Edge of Tomorrow

I have a confession: I love Tom Cruise. I could care less that he jumped on Oprah’s couch. He seems like a genuinely nice, albeit weird, guy. I have another confession: I’m sick of movies about the end of the world. Time after time I go to the movies and 90% of the trailers are about the apocalypse or post-apocalyptic societies. I say that with all seriousness. With that in mind, I wasn’t convinced I would ever see this movie. I feared that it would be the same movie I’ve seen time and time again. In a lot of ways, this is the movie I’ve seen countless times before. But it does its one trick so well that it made the movie seem completely fresh. You see, Tom Cruise starts the same day over every time he dies. It’s Groundhog’s Day but with guns and aliens. For the first time in a long time you see Tom Cruise die on screen… over and over again. And despite being technically immortal, he shows more vulnerability than he has in some time. He’s less cocky and he’s less of a bad ass. In fact, he’s a coward.

The movie smartly weaves in his deaths, but doesn’t overuse them. It never seemed redundant as each of his lives added a bit to the story. The ending was a little weak, but it was such a fun ride. As far as movies from this genre go (I have a low bar), this is one of the very best I’ve seen in a long, long time. I highly recommend it.