Rent Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Very Entertaining SciFi Combat Film - Edge of Tomorrow review by GI

Highly entertaining action science fiction with Tom Cruise playing against type as a cowardly soldier who has to find his courage and save the day. There's lots of films that this has clearly been influenced by not least Aliens (1986), Starship Troopers (1997) and War Of The Worlds (2005) and the basis of the narrative is a repeating 'Groundhog Day' timeline. Cruise plays Major Gage a PR man for the huge multi national army that is fighting an alien invasion. When he foolishly tries to blackmail his commander (Brendan Gleeson) to avoid being sent on a massive offensive he gets busted and ends up in the first wave of D-Day against an enemy that has taken over Europe. But by strange circumstances he ends up reliving the day over and over after a confrontation with an alien. He learns that they are able to control time and consequently are able to reset the day in order to win the war. Managing to get help from super soldier Rita (Emily Blunt), who is the only one to believe what is happening to him Gage must die over and over until he finds a way of destroying the aliens. The creatures are well done and fast moving enough to always be just unable to study closely. This all works well as this is essentially a combat war film with slick weaponry, great set pieces, the usual bunch of pumped up grunts and a story that never gets dull with fast editing that moves the whole thing along at a good, solid pace. It's a big brash slice of hokum but brilliantly entertaining and it has the great Bill Paxton as a tough NCO. What more do you need?

It's an alien invasion. Only Tom Cruise can save the world! - Edge of Tomorrow review by RP

It's an alien invasion. Only Tom Cruise can save the world. Err, that's it.

But this one is much better than many other 'alien invasion' sci-fi action films. Tom Cruise isn't one of my favourite actors. The roles he chooses are often too goody-goody, too good looking, too straight. And here's yet another one, in which he plays a US Major who is killed on the battlefield while fighting aliens, only to live the day again in a sort of 'Groundhog Day' time loop until he becomes expert in fighting the aliens. He teams up with Brit actress Emily Blunt who plays another alien fighting expert and together they take the fight to the big boss alien...

The acting is so-so, Emily Blunt doesn't convince me as a soldier - but the effects are quite good and the film is laced throughout by much humour. And it's the humour that carries the film.

The film was made in Britain and the action is set in Europe; for a US produced film it's quite unusual for the focus to be Europe and for Paris and London to be the invaded cities rather than New York, so it's worth an extra star for that.

It is very derivative but the clichés all seem to be there for added humour. I enjoyed it despite the fact that it's yet another Tom Cruise vehicle, so I'll give it 4/5 stars.

Videogame meets movie. - Edge of Tomorrow review by SQ

Great movie,the time manipulation is actually understandable which makes a change.A surprising number of very funny scenes and lots of battlefield chaos as the two main characters try to outsmart the aliens at their own game.