Edge of Tomorrow

Some people have a big problem with Tom Cruise. And it's not just the whole Scientology thing. He is somewhat of a divisive screen presence but, love him or hate him, he can certainly claim to be one of the biggest film stars in the world. Personally, I find him to be an engaging leading man and far from irritating (if the role is suited to his performance style, that is). In Edge of Tomorrow, Cruise starts out (or at least his character does) as an arrogant, pathetic and oily army officer but by the end, is transformed into a character with which the audience can empathise. And he acts the whole thing rather well.

Edge of Tomorrow is based on a science fiction novel by Japanese writer Hiroshi Sakurazaka and sees Cruise play military PR guy Major William Cage in a future world, who is deployed on the beaches of France to fight an alien invasion which is threatening the whole of humanity. Major Cage is, quite understandably, rather unwilling to march – or in this case, be dropped from a plane – to certain death, but despite his protestations, finds himself in the midst of a beach battle which looks rather like a futuristic version of the opening of Saving Private Ryan. In a plot twist, Cage gets sucked into a time-travelling system which means that every time he is killed, he is transported back to the beginning of the previous day, only to do it all again.

Now, many films have tangled themselves in fatal knots when it comes to time travel plot devices but director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) manages to keep the narrative relatively-coherent, whilst exploring many engaging moments which such a concept offers. Cage soon becomes entangled with bad-ass soldier Rita (played by Emily Blunt) and the two set out to destroy the alien monsters by fighting the same battles over and over again and learning something new each time.

It sounds as though this could become very tiresome, very quickly, but the film's skill in its action set-pieces and its use of humour means that the whole time travel gag works quite well. Of course, it can't run for the entire film but Liman performs a good juggling act between rather abstract ideas and adrenaline-pumping fighting. Just what the characters were fighting for, however, was rather intangible. Sure, the survival of humanity was at stake but the shots of London and a Paris felt rather idea empty: there was no real sense of the high stakes for which the characters were fighting for.

Both Cruise and Blunt put in nice performances, although some have complained of a lack of chemistry between the pair. But this isn't, in my mind, the point of the film and I found it quite refreshing that their relationship took a secondary position in narrative terms. The script kept the time travel stuff in-check and contained one or two good one-liners which lifted the film at the right points, just when it threatened to take itself too seriously.

Edge of Tomorrow is not ground-breaking or anything extraordinary but it is a solid, well-constructed and entertaining piece. It plays the time-travelling gimmick with enough invention and cohesiveness to carry the audience along and it does get rather exciting. Oh, and if you still don't want to see it because of your dislike of Tom Cruise, think about this: you get to see him killed over and over and over again. This is the perfect film for you. 

Clapperboard Rating: * * *