Edge of Tomorrow Review

    This is one of those movies where it should've made loads of box office money. Unfortunately, it was released in a loaded 2014 summer blockbuster which included Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and X-Men: Days of Future Past and a fourth Transformers film. Bad marketing from Warner Bros. doomed the film. While, it's box office results did not mean that it was bad. Edge of Tomorrow, or how it is now called when it was released on video called Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow is one of the hidden gems in 2014 that everyone missed. SPOILERS will appear. 

    So the film is an alien invasion film. Specifically, it's based on a Japanese manga called "All You Need Is Kill". I haven't read the manga personally, but just watching the movie manages to be one of the best science fiction films I have seen. More so, as a film that manages to adapt a Japanese product. As the film starts, an alien race called the Mimics invade Earth. The affected countries form a consortium called the Earth Defense Force. 

    Tom Cruise plays Major William Cage, who meets with General Brigham with the assumption to help the general with his image. Unfortunately, Brigham wants him to join the squadron for the final battle. This leads into the main highlights of the film. Cage from the very start tries to weasel himself from a complicated position. It's explained that he only joined the ROTC and majored in marketing. Throughout the entire film, he finds himself to find another way to avoid a particular situation. Later on, he sheds from that mentality. 

    Soon, through Cage gets demoted and sent to a huge military base and joins J-Squad. He attempts to explain to the sergeant played by the late Bill Paxton. Like what he tried to do with the general, Cage attempts to find a way to leave the base. It doesn't go well and he is sent to the battlefield. Most of his members won't tell him how to use the battle suit. Eventually, the battle is a slaughter, most of the humans are wiped out. Cage manages to kill a few mimics and kills a blue mimic called an Alpha. Whose blood gets in his system. 

    Another best thing about the film is the overall plot. The alpha's blood makes Cage relive the day when he arrives in the base. Approximately, I may have missed a few implied moments, there are 23* times where he relives the day. None of it feels repetitive, since it's so unpredictable with what Cage might experience. At first he tries to save his squad, but eventually finds the soldier only known as the Angel of Verdun. She tells him to find her when he wakes up. 

    Emily Blunt plays the soldier Rita Vrataski who had experience with the Alpha's blood. She is depicted through propaganda as a savior, but at the base a poster has the phrase "Full Metal Bitch" sprawled on a few posters. My only complaint is that it feels slightly misogynistic. Also, it's never explained how the base defaced the poster. Maybe it's a response on how they view her, due to her having many confirmed mimic kills. Eventually, Cage meets Rita and she takes him to a biologist who knows how the mimic operates. 

    Throughout the rest of the film, both Cage and Vratalski fight through the battlefield to find the power source of the mimics called the Omega. With multiple attempts that again never feels repetitive since it's engaging and it gets to a point where the situation gets dire. Never once does the film just drag on, its total nonstop action. It represents one of the few and only times where Hollywood manages to perfectly adapt a Japanese property. 

    In the end, Cage and Rita manage to locate the Omega and bring in J-Squad to mount an effort to take down the mimics. Cage manages to destroy the alien tech and resets back to when he lands in London. He doesn't go through the same thing, and sees J-Squad doing there training. And Rita who asks him who he is. 

    The big question is why did it not do well financially? Mostly, it was marketed as a standard sci-fi flick. The commercials didn't highlight the Groundhog Day aspect of repeating the day. The title and the tag line which became part of the title, just felt generic. Even the manga's title just feels cheesy. 

I firmly believed that Warner fired the marketing guy since, it's really not that complex of a film to follow. 

    Overall, Edge of Tomorrow is one of the best science fiction, American adaptation I have ever seen. It's gritty and enjoyable for anyone who enjoys a unique take to the alien invasion movies. As well as anything that is from Japan. 

    Edge of Tomorrow gets a four out of five.