Trailer Review: Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Tom Cruise excels in action films and he has also appeared in some good sci-fi action movies over the years. Now he returns to the genre in this new film called Edge of Tomorrow which also stars Emily Blunt and Bill Paxton.

The film is an adaptation of Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s novel All You Need Is Kill and also bears similarities to Joe Halderman’s The Forever War. Cruise plays a soldier called Bill Cage who is given a non-combatant role as a PR agent for the military. Due to pure bad luck however he ends up on the front lines by mistake during a dangerous battle against an alien race called Mimics. The Mimics are invading Earth and the military are struggling to defeat them. To make matters worse, Cage is killed in battle but then suddenly sent back in time to before the fight due to a Groundhog Day style time loop. This has something to do with the futuristic technology the aliens use and Cage is not the only one experiencing this problem. When he goes back in time he meets a fellow soldier Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) who is also caught up in a similar time loop situation. Vrataski trains Cage to be an effective soldier and the two try to find out more about the alien technology to help save mankind.

Cruise and Blunt are well cast and they look convincing in their roles, Bill Paxton also appears briefly in the trailer as a soldier and it’s cool to see him in a sci-fi action movie again. Many fans will remember him fondly as Private Hudson from James Cameron’s Aliens. Cruise has a surprising role in this film considering he has to be trained how to fight by Blunt’s character who looks like a hardened soldier. It’s an interesting role reversal for the actor who would usually play the hardened soldier/mentor role himself.

The trailer ticks all the right boxes as it explains the basic plot and introduces the main players. It also avoids showing the aliens too much even though there are plenty of action scenes in the trailer. Edge of Tomorrow looks like a thought provoking sci-fi film and the director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) has experience with both the action and sci-fi genres.

Eager fans can see the film when it is released on May 30th, 2014. Check out the trailer and share your thoughts.