Edge of Tomorrow is the most surprising action movie I've been this year. Of course, maybe part of the reason is that I don't expect much, especially when I think of Tom Cruise's workaholic output and uneven standards, it's hard not to worry about the next movie being another unsatisfactory work. Unexpectedly, "Edge of Tomorrow" really surprised me, it is supposed to have everything: the tone is well mastered, the script is smart and humorous, there is enough emotional weight and life and death thinking, the entertainment is very high, and it does not insult the audience's INTELLIGENCE, and the two protagonists: Tom Cruise and Emily Brown are very good, so overall it is a good summer entertainment movie.
The plot describes that the earth is occupied by strange alien creatures, and is gradually destroying humans, and The colonel William Cage (Tom Cruise), who markets for the army and is responsible for recruiting new blood for the army, has never received military training, but has been asked to fight on the front line, and he is scared to be killed by Alpha in the alien creatures on the beach mission the next day, and it is strange that after that moment he actually returns to the previous day, and the time is reset...
Seeing this, you may think of "Groundhog Day" and "Source Code", which do have similarities, but "Edge of Tomorrow" has many of its own characteristics. In the case of a serious action movie, the edge of tomorrow has a lot of humor, including Atango's various ways of dying. In terms of a film that constantly repeats life and death, although the protagonist has passed countless times on the same day, there is no too repetitive plot, it has developed a lot of new directions to promote new plots, and in some repetitions to make the characters more profound, the audience will not sit in the cinema and mutter, "How come again" (on the contrary, like "Assassination Stronghold", which analyzes the bombing from different perspectives, let me call out how to come again).
The editing of this film is also quite wonderful, the narrative method is concise and efficient, for example, when explaining the current situation of the earth, the director only uses a few pseudo-news clips at the beginning of the film to explain almost the same, and will not fall into a lot of rule instructions, making people's heads knotted and slowing down. Even sometimes, just by editing brings a lot of humor, for example, at the beginning, Cage went back to yesterday and woke up to see the bus appearance with Rita as the protagonist of the print advertisement, is the whole long shot to see, the words "Full Metal Bitch" painted on it are also all in the shot, but then Cage was trained by Rita as long as he was half dead and was shot by Rita to start over, and after a few times, When Cage woke up, the bus shot became closer, and the audience only saw "Bitch." ", just such a simple editing of small details of photography, it is very humorous, not a single line needs to be spoken.
In addition, the role, importance and ability of the female protagonist are similar to those of the male protagonist, which surprises me quite a bit, and I rarely see this situation in Atangge's films. Moreover, these two characters are hierarchical (by the standards of action movies), the male protagonist Cage was weak and selfish at the beginning, and had no combat skills, but because of his admiration and affection for Rita, and having to bear to watch Rita die again and again, he became brave and strong, willing to change himself, and at first he was timid like a rat and has been dead, bringing a lot of humor, but over time, the audience can also see these repeated killing and death experiences, which has a great impact on his psychology The heroine Rita, at the beginning is very flat, only know that she does not seem to smile, to the battlefield only know to kill and kill, without fear like a machine, and later learn that she has experienced what Cage is experiencing, the deep sense of loss caused by that experience, transformed into a kind of fate of helplessness and disbelief, suddenly, her murderous spirit has become a deep meaning, the plot does not need to be performed, the audience can also piece together how she got to where she is today.
The previous arrangement of all this, to the scene in the cottage, presents the most quiet but also the most touching part of the whole film, it not only touches a little girl's heart (haha, no way, someone saved you hundreds of times for your birth and death, but also intimately remember how your coffee is adjusted, can you not be touched), but also reminds people of many lies and helplessness caused by love, such as facing the dying patient, if you know that the loved one or partner will die, what else can you do? You don't want to tell him the truth, the condition, you only hope to make him happy through the end, the longer the delay, the better, carry all the pressure and sadness on your back, but also pretend to be indifferent. The strong ideas presented during this time are both touching and concise, and many emotions are in small details. Love, and all the powerless sadness, all in that cup of coffee, is a very painful and beautiful scene.
I think the bones of Edge of Tomorrow are actually a beautiful emotional story (maybe it can't be called love, but at least it's a feeling) and the courage of people to face eternal doom and return/absolute nothingness. Maybe in the end everything is meaningless, the world will continue to return to the same state, but people must have the courage to face this roulette wheel, just like Sisyphus pushing the stone up the mountain, knowing that the stone will roll down, but it is to keep pushing, keep pushing, this is the duel between mankind and fate. As for where the hope is? That's a small but still possible change, and maybe one day, it's really going to happen to the 0.1 percent of the chances and turn everything around. Therefore, although it is necessary to accept that death is the only end of man, every day of life, we must never give up. I was deeply touched by the supreme courage of the two protagonists when they returned to eternal doom.
If you want to pick a more bad place, that is, there is a part of the action screen scene arrangement and method is slightly too ordinary, too much like an ordinary first-person shooter, sometimes the texture is not so much like a movie and more like a game, in addition, the final battle of this film, compared with the front is not so smart, and the ending direction is more like for the audience's taste and knot, but I don't really want to complain, after all, it is a summer entertainment film, who wants to watch it pessimistic and melancholy?
In the end, this film can still only be regarded as an entertainment film, but it can not become a real classic Because it gives up the opportunity to explore deeper in the philosophical thinking of the plot setting, I personally feel that it is a pity, but this is a bone in the egg, and "Edge of Tomorrow" is already very good in the entertainment film.
The film's slogan is "Live. Die. Repeat."。 I think, really Live. Die. Repeat. Is Tom Cruise, how many box office crises, public relations crises, bad film crises, crises, marriage crises, fifty-two-year-old he is still here, still has not faded out of the film circle, still has a certain appeal, looks still the same as before. I'm not a fan of him, but after all these years, I now feel admired for his perseverance. Whether you like him or not, you have to admit that he is very hard at filming, compared to some famous box office stars often sleepwalk, the performance is not enthusiastic, Atang Brother has always been very serious, he is so want to entertain the audience, based on this, I can't hate him too much. In addition, I have said before that he is very suitable for comedy, and in the first half of the film, he played some comedy, which was quite eye-catching.
Emily Brown is really stunning, showing unprecedented momentum and determination, sharing the screen with Atang Brother is no less, her appearance of standing up will remain in my mind for a lifetime, full of charm, but unfortunately this film is not good at the US box office, otherwise it is really her big breakthrough. However, in any case, after "Looper" and this film, I believe she has successfully expanded the drama and hopes to have more wonderful performances in the future.
The supporting cast is also excellent, notably mentioning that the general who threw Cage to the front line was Brendan Gleeson, and it was Bill Paxton who shouted at Cage in the army, which brought a lot of humor.
The film's poor U.S. box office makes me feel quite a pity. I'd rather go to the theater and see Edge of Tomorrow three times (I've brushed it twice so far) than pay for "Transformers 4" to watch. It is lamentable that the film critics have excellent reputation of "Edge of Tomorrow", the box office Waterloo, the film critics to the skinless "Transformers 4", but it is a super gold-sucking machine. Life is like that. Here again to urge the ticket, this film is really good, even if you don't like Tom Cruise, it is also very suitable to watch, because this film is much better than his works in recent years, not to mention that you can see Atang Ge playing a little twin and also use various ways to die for you, I believe that people who hate him can also watch very satisfied.