We’ll inevitably get into the detail of what makes Edge Of Tomorrow such a cool sci-fi film in the rest of our DVD review, but the short answer is that it locks you in for a crazy ride of an action adventure and doesn’t let you flag until the epic final scenes. We’re always a little dubious about Tom Cruise movies, but once again, just like Oblivion he’s proved us wrong with a full throttle adrenaline rush that’s a bizarre mix of Groundhog Day, Starship Troopers and War Of The Worlds that works very well.
It was released in cinemas in May 2014 in the UK and a couple of weeks later in June in the US, before making the step down to DVD, Blu-ray and digital download in October of the same year, losing little of its impact in the balance. It’s a cleverly crafted, edge of your seat adventure that’s made up of some great visuals, a solid storyline, good performances from the two main stars, Tom Cruise (Oblivion) and Emily Blunt (Into The Woods), and a tightly wrought delivery that sees the people of the earth facing the full might of a killer alien race.
The plot centres around the media face of the U.S. army, Major William Cage (Cruise), as he’s forced into action by General Bingham, who’s spearheading a mission to lead in the earth’s fight back against an invading alien race known as Mimics. Cage’s lack of action experience and bluff isn’t enough to keep him away from the front line and after a day’s briefing he finds himself suited up in an exoskeleton suit ready to be dropped into action.
Things get pretty brutal from there on in, as the reality of the Mimics’ devastating battlefield destruction decimates the allied forces and Cage is quickly killed in the opening minutes of action, but not before he manages to somewhat luckily take out on the the enemy’s hive leaders, an Alpha. This results in a bizarre time loop built into the Alpha’s connection to the hive mind, the Omega, which sends Cage back to the previous day to relive it all over again, which is a pretty interesting concept all by itself.
He’s then got to keep reliving the same day over and over and over, which leads him into meeting up with kick ass soldier, Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Blunt), who helps him hone his skills as they try to work out a plan stop the invasion. It’s this meeting that sort of makes the film what it is, building in just a little romance, but more importantly a lot of the dilemmas that Cage faces the closer he gets to the goal.
Cruise and Blunt make a great onscreen partnership with the former growing into the role as he gets more and more adept at fighting the Mimic scourge and the latter coming across as a tightly wound soldier that slowly uncurls as each day gets longer. It’s Blunt’s ability to completely reset her character with each day and Cruise’s ability to warm to her as his time builds over countless successions that creates the brilliant tension that’s intrinsic to the film’s success.
Added to that is a brilliantly realised invading alien that look every bit as unstoppable as Edge Of Tomorrow makes them out to be in the early parts of the movie. They’re very well animated, with frightening speed and ferocious attack skills that cut through the ranks of the army sent to stop them.
The style of the film is pretty impressive, with awesome exoskeleton suits for the human side of the fighting force and scary CGI designs for the Mimics, especially the menacing howl of the Alphas. Check out the movies posters, trailer and imagery below to see how cool the film looks, and make sure you watch the movie if there’s any part of you that likes sci-fi action.
It’s not a bad option in terms of adding to you DVD, Blu-ray or digital download collection, although there is a part of us that thinks that the movie’s repetitive nature might make multiple re-watches a little tedious over time. However, it’s definitely worth a rental in the very least. While Brendan Gleeson (The Guard) doesn’t quite live up to his usual potential as General Bingham, the film smashes through our relatively low expectations to deliver a surprise hit.
Edge Of Tomorrow DVD review: 4.2/5
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Edge Of Tomorrow trailer:
Image gallery:
The impressive poster above.
Emily Blunt tries her hand at the worm.
Tom Cruise with his cool exoskeleton suit.
Blunt and cruise at the New York premier of Edge Of Tomorrow.
