Ryan McNeil
They say that those who do not learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them. However, perhaps by repeating mistakes over and over, one would get that many more opportunities to learn. One could learn how to finally solve a problem. One could learn to overcome self-doubt. One could even learn to care about another person on a deeper level than merely skin-deep. So while EDGE OF TOMORROW is a story that still makes a mistake or two, it’s also a story that has clearly learned from others’ mistakes.
We begin the story by being introduced to Major William Cage (Tom Cruise). On paper, Cage is an officer in the American Army Reserve. In reality, he’s a glorified PR man trying to sell the world on the success of a battle for its very survival. For five years now, a war has been raging in Europe between NATO forces and an alien species known as “Mimics”. When a senior officer looks to deploy Cage to the frontlines to cover the battle, he resists and attempts to blackmail his way out of it. Wouldn’t you know it, this results in Cage being tossed into battle as an enlisted soldier.
He wakes up arrested for impersonating an officer, is folded into J-squadron, suited into an exoskeleton “jacket”, air-dropped into Northwestern France, and promptly killed by an alpha Mimic.
After that, he wakes up arrested for impersonating an officer, is folded into J-squadron, suited into an exoskeleton “jacket”, air-dropped into Northwestern France, and promptly killed.
After that, he wakes up arrested for impersonating an officer, is folded into J-squadron, suited into an exoskeleton “jacket”, air-dropped into Northwestern France, and promptly killed (get the idea?).
On this round though, before he is killed, he is instructed by a legendary fighter named Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) to “find her when he wakes up”. Rita knows what’s happening to him…because it already happened to her once before. When Cage does find her, and convince her that she sent him, she explains that when Cage encountered the alpha Mimic, its blood fused with his to cause him to start looping through time. The Mimics are able to defeat mankind because of this ability they have to re-do a moment in time. It’s an ability Rita was granted when she killed an Alpha in combat, with her newfound spoiler-laden ability landing her the nickname of “The Angel of Verdun”.
While Rita managed to lose the ability after a blood transfusion, she starts training Cage not only to be a better combat soldier, but also to design a more perfect strategy to survive the Northwestern French drop.
It’s not enough though. In order to win the war, Cage and Rita will need to find the real brains behind the Mimics’ strategy – The Omega. Only by sifting through their mistakes and learning from them will they be able to kill The Omega, and win the war.
Where EDGE OF TOMORROW is at its best is when it plays with the very notion of trial-and-error. In many ways, what Cage and Rita are living out is a video game…one that requires they learn the strategy, follow the pattern, and grow to anticipate what their opponent will do. A good movie would use that as the framework for the battle on the beachhead. What makes EDGE OF TOMORROW a great movie is the way it uses that approach to everything Cage and Rita are going through.
Seeing Cage learn from his resets not just in the action set pieces, but also in the interplay with his drill sergeant Farrell, and Rita’s associate Dr. Carter, is what gives the movie a great deal of joy. He has played this mission a few hundred times. Not only has he learned to anticipate his enemy’s moves, but likewise his teammates’. Watching Cruise roll with it is a lot of fun – both in the way it lets him play traffic cop and master jazz improvisationalist.
Much of this is given a boost by director Doug Liman and his team. When sits down in front of a film that hangs its hat on a post-apocalyptic future, one expects a certain amount of gravitas. We think about gravelled voices and rusted out visuals. However, what the team behind EDGE OF TOMORROW has done is find the right rhythms and notes to give the film a great deal of levity. The film understands that its target sits somewhere in between GROUNDHOG DAY and SOURCE CODE. It wants to infuse the rhythms of the former with the weight of the latter. That it is able to achieve this is a great credit to the film’s story structure and editing style. What both of these key details require is a deft hand and a clear understanding of the difference between callback and repetition. Liman & Co. understand the difference well, so what could easily turn silly instead becomes clever.
Making this direction even more effective? The fact that it is completely unexpected. The tone that makes this film work is completely absent from the way it has been sold.
The name of the game is problem solving. When given scarce details, how many of us have what it takes to work our way out of a situation? How many of us will try the exact same play in the exact same way again and again hoping that it works this time? More of us than might care to admit, I imagine. So the trick – like any gamer will tell you – is to look to understand the complete situation. The trick is to see what doesn’t work, identify the obstacles, and get around them one by one. Sometimes the solution calls for a blunt instrument, sometimes surgical precision. Sometimes we need to play it cautious and stay to the perimeter, sometimes we need to lean into the punch. Success comes from practice, but it also comes from observation…and a person who replays the same day over and over has nothing but time to observe.
It’s what allows Cage to become a better soldier, a more valuable ally to Rita, and a more potent enemy to The Mimics.
EDGE OF TOMORROW is a blockbuster that is wonderfully self-aware. It knows the difference between a sample and a skipping record, and realizes that just because a movie frames itself with an apocalyptic battle, doesn’t mean it has to be devoid of fun. Perhaps it arrived where it did through trial and error; going through multiple scripts that attacked the problem in multiple ways. Or perhaps it just looked at the state of science fiction and observed…allowing it to become a better film, a more valuable experience, and a more potent story.
I’m reading the book now, so I haven’t seen the movie yet. But I’m glad to hear this is good! The characters seem a little different from the book, but it sounds like they worked well with it.
I’m really curious to read the book now, so thanks for reminding me. One thing I can tell you is that the marketing on this film is brutal – it really sells it as heavier and more intense than it actually is.
So if there seems to be some disparity between what you’re reading and what you’re catching glimpses of, sit tight. I’ll actually be curious to know how they marry-up once you’ve seen it.
This looked so terrible from the trailers, I’ve been surprised how positive the response has been, but I guess that’s why I should always judge by marketing. Looking forward to seeing it now, especially after reading your great review!
The crazy thing is that last night I want on a bender and watched around two-weeks’ worth of Daily Shows on my DVR. One of them was the episode where Cruise dropped by to plug this movie. Even the clip they showed for that (one where Cage asks if Rita has tried sex to solve the problem) didn’t do the film any favours.
Between this movie and DRAGON 2, I can think of a few marketing firms in Hollywood that should be avoided at all costs.