Edge of Tomorrow

Edge of Tomorrow looks like just another Tom Cruise alien invasion movie on the surface, but honestly, it’s so much more clever than that. The basic premise is Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers: Cruise’s character gets killed in battle over and over, only to wake up at the start of the same gruesome day. Each loop, he gets a little better at not dying so quickly.

One thing I appreciate is how self-aware the film is. It’s genuinely funny, with Cruise leaning into his initially pathetic, cowardly character. Emily Blunt is a total badass as Rita “the Angel of Verdun,” refusing any kind of damsel dynamic. You actually get to watch Cruise fail and stumble, again and again, and the film doesn’t shy away from making him the butt of the joke.

The pacing is shockingly tight for a sci-fi blockbuster. There’s almost no wasted setup, and every time the reset happens, the editing keeps things moving without feeling repetitive. Doug Liman knows how to build momentum, and it never feels like the movie’s spinning its wheels even though it literally repeats itself.

Visually, Edge of Tomorrow is grungy and kinetic. The exosuit design looks satisfyingly weighty, and the alien design is weirdly intimidating. The action scenes are frantic but still readable, and the way the movie juggles chaos with dark humor is something a lot of other “save the world” flicks fumble.

What holds it back, for me, is its last act. The ending gets a little too safe and Hollywood after all that inventive setup. It could’ve leaned harder into its own weirdness. You see the studio notes peeking through, and it slightly dulls the edge of everything that came before.

Still, if you want a sci-fi movie that’s smarter and funnier than you’d expect, and you don’t mind seeing Tom Cruise die creatively thirty different ways, it’s a winner. It’s a great balance of spectacle, grit, and playfulness which just makes it a really fun time.