While there’s a lot to like about Edge of Tomorrow, I think if I were to try to sum it up in one thought it would be that it’s simply one of the most end-to-end entertaining movies I have ever seen. I’m not a movie buff, but I’ve seen my fair share of movies. Very few have had me this engaged from start to finish. I attribute part of this success to the film never getting ‘stuck’ or going off on even a single weak or unnecessary tangent. This helps keep each moment of the movie worthwhile and on the whole, the movie ends at just the right time. It never overstays its welcome, while offering a very satisfying conclusion and keeping the door open for many repeated viewings in the months and years to come.
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The plot sees a near future Earth in grave danger due to an alien invasion by creatures known as Mimics. I know, I know — alien invasion, right? The aliens are not the focus here, and while CG was used to bring them to life, it’s not overdone. Furthermore, the aliens are interesting and intimidating characters, the Alphas and Omega especially. That they aren’t completely explained or elaborated on much is actually a plus; it keeps the focus on Cruise and Blunt where it belongs. Anyway, Major Cage (Cruise) proudly serves his country, but has no interest in going to battle. His CO, General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson) is behind Operation Downfall, which is thought to be the final assault to end the war against the invaders. For reasons I won’t spoil (a common theme in this review), Brigham puts Cage in J-Squad, who are literally on the front lines of the beach assault described in Downfall. Led by Master Sergeant Farell (Paxton), J Squad are equipped with individual exosuits which are thought to be the key piece of technology that Earth was missing in their previous efforts to defeat the Mimics.
On the day of the invasion, things go to hell immediately, but there is a silver lining. Cage, who dies within minutes of the assault, suddenly wakes up, only to relive recent events over again. He can’t explain it, but, every time he dies, he wakes up again in the same exact moment as the previous time, just before the launch of Operation Downfall. Yet, his memory is constant in that he remembers each of his previous lives and subsequent deaths. As evident from the trailer and box art, he teams up with Special Forces badass Rita (Emily Blunt), also known as the Angel of Verdun due to her victory over the Mimics there. Together, with her expert combat skills (she wields a damaged helicopter blade as a sword with the help of her exosuit if that gives you an idea), they may yet have a way to save the world. That’s about as much detail as I feel comfortable providing, don’t let anyone spoil the story for you if you haven’t seen this yet.
You know, speaking of the trailer, when I think back to the commercials I saw, I have to admit I thought the film looked alright, but not “must see” compelling. Strangely, having talked to several friends who have seen the movie, they tend to agree — this movie seems to have flown under a lot of people’s radars but I have yet to discover anyone who has seen it and didn’t come away highly impressed. Earlier I stated I’m not a movie buff, and an obviously extrapolation from that would be that I’m not a professional film critic, either. But I know something special when I see it, and Edge of Tomorrow has it, through and through. The cast and crew put in a tremendous effort. I applaud the use of real materials and sets as opposed to excessive CG. Where CG is used, it’s used wisely and effectively. Everywhere else, the real costumes (including the hand built exosuits which contained over 170 individual parts and weighed around 90lbs), sets (the beach was a literal 300’x 300′ area that was constructed), and stunts provide a realism and honesty to the film that I couldn’t help but appreciate.
The Blu-ray + DVD + Ultraviolet copy I received for review does the film justice, complete with a high quality transfer of the movie and over ninety minutes of extras. I could have done without the opening trailers for other films that autoplay when the disc starts (fortunately you can skip these), and the menu is lackluster. The menu has just a static image taken from within the film of Blunt and Cruise looking at one another. This still image is really grainy, oddly enough. And the menu buttons are the generic ones I have come to now expect from Warner as I also saw them in the Arrow Season 2 Blu-ray release.
Yet that these are my biggest complaints of the home release is a good thing. The image quality is excellent; it’s a beautifully shot film with a lot of intriguing imagery and I thought that it was presented about as good as it could be on Blu-ray. I can’t find anything to complain about with the audio either, to be blunt. Which leaves the extra features, of which there are several and they’re all in HD, with little to no overlap. The extras are as follows:
-Operation Downfall: Adrenaline Cut (2m34s) – A quick cut of scenes from the beach assault.
-Operation Downfall: Storming the Beach (9m) – Includes snippets of interviews with a lot of the crew and some of the cast, such as Director/Producer Doug Liman, Tom Cruise, Bill Paxton, Jeffrey Silver (Producer), Erwin Stoff (Producer), and Oliver Scholl (Production Designer). Lots of production and behind the scenes footage is shown, including some of the green-screening used to get the backgrounds of the beach scenes. The process of developing the aesthetic of the movie is discussed, with the conclusion essentially being that this is a sort of “modern day WWII movie” being the consensus. We also see a lot of stunt work and learn that the beach set turned into a gigantic mudpit during one part of filming due to rain.
-Weapons of the Future (8m25s) – Doug Liman, Emily Blunt, Tom Cruise, Bill Paxton, Nick Davis (Visual Effects Producer), Pierre Bohanna (Exosuit Designer) and several others talk about the process of creating and testing the exosuits. There is a lot of production footage with Cruise and the wires used to help maneuver his suit on the battlefield. I gained an added appreciation for Cruise’s work ethic watching this.
-Creatures Not of This World (5m38s) – More behind the scenes and production material here, this time focusing on the Mimics. Liman/Cruise/Stoff/Scholl all contribute, as does Simon Crane (Second Unit Director and Stunts Coordinator). You’ll get to see some of the concept art and sculptures of the Mimics as their design and other characteristics, like how they move and attack, are shown.
-On the Edge With Doug Liman (42m37s) – Even more, lots more, production and behind the scenes material. While Liman’s name is in the title of this feature, it’s very much a movie-centric one, not a biopic or something like that. Footage taken from the first day of production as well as a ‘third act’ production meeting, and much more is presented here.
-Deleted Scenes (7m38s) – Seven or eight scenes that didn’t make the cut.
Let’s get to the summary…