In what has surely unnerved Tom Cruise and his agents, his latest film, the massively budgeted Doug Limon-directed sci-fi action movie Edge of Tomorrow, got among the best reviews of any of the summer’s blockbusters and barely managed to earn half of its budget back in the United States. (The film made a firm profit with overseas tickets.) Some people think it was the name of the movie that confused people, but it’s really Cruise who put off audiences; Americans have come to think he’s ridiculous. But Edge of Tomorrow, renamed Live Die Repeat, is not remotely ridiculous – as long you don’t think aliens and time travel are ridiculous, of course. Cruise is perfectly cast as a propaganda officer in the American Army during an international war against alien invaders. After he is ordered to accompany mechanized soldiers during a massive D-Day-like counter-attack, he runs – because he’s a coward. He’s caught and forced into battle, where he dies. But suddenly he comes back to life, a day before. With the help of Rita (Emily Blunt), another soldier who once had the ability to die and return to the same moment, he must use this power – and learn how to be a real soldier – to win the war against the monsters. The plot is hard to explain (maybe Groundhog Day crossed with War of the Worlds?), but the film is easy to follow, partly because Limon so thrillingly orchestrates the mostly CGI action and partly because of James Herbert’s flawless editing.
