Director: Doug Liman
Talent: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson
Release Date: 6th June 2014
Bill Cage (Tom Cruise) is a milquetoast PR guy thrown into the middle of a desperate war against a force of alien invaders. Within seconds of landing on the frontline, Cage is killed by an enemy “Mimic” and trapped in a time-loop, a cycle of death and rebirth as he relives this battle over and over, gaining skill and courage along the way.
What’s striking about Edge of Tomorrow is its willingness to lean into its premise as a means of conveying the horrors of war, as well as the comedy hi-jinx that inevitably come from Cage’s building up of what is effectively a play-by-play knowledge of his fledgeling battle.
The film’s action is in the more-than-capable hands of Doug Liman, who previously worked on the Bourne franchise. The battles are fast and stylish without devolving into choppy, shaky messes like so many of the film’s action contemporaries.
So, while Edge of Tomorrow may appear big and brash on paper, Liman’s execution means the film far more delicate than its Japanese “light-novel” source material. Pleasantly then, it becomes more than a cartoon brought-to-life.
Words: Luke Maxwell
For more film coverage this month, see our reviews of When I Saw You, Omar, Venus In Fur, A Million Ways To Die In The West and Grace of Monaco.
