The other day I went out to see Tom Cruise’s latest offering, Edge of Tomorrow. It was based off of a Japanese book called All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, which, as I mentioned in my last entry, had power armor. I love power armor! While the book hasn’t been delivered yet, I decided I couldn’t wait to see the movie, so here’s my quick thoughts on it (not a full review), which I also posted on /m/.
A brief summary: In the near future, Earth is under attack by an alien race called “Mimics.” They land in the middle of Europe and quickly take over the continent. To fight them, man has devised a power exosuit called the “Jacket” which allows normal humans to easily wield large-caliber weapons, mission launchers, and other kinds of heavy firepower needed to kill the tough, squidlike Mimics. Tom Cruise plays a cowardly and incompetent excuse for a soldier, William Cage, who gets sent off to the front lines to participate in the beach head invasion to retake Europe. Naturally, everything goes completely wrong and all of Cage’s friends die. Before he does, however, he kills a strange blue Mimic and gets covered in its acidic blood. And when Cage succumbs to his wounds, he finds himself having traveled back in time to the day of the invasion, fated to repeat it every time he dies, a la Groundhog Day. The movie revolves around his attempts to figure out what’s happening to him and maybe save humanity in the process, aided by the veteran soldier Rita Vritaski (Emily Blunt).
Overall, I thought it was *okay.*
I’m of two minds regarding Cruise’s acting. I dislike him personally; not just because of the Scientology thing but because his personality grates on me, he always struck me as holier-than-thou and not really down to earth, even more so than most famous people. I have to admit, therefore, it was kinda satisfying for me to see him die over and over again. Ungentlemanly, I know, but thats how I felt watching the movie. And to be fair, I think he did a good job of playing a cowardly incompetent, though I wasn’t as sure about him playing a capable badass by the end of the movie.
Also, some of my friends on /m/ were unimpressed by the power armor–I was as well. The “Jackets” seemed unwieldy and pathetic, and another of my friends pointed out that they left much of the wearer’s body exposed and didn’t seem to do anything to ward off attacks from the Mimics. What’s the point if they don’t even offer any protection?
On the other hand, I thought the aliens were okay. Nothing special, but not the worst I’ve ever seen. As I mentioned above, they looked sort of like squids (with long tentacles) with scary glowing faces. Certainly not as intimidating as H.R. Giger’s Alien, but better than the goofy blobby things of the Starship Troopers anime.
And, most importantly, the action was decent and I liked some of the music, plus I think Emily Blunt did a good job as Rita. So all things considered, I’m satisfied with the investment my 15 bux (for the 3D, it was the only one showing) gave me. I wasn’t expecting anything “epic,” I thought it would just be an okay action flick. Which it was. 😮
Gunlord500 
I read the manga adaptation of the novel and the soldiers wear Iron Man-esque power armour, which you’d think Hollywood would be eager to rip off…but I guess you wouldn’t be able to see Tom Cruise’s face, and then how could you exploit dat ‘star powah’?
Yeah XD