The Edge of Tomorrow

I went into the Edge of Tomorrow with low expectations, and I can honestly say that I didn’t come out disappointed. Whilst it didn’t have me on the edge of my seat (see what I did there?) it did manage to keep me in it until the end of the film…just about.

The opened up with a montage of fictional news broadcasts detailing the invasion of the alien ‘mimics’ and the subsequent loss of central Europe to the alien horde. This was the first mistake I felt the film made – simply put this scenario was a lot more interesting than what the rest of the film had to offer. Immediately I wanted to know how the ‘mimics’ took control of the planet, did they pose as world leaders and take control of the armed forces? Maybe they infiltrated positions of importance and bought central Europe to a standstill? Nope, it appears that rather than actually mimicking anything the ‘mimics’ just spun around lots, flung tentacles around and blew shit up. Those sneaky ‘mimics’!

We were also introduced to our protagonist, Cage, a PR specialist for the army who has been putting a positive spin on the failing attempt to battle the ‘mimics’ in preparation for one last push against them. For some unspoken reason the higher ups in the army hate Cage and are determined to have him on the front line for battle despite his lack of experience in battle. After trying to blackmail his way out this predicament he wakes up at Heathrow airport with the rest of the grunts.

After several failed attempts of weaselling out of service Cage finds himself face to face with an Alpha ‘mimic’ (bigger, badder and bluer). Cage merks the Alpha with a claymore, kills himself in the process and wakes up back in the barracks earlier that morning beginning a cycle of death and rebirth. After finding the only two people on the planet who understand this phenomenon, who rather fortunately are in the same barracks as him, Cage starts out on his quest to destroy the ‘mimic’ scourge alongside the affectionately known Full Metal Bitch. Sexual tension was well developed throughout the film as Cage developed feelings for whilst she had no memory of the countless days they had spent together. Another nice touch was the lasting effect that watching the Full Metal Bitch repeatedly die had on Cage, as he strived to find ways not just to defeat the ‘mimics’ but to keep her alive.

This is the point where the film fell into a formula that it would repeat for the next forty minutes. Cage would attempt to do something, fail, die and then be reborn to repeat the same task until he got it right. This is also where the film fell into what I call ‘The Hiro Nakamura Inevitability’ which, to be fair, is where a lot of stories that involve time travel fail. It doesn’t matter what Cage does because when he dies the day will be reset, his actions will literally have no consequence as long as he has this power. Let me repeat that, the protagonist’s actions literally have no consequence. The stakes could not be lower, even Cage realises this and just buggers off to the pub at one point rather than fighting the ‘mimics’. The time travelling conceit is mostly played for cheap laughs as Cage dies comically on occasions or the Full Metal Bitch euthanizes him, as one might a horse with a broken leg, in order to reset the day. The other purpose of the time travelling is to allow Cage to hone his skills as a warrior in what basically amounts to a ‘training montage’ which is so effectively lampooned in Team America.

It’s not until Cage loses the power of time-travel that the story begins to gather momentum again as the stakes are finally raised and there is one last chance for the alien scourge to be defeated. It’s finally do or die time, as opposed to do, die, be reborn and try again time. A large portion of my boredom during the film can be attributed to the fact that I was waiting for this to happen before the film could progress. The film may well have been improved if they had included a scene in which Cage looked like he was going to lose his powers, only to find a way to die at the last second. At least in this scenario there would be something at stake as opposed to watching him die in combat…again.

Cage then bands together a group of ragtag soldiers to assist him in bringing down the Omega ‘mimic’ which is the hive brain controlling all the ‘mimics’. This portion of the film was thoroughly underwhelming as far as ‘boss battles’ go. Both Cage and the Full Metal Bitch (I refuse to call her anything else) rather predictably sacrifice their lives for the greater good, managing to squeeze in the inevitable kiss before they go. The day then gets reset again but this time the ‘mimic’ scourge has been defeated and they all live happily ever after presumably.  The rules about time-travelling were actually dealt with pretty well to begin with but this ending did raise some questions. I still don’t understand why when the day was reset for a final time Cage woke up in a different time and place or why the destruction of the ‘mimics’ had still happened.

All in all it was probably the most average of all the average Hollywood blockbusters released this year, with Tom Cruise delivering a fairly good performance. It didn’t cause me to walk out of the cinema in disgust but hopefully I won’t ever need to watch it again. If you enjoy Hollywood blockbusters with lots of expensive CGI, an A-list protagonist and aren’t too fussed on much else I can thoroughly recommend The Edge of Tomorrow.