You
have to feel for the publishers of Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s light novel and manga, All You Need is Kill. They had a
recognizable property with one of the coolest titles ever, but the studio
changed the title of their live action adaptation to something sounding like a
soap opera or an Edgar Cayce tract—and then they wonder why their tracking is
soft. It is a shame, because the eternally recurring battle against alien
invaders is rather snappily executed in Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow (trailer here), which opens today nationwide.
The
so-called “Mimics” (because they are so blasted adaptable in battle) have
overrun continental Europe, but somehow mankind held them off at Verdun.
Victory was partly attributed to the development of their Iron Man-like exo-war
“jackets” and partly to the leadership of warrior-extraordinaire Rita Vrataski,
the “Angel of Verdun” (or “Full Metal Bitch” in the source novel). Embolden by
humanity’s first battlefield success, General Brigham is poised to launch a
D-Day-like counter-invasion of France. It will not go well, as soon to be ex-Major
William Cage (formerly green recruit Keiji Kiriya) experiences over and over
again.
Deservedly
busted down to private for his incredibly stupid comments to Gen. Brigham, the military
PR officer is now amongst the first wave of ground troops set to hit the
beaches. Unfortunately, the Mimics know they are coming. Cage is indeed killed
in rather short order, as are most of his new comrades, but not before he takes
out an unusually large “Alpha” Mimic. Eventually, he learns he has been contaminated
by their time altering power through its blood. Each time he dies, his
incredibly un-fun day starts afresh. It has to be a clean death though. A
transfusion will wash out his Mimic connection, whereas incapacitation would be
the worst possible scenario.
Even
though it is easy to recognize plenty of familiar military science fiction
elements, Liman cobbles them together quite sure-handedly, adding the Groundhog Day twist. The action
sequences are intense and brutally honest to the realities of any war. Frankly,
there are a handful of moments of 3D shock and awe, but it is mostly unnecessary
(as you probably already guessed). The battery of screenwriters also convey
as decent sense of the soldier’s perspective and attitude. Yet, the film is
relatively circumspect drawing D-Day parallels, notwithstanding the June 6th
release date.
Younger
readers might be interested to know Tom Cruise was once one of the biggest box
office stars in the world, before he started handing out flowers at the airport,
or whatever. This is the sort of role that used to be his bread-and-butter in
the 1980s: the callow hotshot forced to mature thanks to the help of a more
experienced woman. It might be a familiar arc for him, but he does not slack on
the energy level. Yet, it is Emily Blunt who really delivers the grit and
action cred as Vrataski. Science fiction fan with also enjoy watching Bill
Paxton play with and against his Aliens persona
as the hard-charging Master Sergeant Farrell Bartolome.
