Review - Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

      Hey guys, Chuck here. The Japanese light novel All You Need is Kill is widely considered one of the more unique light novel stories, as it follows a soldier in an endless war against an alien invasion force, only to discover that he's gained the ability to reset the day when he dies, and he and others use this ability to turn the tide in the war. And, with a new anime film adaptation of All You Need is Kill set for release soon, I thought it would be an interesting idea to take a look at the novel's 2014 live-action adaptation: Edge of Tomorrow, directed by Doug Liman and starring Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Noah Taylor, Bill Paxton, and Brendan Gleeson. 

       So, in the near future, an alien race known as the Mimics arrive on Earth, landing in Europe, and begin their invasion. A few years later, the world sets up the United Defense Force, a joint military coalition made up of multiple countries military forces, to combat the Mimics, with little success until a decisive victory in Verdun thanks to a campaign led by Sgt. Rita Vrataski.

      It's here where we meet American Maj. William Cage, who is a public relations officer whose job it is to go on television and promote the war between the UDF and the Mimics. Cage finds himself meeting with General Bringham, who information of a planned invasion of France to fight back against the Mimics, and he wants Cage on the front lines to cover the combat. Cage, who has zero combat experience, attempts to blackmail Bringham, who then brands him a deserter and has him shipped to the Forward Operations Base at Heathrow Airport, where he is forced to join the infantry under the command of Master Sgt. Farrell, who introduces him to J-Squad. 

      The next day, the beach invasion takes place, and goes wrong. Cage finds himself face-to-face with a massive blue Mimic known as an Alpha Mimic. Cage kills the beast, but dies covered in the Alpha Mimic's blood. Only, Cage wakes up back at Heathrow, the day having been reset. And, Cage finds himself reliving the day's events all over again, meeting Farrell, meeting J-Squad, the beach invasion, dying in combat, and reawakening at Heathrow with the day reset. So, it's clear that the Alpha Mimic's blood affected Cage, as he now can reset the day when he dies, in an endless time loop.

       During one of the loops, Cage rescues Vrataski, who tells him to "come find me when you wake up." In the next loop, Cage locates Vrataski, convinces her of what's going on, and she takes him to a scientist named Dr. Carter, who is an expert on the Mimics. It's here where we learn that the Mimics act as a hive mind, under the control of a massive Omega Mimic, which resets each day whenever an Alpha is killed. Vrataski reveals she, also, had the ability of the Alpha Mimics, which is how she gained better experience and led the UDF to victory in Verdun. But, she lost the ability when she received a blood transfusion. 

      Rita agrees to train Cage in every loop until he is more connected to the Omega and can locate it. And, each loop sees Cage's skills in combat improve greatly, and he is able to get a vision pointing to the Omega being in a dam in Germany. And, after a few attempts to reach the place to kill the Omega, Cage learns it was a trap, with another Alpha seeking to take Cage's abilities away. This leaves only one other option, which is to revisit Bringham and collect a prototype transponder designed by Carter to find the true location of the Omega. A fight ensues, and Cage is knocked out and Cage wakes up in the hospital after receiving a blood transfusion, rendering him powerless. But, before that happened, Cage and Vrataski were able to use the transponder to track the Omega's location: the Louvre Pyramid in Paris. 

        Recruiting J-Squad to help, Cage and Vrataski lead a small task force to go after the Omega at the Louvre. The members of J-Squad sacrifice their lives in combat, and Vrataski dies fighting another Alpha, lamenting that there wasn't a lot of time for her and Cage to get to know each other. Luckily, Cage drops several grenades at the Omega, killing it and bathing him in its blood. Cage then resets time to just before he first met Bringham, who reveals in a press conference that a massive surge in Paris led to a dramatic decrease in Mimic activity, with many Mimics dying because of the surge. Cage heads to Heathrow to meet with Vrataski, who doesn't recognize him whatsoever. 

      Honestly, I have nothing negative to say about the movie Edge of Tomorrow. The action, visual effects, set designs, and writing were all spectacular. The performances by lead stars Tom Cruise as Cage and Emily Blunt as Vrataski were fantastic. Heck, even the supporting performances by the likes of Brendan Gleeson as Bringham, Bill Paxton as Farrell, Noah Taylor as Carter, and the likes of Kick Gurry, Franz Drameh, and so forth as the members of J-Squad were all terrific. Overall, Doug Liman made a fun sci-fi action movie with a neat concept. 

       Unfortunately, the issue with Edge of Tomorrow is less with the movie itself, which was fantastic, but rather with the marketing and promotion. Originally, the film was to retain the light novel's original title of All You Need is Kill. But, when it came up for marketing and release, Warner Bros. retitled it to Edge of Tomorrow. BUT, in the advertising for the movie, the most prominent thing was the film's tagline "Live. Die. Repeat," which audiences at the time assumed was the title of the film. And, THIS led to the film being retitled AGAIN for home media under the title Live. Die. Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow. So, while the movie itself is fantastic, the multiple and needless changes to the title were something of a turn off for general audiences. 

       Other than the screw up in marketing by Warner Bros. leading to so so many unnecessary title changes, I love the movie Edge of Tomorrow and what director Doug Liman and lead stars Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt did with the story. And, I will admit that I do want to see what the anime film adaptation of the light novel All You Need is Kill will do with the concept. 

       Alright guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you in the next review.