Saturday, June 14, 2014

Move review - "The Edge of Tomorrow" (2014) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

This feels like they grabbed a whole lot of movies, put them in a blender and see what they came up with: Source Code, Saving Private Ryan, Starship Troopers, Groundhog Day, video games. Having said that it I enjoyed this - at least the story progressed and it did keep me guessing, Tom Cruise remains a movie star (he's aging, it's a role anyone could have played, but he's still our Cruiser), Emily Blunt is spot on as a hard arse warrior (I never would have guessed she had it in her but she's outstanding), the production values are impressive (it's one of those movies worth seeing on the big screen).

Normally I'm wary of movies set in the near future about fictitious international forces where people wear coloured berets (eg Streetfighter) and the World War Two overtones feels weird (would Europe really be entirely wiped out and yet England mostly untouched; would they really have to advertise for enlistment when the human race was under attack)... and now I'm being picky there were some logic problems (eg how did Emily Blunt know she couldn't die anymore times? How does Tom come back at the end to the earlier day), and the human race doesn't particularly seem worth saving in this movie, with its very sloppy, dimwitted army (none of the grunts in Cruiser's squad are particularly likeable).

Also some of the emotional drama felt undercooked, especially the love story between Cruise and Blunt (why not give them one night together), and the effects of dying a couple of hundred times. Still it was there, and there's plenty of action, really scary alien visitors, and standout work from Emily Blunt.

No comments: