Breaking Through The Edge Of Tomorrow

I had a lot of fun watching Edge of Tomorrow.

It brought back memories of Groundhog's Day but with a flare of very entertaining sci-fi. I was worried, after seeing Oblivion, that this would once again be a mishmash concept that didn't actually deliver on its solid premise. Fortunately I was wrong.

The first fifteen minutes went by in a haze until finally we got back to the first day again... and then again... and then again. There was a wonderful moment where I could hear the entire audience breath a sigh of relief because we all knew we were gonna have a good time. It's the kind of "Thank Jeebus" feeling you get when you avert a train wreck. Like suddenly the world looks newer... sharper. Not that I've ever almost been in a train wreck or anything, but still... Edge of Tomorrow is that kind of experience. And I'm so glad I was able to be entertained by an obscure sci-fi movie not directly based on or connected to any other movies in the year 2014.

That being said, apparently this was based on a book... albeit not a very well known one, and certainly not as popular as The Fault in Our Stars. But still, it is not completely original as I had earlier believed.

Anyway, back to the movie... Tom Cruise brings it like he always does. You can pretty much expect him to rock a performance like this no matter how bad the movie. But then there's Emily Blunt who just shouldn't exist on this world. But I'm so glad she does because she's awesome and very fun to watch... granted that scar was super weird. Bill Paxton got in on the fun here and really gave a great performance as well.

What probably worked the best about this film is, Doug Liman knew when to take the material seriously and when to just have fun with it. I was incredibly surprised at how many laugh out loud moments there were in what I assumed from the ads would be a very serious/gritty sci-fi thriller. Well I'd go so far as to say it's at least an eighth comedy... but that's a genre conversation and probably too convoluted for an entry here.

Honestly the best comparison I can think of is Groundhog's Day meets Starship Troopers. And would you believe it? That combo really works! So check it out if you've got some free time. It may be the most fun you'll have in a theatre all summer.