Saturday, June 7, 2014

MOVIE REVIEW - Edge Of Tomorrow

The end f the world, Sci- Fi action flicks keep rolling out, and we keep rolling in and this week it's the new Tom Cruise movie, Edge Of Tomorrow.

In short, this is the deal. Earth has been invaded by The Mimics.  They are an alien force that is waging war world wide and winning.  The entire world has united together and is fighting for our very survival as the human race.  For some reason the enemy always seems to know what the humans are planning and where they will be in the war, so we cannot make any inroads to winning The war seems lost.

Enter Major Gage (Cruise). He is an Army public relations officer with no combat experience and is summoned to the lead Generals office to get his orders to film the war for promotional purposes.  Gage is ordered to the front lines to film, and he is refusing to go.   So after an ill-advised blackmail attempt on the General, Gage is arrested, knocked out, and wakes up in London as a new combat recruit, railroaded into combat detail.

There, after his first actual combat experience, he is somehow "blessed" or "cursed" with the ability to live the same day over and over again with the potential to getting it right, and altering the future. He meets another soldier named Rita, (Emily Blunt) who earlier was a war hero, as she was blessed with the same curse.  Could this curse be the key to winning the war?  Seems so.

In an era where there is not shortage of big action flicks that portray the end of times, and a gloomy future, somehow this one is a bit different and cuts through in a pretty creative way.  This is a good mix of action that overall is not belabored, and over the top.  It mixes in some slick effects, and some real fun humor and spins it into a real nice and tidy 1 hour and 40 minute summer fun flick.  Being honest, this works only because of Cruise and Blunt.  They are good together, and this movie needs their presence to win. The story is adequate, as some of the premise is borrowed from recent end of times movies, but that's not a deal breaker.

This movie makes some good decisions in not taking itself too seriously, and is entertaining from first frame to last.  It looks too, like this could be a long and drawn out affair. But it's not.  It has a story, and tells it, and moves on.  And to me, that is one of it's best attributes.  Cruise is the Cruise we like, and not the "I'm Tom Cruise," Cruise. Blunt is always worth a ticket, as I think she is one of Hollywood's most underrated stars.

Edge Of Tomorrow. Not perfect, but pretty fun.


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