THE EDGE OF TOMORROW (2014 - CERT 12A)

It's not until you really give it some proper thought, but Tom Cruise really has been relatively prolific in the Sci-Fi department over the last decade. Spielberg had him twice in the noughties, the excellent Minority Report and then The War of the Worlds, slightly underrated at the time but I think it's darkness was simply ten years ahead of it's time, the bleak tone is now a common theme in the post-Nolan era of the blockbuster. The recent Oblivion was two thirds of an interesting film, only losing courage towards the end as it turned into a chase-and-explosion fest. Now we have The Edge of Tomorrow, originally entitled (rather better in my view) after the Japanese novel it's based on, All You Need is Kill.



It's a set up that isn't exactly boldly going where no one has gone before. Earth and Humankind has come under threat from an alien menace and we are losing the war. Badly. Europe has been taken over and our last stronghold is good old Great Britain (including some quite inventive and cool alterations of Trafalgar Square and Heathrow Airport).

First off, it's easy, and lazy, to say that it's a little bit derivative. It obviously has a touch of Source Code about it, people have said that the beasties are a rip off of Starship Troopers which I don't agree with, if you are going compare them to anything, it's probably a cross between Venom and the sentinels in The Matrix sequels. The human's armoury is also straight from James Cameron's costume cupboard and one of the key scenes does owe a bit to one of Spielberg's war films.

Interestingly though, I haven't seen anyone compare it to The War of The Worlds. Although Edge isn't quite as defeatist and nihilistic, it does share the same absence of hope. This isn't a glossy Michael Bay action romp, we, humans, are taking one hell of a beating. The opening battle scene, very reminiscent of the start of Saving Private Ryan, is brutal. Thist really is a war, people are dying all over the place. It's not like sequences in Marvel films where widespread destruction seems to result in no human loss whatsoever.

Also, like War of The Worlds, Tom Cruise doesn't start the film as an All-American hero. In War he was flawed, in Edge he is veritably loathsome. He is brilliant as the cowardly PR, spin doctor colonel and it is something we just aren't that used to seeing from him. I really wanted him to snuff it. However, it's also a performance with some depth. It wasn't long before I was feeling sorry for him as he shifts from being obnoxious to outright terrified as he is thrown into a battle completely untrained. As the film rockets along he does start to get back to the standard Cruise we all know, the hero, but he does manage to keep it interesting with a bit of heart as the relationship with the other hero of the piece, Emliy Blunt, develops.

It'a fair to say that before seeing the film, Emily Blunt didn't really strike me as the action hero type. What do I know eh? Who is Ellen Ripley? Blunt is superb. She is the fully trained, kick-ass marine. Think Vasquez from Aliens with longer hair, without the 80's one liners and a massive sword-like weapon instead of a huge gun. Like Cruise's character she doesn't start out particularly likeable, in all honesty she doesn't say much, she simply looks hard as nails. However, as Cruise returns to his more familiar ground, so does Blunt, she softens. It's a pair of well drawn character curves and it's nice to see them develop alongside one another.

The story itself just about hangs together, there are a couple of exposition scenes that spell things out in sci-fi jargon that just about fall on the right side of credible. During which, there is that one line of dialogue which is a signpost (lit of in neon, under floodlights, with giant arrows pointing) for a plot point later in the film.  It looks great, the effects and action have a solid and authentic feel. The combat scenes are violent and physical, it has weight and heft, you can tell that the director (Doug Liman) was behind the first Bourne film (which arguably gave birth to our current Bond).

As with some time travel / time loop films (yes Looper, I'm looking at you),  if you think about it too much it will quickly unravel and fall to pieces, but while you're in it, it flies along at a frantic pace, is exciting, at times terrifying (not in horror way but in a war is intensely frightening way), it has an ending that satisfyingly delivers and doesn't cop out. Plus it has Tom Cruise dying a lot and Bill Paxton. Yes Bill Paxton.

Not classic, but very good Saturday night sci-fi blockbuster entertainment. Instead of infinite Transformers sequels, Studios should be making and the public should be watching stuff like this.