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Movie Review: Edge of Tomorrow... Don't Go There

Posted: 05/29/2014 4:22 pm EDT Updated: 05/29/2014 4:59 pm EDT

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To see Tom Cruise play a schmuck is great fun. And he is good at it. Of course this is the beginning of Edge of Tomorrow ,but, sure enough, he redeems himself and becomes our hero. As Rage, an officer in a war against aliens, he is not eager to go to war and tells this to his commanding officer Brendon Gleeson who is not impressed and arrests him. It's a trip to see Rage arrested, but suddenly scenes begin repeating and repeating and you are told that Rage has an ability to see the future and to die and to be reborn only to begin his life back where he started.
If this sounds confusing, so is this film. Chaos has become plot and this is never a good thing according to an old chum, Norman Mailer. Frankly I got a bit dizzy with the whole thing, especially with the 3D glasses et al. The aliens are called mimics and make a weird squawking sound as they run into your special effect glasses. Doug Liman, director of the great Bourne films, directed this, but Edge of Tomorrow ain't no Bourne film. Rage could take a tip or two from dialogue of Jason Bourne in clarity and precision. Christopher McQuarrie wrote this bumbling script and, yes, Cruise does his acting in 'his you can count on me' bravura performance, but the script is the problem. And a leaning on special effects for plot. Give me an old-fashioned story line, you want to shout to the 3-D aliens. "I wanna watch Fargo on FX tv!"
Emily Blunt is her usual over-the-top damsel in distress with a tough exterior that gets cracked by the spidery aliens. But everyone is dying then coming back to life and then dying and then coming back to life, that you kinda want more popcorn to fiddle with while the plot finds itself.
Brendon Gleeson is top drawer in his tough guy General Brigham roll and Bill Paxton, as Master Sergeant Farrell, matches Gleeson's toughness to a T. You don't want to be in their army if you have a choice. And you don't want to linger too long while the credits role. A hasty getaway is called for and not much looking back. You could have had a more unpleasant evening, but then again, you could have a more pleasant evening. Miss this one.
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Edge of Tomorrow Tom Cruise Bill Paxton Jason Bourne Norman Mailer Brendon Gleeson Doug Liman

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