So I watched Edge of Tomorrow…

I think this movie is going to end up being one of the most overlooked movies of 2014. The trailer didn’t excite and, in truth, the only reason I watched this movie was because I had time to kill while waiting for another movie’s showtime. I’m so glad I had time to kill or I would have missed this gem.

Okay, basic plot: Tom Cruise is Lieutenant Colonel Bill Cage, a military spokesperson who has zero combat experience and even less courage. He’s thrown into the front line of some war between humans and some or other aliens (that we never really care about) and finds that every time he dies he wakes up at the beginning of the previous day. As he goes on dying and waking up, he becomes more skilled as a soldier and grows a backbone. It’s basically Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers with a hint of Memento thrown in there.

My favourite thing about this movie is Tom Cruise. He’s charming, entertaining and really shows off everything that made him such a huge star at the beginning of his career. This movie has tons of action but Cruise really steals focus during every scene; things are blowing up and aliens are attacking but all you want to see is Cruise’s reaction or hear what line he has next. This is probably my favourite Tom Cruise performance and it’s a shame that this movie was so overlooked because Cruise really deserves some praise – not an Oscar or anything but definitely a pat on the back.

Tom Cruise is not the only delight in this movie, Emily Blunt is also amazingly entertaining. Her character is this tough, ruthless, no smiles warrior who is the poster child for the war and Blunt absolutely kills it. One of the best things about tough characters is often finding out that they have a soft candy centre and if the actor fails to bring across either of these sides, the character flops. Blunt balances both the hardness and suppressed intimacy wonderfully.

As good as they are individually, it’s the chemistry between Cruise and Blunt that’s the real treat. The aliens being fought in this movie are nameless beasts whose soul purpose is to get blown and die so all the character and emotion in this movie has to come from the two leads and they bring it! Whether they’re slicing aliens to bits or just having a quiet moment in between the fighting, Cruise and Blunt are absolutely amazing. This movie actually had quite a good cast with Bill Paxton and Brendan Gleeson in the mix and they all actually do a great job.

The most unexpected thing about this movie was how entertaining the plot was. I remember sitting in the theatre and thinking, “wow, this is such a good movie. Why didn’t I rush to see this?”. There’s a great part of the movie where there’s a loop of Cruise’s character waking up, fighting, dying, waking up, fighting, dying… that was one of the funnest things I’ve seen on screen in a while. This movie doesn’t try to do too much really, it’s genuine, it’s charming and it relies more on the strength of its characters and the script than special effects and explosions. You also never really know if events are occuring for the first time or if Cage is reliving a day and this adds a little depth to the movie. In reality the movie is only over one day but because the day is repeated infinitely, the actual story could be over years, decades even. This adds something to the story, makes it grander without being bloated, which i really liked. If this movie had had a better trailer, it could have been a huge blockbuster this year.

This movie isn’t necessarily original and the plot isn’t groundbreaking but it’s fun to watch.Not every movie needs to be a classic or something that’s going to inspire you to change the world, sometimes I just wanna go to the cinema and enjoy myself and I definitely did that with this movie. The ending was a little bit cliche and convenient but the ride there is so much fun and so well done that the movie earns the right to be a little predictable.

This movie is definitely going to be one of my favourites for the year and I hope it gets the recognition and viewership that it deserves. It’s a fun movie to watch, it’s well made, it’s entertaining, definitely worth a watch! 8/10