Edge of Tomorrow is a 2014 military science fiction film starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt and we have to confess we were only attracted to watch the film because of Cruise. When we watched it, we didn’t understand its tale of aliens and Mimics, the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) involvement, Operation Downfall and being killed only to discover he is alive. We finally watched it again on a plane bound for Europe and perhaps due to the atmosphere, of being up in the air, we began to understand.
This concept of living and dying and living again is one that is esoteric and designed only for special individuals. Then and only then did we understand the phenomenon of Cruise getting stuck in a time loop in which whenever he dies, he has to live again.
Cruise (as the character Major William Cage of the US Marines Corps) tries to convince soldiers at the base that the Mimics who are Earth’s enemies have anticipated “Operation Downfall.” He loops several times in his effort to save as many soldiers as he can, until on one occasion he saves the life of Blunt the “Angel of Verdun.” Blunt (as Sergeant Rita Vrataski) explains to Cruise that she, too, has possessed the ability (or curse) of living and dying in the Edge of Tomorrow. And what if tomorrow never came, he asks her. Now convinced that Cruise can be trusted, Blunt tells him that the Mimics are controlled by a consciousness called the Omega, which has the ability to inhibit time.
Cruise killed an Alpha Mimic and was doused in its blood, thereby gaining its limited ability to reset time. Blunt had gained the ability in the same way, but lost it after receiving a blood transfusion. She also tells Cruise that as the Mimics try to locate his consciousness, he will begin to experience visions of the Omega’s location. Blunt trains Cruise in combat, and with each subsequent loop, Cruise increases in proficiency. Blunt and Cruise work together during the invasion, and eventually make their way inland towards the Omega.
Cruise, meantime, has grown attached to Blunt and we are provided some sort of a love story the audience had been expecting. The tension increases when Blunt insists on continuing with their purpose and Cruise objects, afraid that should they persist, Blunt will be killed. But Blunt insists and is mortally wounded and Cruise comforts her as she dies and he, too, is killed by the Mimics.
In their next life, the two continue with their various means of avoiding the Mimics, preserving their ability to stay alive. But time is running out on them and they decide to ask help from Dr. Carter (played by Noah Taylor), former government scientist and expert in Mimic biology. Carter admits to having created a prototype transponder device or radar that might be the answer but is unwilling to give it to Cruise and Blunt. The two threaten to kill General Brigham (played by Brendan Glesson), commander of the United Defense Forces (UDF), unless given the transponder which he does.
Blunt next gives Cruise a grenade belt to kill the Omega, then kisses him good luck. Cruise, grenade belt in hand, detonates the bomb that falls into the Omega, killing it and effectively removing the Mimics’ ability to reset time. While the Omega disintegrates, Cruise’s body absorbs its blood and wakes up en route to his initial meeting with Brigham before he was sent to the front lines. Cruise stays for the press conference where Brigham announces that the Mimics have lost their capacity to fight and that the UDF is poised to liberate Europe. Cruise goes to the Heathrow base to see Blunt and she looks at him with no remembrance of the past.
We cannot really say if we liked the story or not. It had an interesting concept if one was into the military science fiction type. We still prefer science fiction with ghosts and the walking dead. But as we said from the beginning, we went to see the film primarily because of Tom Cruise.
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