Cruise ready for hi-tech action

IT is often the case that a film which requires either time travel, or identical twins, in order for its narrative to function, is one to avoid if you want to have a relaxing two hours and avoid any great mental exertion.
Edge of Tomorrow, the latest hoped-for blockbuster starring Tom Cruise, relies heavily on time manipulation to work as a movie, but despite this potential problem manages to be an entertaining film full of interesting ideas and visual treats.
Some dark souls have been muttering behind their hands that Cruise as an action hero is going the way of Schwarzenegger and Stallone, that is to say along the wrinkly route to self parody.
If so, this film goes quite a long way to prove that beyond 50, there can still be life in old bones, especially if it involves wearing an 85-pound ‘battle armour suit’ that makes running around and killing aliens a little more difficult.
Mind you, if Cruise as Major William Cage, unwillingly involved in an alien battle, has to look good in a suit, then his co-star, Emily Blunt, also went the extra mile, training for three months off-set in order to look good in metal when the big moment comes.
The story is based on a Japanese sci-fi novel, the film rights to which have been bouncing round Hollywood for some years. It involves asteroids harbouring parasitic aliens that crash into Europe and overwhelm the place.
Mankind fights back using hi-tech battle suits for soldiers and are ready to launch a counter invasion – when Cage (Cruise) is ordered to join the first wave.
Now Cage is a coward and tries to get out of the plan, but finds himself on the invasion beach in the middle of a slaughterhouse ambush. The consequences for him are dire. The outcome bestows on him the aliens’ power to ‘reset’ time, finding himself back at the beginning of his entry into the war.
He battle continues and onto the scene comes Blunt’s character Sgt Rita Vratski, with similar talents and they join forces to save the world.
Edge of Tomorrow does not deserve the level of criticism that has been levelled at it in some quarter. For those who like movie spectacle in their blockbusters, the battle scenes – which largely contributed to the $178m budget – were shot in England, as was most of the rest of the movie and are stupendous to watch.
Some may well feel that it has the look of a future computer game, but it’s entertaining nonetheless and especially interesting seeing Cruise’s take on the portrayal of a cowardly character transformed by battle into a sort of hero.
Good fun for the family, but you’ll have to concentrate to keep track of the time.