An edge-of-your-seat, laugh-out-loud, knock-your-socks-off scifomance!
First things first: in real life, Tom Cruise may be mad as a haberdasher, but on screen he still has the magic. So even if you find Tom Cruise disagreeable as an individual (and let's face it, who doesn't?), I'd advise against letting your distaste for his
craziness spoil a perfectly good movie!
Second things second: director Doug Liman has combined the
humor of Swingers with the frenetic action of The Bourne Identity in this, his
newest gem. Because of the relatively unusual (though by no means unique) temporal premise of Edge of
Tomorrow (about which I will say as little as possible so as to keep
unadulterated the joy of discovery for the six people in the world who haven't
already heard it compared to Groundhog Day or Source Code), there were almost
limitless options for how to depict the story: in a farcical mode, or a deadly
serious action mode, or a Shakespearian tragedy, or a humance (humorous human
interest romance). But Liman and the film's other creators have struck just the
right balance, in my opinion, between the humantic and the sci fi action
extravaganza modes.
As with any project of this scope, some aspects strike
specific individuals (notably me) with greater pizzazz than others. Certain
elements of the movie's plot, including the enemy's bizarre, almost
incomprehensible inability to deal with what seems like the mother of all
weaknesses/chinks in its armor, and the handful of cases of "we've managed to throw together a doohicky that can deux the crap out of your machina" sci fi babble, left me scratching my head. But then, if the
enemy were truly as omnipotent as they seem, the movie would have been about
twenty minutes long, so perhaps I should simply accept the pseudo-scientific
exposition of gadgets and whatnot as the price one pays for good entertainment.
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| Everything going as planned...ish. |
And what entertainment! In addition to the intriguing references to World War I (Blunt's character being nicknamed the Angel of Verdun, etc.) there are quite a few laugh out loud
moments, and twists worthy of an M. Night Shyamalan movie (but without the
crappiness!), even for those of us who (sigh) were told beforehand that Edge of
Tomorrow is "just like Groundhog Day but with aliens and stuff" and
thus instantly had the ultimate shock surprise of the movie spoiled. And the
on-screen eye candy of Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, as well as the film's
deliberate attempt (or so I see it) to prevent audiences from too easily
identifying with Cruise's character (who starts and remains kind of unappealing
personality-wise), are sure to please.
Even scifobics (up to and including old people!) who get the
heebie-jeebies whenever movies contain anything that isn't 'realistic' should
enjoy this high-octane romp! (Yes! I've always wanted to use that ridiculous
phrase, which is only trotted out for Jason Statham movies under normal
circumstances but seems appropriate here.)
So in conclusion, happy birthday, America—and what better
way to celebrate than by seeing Edge of Tomorrow?
The Math:
Baseline assessment: 8/10
Bonuses: +1 for having plenty of humance and +1 for striking
a nice balance between laughs and chills
Penalties: -1 for a few instances of sloppy sci fi babble along
the lines of "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" (though
nowhere near that bad)
Nerd coefficient: 9/10 "Standout in its category"
(admittedly, it's kind of a small sub-category we're talking about here, but
for what it's worth, I'd say this movie trumps the excellent Source Code and
even rivals the King of Time Loop movies, Groundhog Day itself!)
See more about our scoring system here.
Zhaoyun, zompire scifantomance fan, has been keeping it real here at Nerds of a Feather since before Edge of Tomorrow was a gleam in its director's eye (or in any case since early 2013).
