MOVIE REVIEW: “EDGE OF TOMORROW” (2014)

“EDGE OF TOMORROW” (2014) MOVIE REVIEW

The headline hollers : “LIVE. DIE. REPEAT”.

And it says enough to sum up the crux of this movie.

It beckons you into a time loop, where close encounters are repeatedly occurring over and over again,to drain you out, physically and emotionally.

This is a futuristic film about mankind gearing up for confrontational warfare versus a formidable alien race called mimics.

Where did I read that Tom Cruise’s latest  movie”EDGE OF TOMORROW” is destined to be this summer’s first big-budget bomb?

A case of not generating sufficient buzz in the West?

Tom Cruise has myriad(s) of cinematic followers in all parts of Asia.

His brand positioning is always of the dashing, fearless, dauntless hero.

It’s not easy to kill a strong, established product.

“EDGE OF TOMORROW” is a sci-fi that is all bold and solid on the outer crust.

Then it peaks and storms at a cracking pace as a blockbuster, headlong into stiff competitions from Godzilla and X-Men at the box office, giving all these a run for their money.

In the movie, Cruise plays the arrogant Major William Cage who is a unbendable “straight jacket”.  His cushy  job is to cajole and recruit new soldiers on national television. No, Major Cage has never been in any real life combat.

Therefore he roared with extreme displeasure when he is trooped up in an apparent suicide mission to fight the deadly aliens called Mimics.

Cage’s insubordination lands him in the infantry of a sure-lose battle. He is dead within minutes. 

Strangely he wakes up (again) with amazement, as if the day has never happened.

He remembers last that he was at the barracks the day before the battle.

He is oblivious to what else is milling around him, but before long he is thrown back onto the beach, into the battle, and he dies one more time.

 Cage soon discovers he’s not the first victim for this time loop-game.

However, with each time-loop, he harnesses the magnificent power of observation. Because this time round he’s  fully prepared that the happenings are going to manifest themselves. And the entire process is going to be repeated again, yet in another time-loop.

Finally he meets Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) and together they set out to defeat the aliens. What happens after this, you really have to see the movie for answers.

The director is Doug Liman and he has delivered a deliciously demented flick. Kudos. 

Tom Cruise’s star power shines in action as well as his confrontations with the fearsome extraterrestrial monsters.

The plot is  based on a Japanese novel called “All You Need is Kill” by Hiroshi Sakurazaka.

This smart and unsettling movie is certainly worth a watch for all its hard work.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5

Local distributor: Warner Bros Pictures