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Director: Doug Liman
Cast: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt
"Come find me when you wake up."
I almost didn't go see Edge Of Tomorrow in the theater. I had trailer burn out from the number of times I was subjected to the trailer for this movie. The first time I saw it I thought it could be good, then came the next dozen times. I heard the "Sci-fi Groundhog Day" talk and I was about as disinterested as I could get. Thankfully the tomato meter and some twitter buzz brought me back around. I was able to avoid spoilers which was great because usually I don't care about them. This is a movie you want to go into fresh as I think it will enhance the experience. Edge Of Tomorrow is my favorite summer flick thus far for quite a few reasons.
It has a lot of levity which is nice. The humor is never over the top and hits you at the right moments. The action is also quite good. Nothing earth shattering or ground breaking but not dull or overwrought. Cruise and Blunt are both more than capable and it never hurts to have compelling characters to play. Paxton is good in a supporting role as well. As was the case with X-Men, I enjoy the way the villain is used as part of the narrative. The aliens are there and are the whole reason for the conflict but ultimately they don't matter. We care about the protagonists journey. The main characters matter and that makes the narrative compelling.
What sets Edge Of Tomorrow apart from other blockbusters is the story telling. I don't think I can easily convey how impressed I was at how tight they kept a story arc that could have easily been a complete mess. The premise is well known so I will not spell it out. What I will say is that Liman does an amazing job of showing us just the right amount at the right time. It would be so easy to show us the same thing way too much or to hold too much back till the end. Liman never does instead everything feels extremely relevant. The number of times that the day is reset is conveyed without ever exhausting the audience. Liman also easily conveys when something is new to us but not the characters. It is a hard line to walk and the way that the film does was the most impressive aspect for me.
Edge Of Tomorrow is not perfect. These types of films are easy to tear to shreds if you start pulling at threads. Whether we do that or not is usually a direct result of how much we enjoy the movie. I enjoyed this quite a bit so I am not going to pull at any of those threads. What I will say is the ending was most certainly my least favorite part of the movie. I get bothered not when these types of films are unrealistic but when they disobey their own rules that they have laid out for the viewer. I don't feel that Edge Of Tomorrow does this until the very end which left me dissatisfied ever so slightly. As I found out after starting to listen to spoilers many have had the same issue. All these people are much smarter than me so if you desire to know what I am talking about seek out these opinions. My recommendation is to to skip the op-ed pieces and go see how you feel for yourself. It will be a satisfying couple of hours for most movie lovers.
Director: Doug Liman
Cast: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt
"Come find me when you wake up."
I almost didn't go see Edge Of Tomorrow in the theater. I had trailer burn out from the number of times I was subjected to the trailer for this movie. The first time I saw it I thought it could be good, then came the next dozen times. I heard the "Sci-fi Groundhog Day" talk and I was about as disinterested as I could get. Thankfully the tomato meter and some twitter buzz brought me back around. I was able to avoid spoilers which was great because usually I don't care about them. This is a movie you want to go into fresh as I think it will enhance the experience. Edge Of Tomorrow is my favorite summer flick thus far for quite a few reasons.
It has a lot of levity which is nice. The humor is never over the top and hits you at the right moments. The action is also quite good. Nothing earth shattering or ground breaking but not dull or overwrought. Cruise and Blunt are both more than capable and it never hurts to have compelling characters to play. Paxton is good in a supporting role as well. As was the case with X-Men, I enjoy the way the villain is used as part of the narrative. The aliens are there and are the whole reason for the conflict but ultimately they don't matter. We care about the protagonists journey. The main characters matter and that makes the narrative compelling.
What sets Edge Of Tomorrow apart from other blockbusters is the story telling. I don't think I can easily convey how impressed I was at how tight they kept a story arc that could have easily been a complete mess. The premise is well known so I will not spell it out. What I will say is that Liman does an amazing job of showing us just the right amount at the right time. It would be so easy to show us the same thing way too much or to hold too much back till the end. Liman never does instead everything feels extremely relevant. The number of times that the day is reset is conveyed without ever exhausting the audience. Liman also easily conveys when something is new to us but not the characters. It is a hard line to walk and the way that the film does was the most impressive aspect for me.
Edge Of Tomorrow is not perfect. These types of films are easy to tear to shreds if you start pulling at threads. Whether we do that or not is usually a direct result of how much we enjoy the movie. I enjoyed this quite a bit so I am not going to pull at any of those threads. What I will say is the ending was most certainly my least favorite part of the movie. I get bothered not when these types of films are unrealistic but when they disobey their own rules that they have laid out for the viewer. I don't feel that Edge Of Tomorrow does this until the very end which left me dissatisfied ever so slightly. As I found out after starting to listen to spoilers many have had the same issue. All these people are much smarter than me so if you desire to know what I am talking about seek out these opinions. My recommendation is to to skip the op-ed pieces and go see how you feel for yourself. It will be a satisfying couple of hours for most movie lovers.