Edge of Tomorrow

For F*** Magazine

EDGE OF TOMORROW

Director : Doug Liman
Cast : Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson, Kick Gurry, Dragomir Mrsic, Charlotte Riley, Jonas Armstrong, Franz Drameh
Genre : Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Opens : 6 June 2014
Rating : PG13

It’s like this: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Major Bill Cage (Cruise) learns this the hard way, forced onto the frontlines against his will. In the near future, Europe has been invaded by a vicious alien species called the Mimics, and former ad man and PR guy Cage hasn’t the first clue how to fight them. He has no idea how to work his Jacket exo-suit and dies in battle, but reawakens, living the whole day over again. Over the course of several “tries”, he realises he is caught in a time loop, and seeks out the help of Rita Vrataski, a seasoned warrior nicknamed “The Angel of Verdun”. Through lots of trial and error and under the tutelage of Rita, Cage starts to get the hang of it, figuring out how to outwit the Mimics in the hopes of winning the war.

            It’s like this: at first glance, Edge of Tomorrow, based on the light novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, looks pretty generic. Once you’ve seen one military sci-fi action alien invasion flick, you’ve seen them all, right? Director Doug Liman knows you’re thinking this, he knows his audience will be familiar with all the genre has to offer, and so he deconstructs the clichés and turns them on their heads. Despite superficial evidence to the contrary, Edge of Tomorrow is fresh and inventive, Liman and co. having unearthed new, exciting elements with which to elevate what could have been loud, dumb, derivative blockbuster fare. There’s a propulsive energy combined with just enough self-awareness, the screenplay by Christopher MacQuarrie with sibling team Jez and John-Henry Butterworth an unexpectedly humorous one.

            It’s like this: Edge of Tomorrow looks a lot more conventional than last year’s Tom Cruise-starring sci-fi action movie Oblivion, but it winds up being the more creative and entertaining of the two. We’ve seen soldiers in robotic exoskeleton suits in everything from G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra to District 9, so that’s not where Edge of Tomorrow stands out design-wise. The look of the Mimics is what gives this film the edge over other alien invasion films in recent memory. Remember how utterly bland the aliens looked in Battleship? Here, we have angry-looking bundles of spiky roots, lashing out and striking with alarming speed and ferocity. These are genuinely scary opponents that are a lot of fun to watch in action. The film’s central beachhead battle is also a refreshing change of locale from the city centres in which such wars are often fought in the movies. From a helicopter crash in a barn to a training arena in which spinning metal blades stand in for the Mimics, the action sequences are consistently terrific and eye-catching.

            It’s like this: Tom Cruise has remained a brand name A-lister for well over 20 years and once again proves why. Instead of being an invincible badass, his Bill Cage starts the movie as a vulnerable, unwilling fighter way out of his depth, someone who tries to charm his way out of combat duty but who is unable to. Just as it was satisfying seeing Bill Murray get better and better at playing the piano or ice carving with every successive February 2^nd, it is satisfying seeing Bill Cage gradually grow into a skilled warrior. It seems Cruise has set some of his ego aside, allowing for several amusingly ignominious death scenes early on.

It’s like this: Emily Blunt isn’t who most moviegoers would pin as the next Sigourney Weaver, but darned if she doesn’t kick a whole lot of ass in this movie. The ever-versatile Blunt is able to sell not only Rita’s physical toughness, but her determination and steely demeanour as well. In the interplay between her and Cruise, the Romancing the Stone-style screwball comedy is kept to a suitable level, and the lengths he goes to in order to win her trust and respect are admirable. Bill Paxton does a funny, sly parody of “tough blowhard drill sergeant” types, and Squad J, the group of soldiers Cage is forced to join, are reminiscent of the Colonial Marines from Aliens in the best way possible.

            It’s like this: Edge of Tomorrow takes the time loop, what might be considered a tiresome gimmick, and uses it to give what would already have been a decent sci-fi action flick that extra something. It’s well-paced, it’s well-acted, the action and the spectacle is engaging and immersive and it’s just about the best use of 3D we’ve seen in a live-action feature this year thus far. This puts recent attempts at military-centric alien invasion movies like Battle: Los Angeles and the afore-mentioned Battleship to absolute shame. We didn’t quite expect Edge of Tomorrow to be this clever, this adrenaline-pumping and this much darn fun.

Summary: It’s like this: go see the most invigorating action sci-fi film in recent memory today rather than tomorrow.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

Fair Game

FAIR GAME

2011

Starring: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn

Directed by: Doug Liman

Doug Liman redeems himself after Jumper, with a film about a very different husband-and-wife team from the titular couple of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Fair depicts the "Plame Affair”, when the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame was leaked by government elements to the press, and her husband former Ambassador Joseph Wilson labelled a fraud for challenging the "facts" as presented by the Bush Administration. The film is based on books that Wilson and Plame had written in the aftermath of the fiasco. 

The film is as much weighty political thriller as it is a biopic. Tension is very effectively generated, and the conversations never become mundane or sedate. The film's greatest strength is its uncompromisingly bleak authenticity, it's willingness to present everyday life at its frightening worst. 

Everyone loves a good underdog story, and Fair Game is centred on the "David" of Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson and the "Goliath" of the Bush administration. I'm sure that the couple were made to unnecessarily endure a good deal of trauma, but sometimes it does get hard to buy the White House as the "big bad wolf", and only as that. However, credit is due for the decision to stay away from engineered melodrama and blatant shows of emotion. When Plame does have a breakdown, it feels real and heartwrenching.

This leads me on to a good part of why the film works as a political thriller with a documentary slant: the performances. Naomi Watts' portrayal of Plame is unflinchingly intense, and without much effort the actress shows Plames' struggles to balance being a wife, mother and CIA operative all at once, with the world bearing down on her for something that was not her fault. Sean Penn, who also starred alongside Watts in "21 Grams" and "The Assassination of Richard Nixon", is excellent as usual. It can be said that Joe Wilson is more "normal" than post Penn characters, but by no means less interesting. 

While Plame and Wilson are the focus of the film, it never feels like they hog the limelight. Liraz Chari portrays Dr Zahraa, used by the CIA to get access to her nuclear physicist brother, with a genuine frailness and justified caution. David Andrews is delectably - but never overtly - slimy as real-life Vice-Presidential advisor Scooter Libby. He is one of those villains you love to hate, and what makes his performance all the more scary is that this guy exists in real life.

Director Liman gets in the thick of it and shoots the dialogue scenes as if they were action sequences, which is a good way to pump up the suspense. It is to his credit that while most of the film consists of people talking, it is always riveting and never boring. After a while, his penchant for handheld closeup shots does border on the excessive, but it's never anything to worry about.

The movie globe-trots a fair bit, opening in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and hopping about Washington D.C., Niger, Egypt and Iraq. The locations are all pictured convincingly and never glamourised or exoticised. They function merely as backdrops for the plot to unfold, and it is rare that such movies don't veer into "scenery porn".  There is a great shot where a US Army helicopter scatters leaflets onto the ground – it’s poignant, effective and almost artistic. 

In the end, the film does make for a good, thought-provoking watch. It is nothing too intellectual and is still good entertainment, and Plame and Wilson should be proud that director Liman, stars Watts and Penn and the others involved in making "Fair Game" have done them much justice. However, it does get bogged down by its fist-shaking anger and political message. 

3.5/5 STARS 

Jedd Jong