Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

 "I'm going to tell you a story. At first, it's going to sound ridiculous.

But the longer I talk, the more rational it's going to appear"

-Major William Cage

In the beginning, I had my skepticism from viewing the trailer. From what I gather from the trailer, there is no real appeal to me. Time-travel is something we've seen before. Alien invasion, plenty done. Battle suit, no originality. Tom Cruise in a sci-fi movie? Remember "Oblivion" last year? I came into the cinema expecting a "meh" movie but in the end, I had a lot of fun watching it. It's safe to say that it's one of the best sci-fi films around! We may have seen plenty of the similar things done before, but they do feel fresh again when watching this film.

"Spoilers ahead, sonny!"

Tom Cruise was certainly full of himself in the beginning of the film, he definitely needn't act in that scene. The thing about his acting is that they are all very much similar from one movie to another. It's rare that we see him as a "character" from the film, and not just himself as an actor. I can only think of his performance as Colonel Stauffenberg from "Valkyrie" and Les Grossman from "Tropic Thunder" that break his usual mold of "Tom Cruise doing his thing". In this film like his every other film, I still see Tom Cruise as Tom Cruise, carrying that same charismatic bad-ass action hero performance. I'm certainly not convinced as him being a character who has never been combat ready and don't know how to handle a weapon, especially after seeing him do the impossible from all his previous movies, especially his role as Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible series. Heck, he even singled handedly scaled the Burj Khalifa tower in "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol", and he parodied himself as the ultimate agent in "Knight and Day". So to see him stumble in his battle suit and clumsily walk around in the battle field, it was certainly a joke there. It was not until we get to the point where he has gotten used to the suit and learnt from all his mistakes he made in his previous lives that we see him killing the aliens with precised accuracy, it was there that we finally get the Tom Cruise that we are all familiar with. From then on, it was fun to watch him do his thing.

Tom Cruise.. Tom Cruise everywhere.

Emily Blunt was awesome and she gave a very convincing performance as the "Full Metal B*tch". She adds herself to the list of strong willed female character that we are getting these days, making Joan of Arc real proud. However, she reminded me a lot about Sergeant Calhoun from Wreck it Ralph. Throughout the entire movie, she delivers her tough bad-ass look, nothing more. When we do get her to soften up with one of the quieter scenes with Tom Cruise, she hops on the helicopter and dies... and we are re-winded back to her being tough again. Still, I loved her look and the design of her battle suit. That splash of red on her armor and that crazily big sword she carries or drags, give her this iconic game character feel reminiscence of  Samus Aran from Metroid.
 

She'll make Joan of Arc proud.

Amazing concept, however it is very similar to the 2011 film "Source Code" where a guy gets to relive his life over and over again. But unlike Source Code, there's no alternate universe in this one, or at least we can only assume that at the end of every Cage's lives and the universe he lived in, just ceased to exist after he dies. Although unoriginal in idea and we've been getting a lot of similar time-travel or alternate universe themed movies these, the writers pretty much handled this idea in a fresh way. I was never bored at every rewind and it was really interesting and hilarious at times, to see how Cage would react or work in every life, especially with the people he meets again and again. However at every reset, he always wakes up at a particular moment on the military airfield with handcuffs on. What bothers me is that at his final awakening, why did he wake up at a much earlier time, the time when he just arrived at London? Very curious but it did give us a look at how he was treated when he walked around the base as a major at the end than the way he was treated as a mere private throughout the film. And boy, what an ending! The movie didn't bother to follow through the happy ending that we could only imagine what Cage would say. It certainly ended on a good "incomplete" note. But before they cut to the credits, we're left with a good look at the usual Tom Cruise's look and smile. They just bookend the film, don't they?

Had enough of this scene?

The alien "Mimics" design was really interesting and I must applaud the design team for coming up with something truly unique. We've certainly been getting a lot of aliens or monsters with insect-like design that it has become way too boring and predictable. This "Mimics" look is certainly a new idea and a concept never done before. Who would have thought to design the alien looking like a giant nerve cell with ferocious eyes and mouths? But when I first saw the alien look, I was reminded of a particular character from an old Star Wars cartoon. The design and concept of the military battle suit on the other hand, was something done over and over and over again. Solid examples would be the mech suits from Matrix Revolution, G.I Joe and Avatar. The suits in this film however, are still something to behold with the special effects of today, but ultimately they lacked originality.

 It's an alien invasion all over again.

The storming of the beach in France was AWESOME. Reminded me of the war film Saving Private Ryan's Storming on the Omaha Beach, which happened to take place in France as well. The battle scene is truly massive in scale, realistic and frightening, although it is sorely missing the grittiness and the blood, but the jaw-dropping war scene certainly left me awestruck. This is visual effect put to good use, unlike Avatar and the Matrix Revolution. But I guess when it comes to the visual effects nowadays, they have to be brilliant and always one step up from previous movies we've seen before. We can only critique the effects when they begin to slack. As for the battle suits, seeing them in action is really exciting but I find the battle suits have a lot more inconveniences than it actually does the soldier any good, with the exception for Tom Cruise of course. But unless it becomes a real-life thing, I won't bother discussing the flaws it carries.

Where do I begin? Bulky, heavy and slow. Superbly ineffective for combat.

Why does it even have a function to change the computer's language?

A draw back of this film would be the expository aspect to explain the physiology and the workings of the alien and the science behind the time travel. It does get a bit too complicated and you have to listen very carefully to the dialogue scenes and the scientific babble coming out from the scientist's mouth. Perhaps, you might need some basic knowledge on the human's central nervous system to get an idea of how the "Mimics" work and why going after the "Omega" is the key to winning the war. All the time traveling and alien science talk might leave you somewhat baffled and confused at the end but they don't really get in the way of enjoying the movie. There are plenty of good chemistry between characters, superb visual effects, good action and humor throughout for you to enjoy the movie without getting weighed down on the expositions.

 Trouble concentrating?

In the beginning, I had my skepticism from viewing the trailer and from what I gather from the trailer, there is no real appeal to me. Time-travel is something we've seen before. Alien invasion, plenty done. Battle suit, no originality. Tom Cruise in a sci-fi movie? Well, remember "Oblivion" last year? I came into the cinema expecting a "meh" movie but in the end, I had a lot of fun watching it. It's safe to say that it's one of the best sci-fi films around! Wait... didn't I already mention all these? Déjà vu much?
With all things considered, I would give this an 8 out of 10 edible playing cards.

 The one role that I love Tom Cruise in? Click above to Victory!