataski. The plot can be summarised as 'Starship Troopers' meets 'Groundhog Day' but it was done in an original way that kept me interested from start to finish. The action sequences are well handled and exciting to watch. Overall if you are a fan of Tom Cruise or enjoy science fiction then this is well worth watching.