EDGE OF TOMORROW DVD (2014)




SYNOPSIS: An alien race has hit the Earth in an unrelenting assault, unbeatable by any military unit in the world. Major William Cage (Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously dropped into what amounts to a suicide mission. Killed within minutes, Cage now finds himself inexplicably thrown into a time loop-forcing him to live out the same brutal combat over and over, fighting and dying again…and again. But with each battle, Cage becomes able to engage the adversaries with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt). And, as Cage and Vrataski take the fight to the aliens, each repeated encounter gets them one step closer to defeating the enemy.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Never underestimate the power of Tom Cruise. He might have received a lot of backlash for his personal life but his choice of movies and his dedication to his craft is nevertheless a triumph over many negative reports.

An adaptation of a Japanese short novel and originally named All You Need is Kill, Edge of Tomorrow is a superb, meticulously entertaining sci-fi flick worthy of live-die-repeat viewings I must say.

Directed by Doug Liman (the guy whom everyone tends to forget and credit for kicking off The Bourne fanchise and Mr and Mrs Smith), the movie opens with a certain deskbound PR officer, Major William Cage (Cruise) who is unwittingly sent to the battlefield by a no-nonsense General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson). It’s the future and the world is being invaded by a ruthless, faceless alien species dubbed the Mimics. While the army is facing a losing battle, Cage finds himself strangely repeating the loop of dying after battling an alien up-close. From a solider that has never been field trained, Cage with the help of Sergeant Rita (Emily Blunt) must find a loophole in the aliens attack and in turn save the world from extinction.

Making use of the Groundhog Day approach, Edge of Tomorrow oftendelivers fast-paced action, incredible humor and quirky time travel logic simultaneously. All thanks to the tight script, which was rewrote several times over and amended by Cruise’s frequently collaborator Christopher McQuarrie. Liman hardly recycled the action bits and even that; he opted to shoot it from different camera angles thus keeping the sequence fun and generally refreshing for the audience.  

Edge of Tomorrow also benefitted from the supporting cast such as Bill Paxton playing a tough Master Sergeant and Emily Blunt putting in her first gung-ho performance as a heroine. It’s hard to imagine someone else playing the role of William Cage other than Cruise. He is at times goofy, at times getting himself horribly killed and most of the time playing the exo-suit equipped hero battling tentacled aliens. There’s seriously not much stars out there that could rival Cruise’s charisma.

If there’s one thing that have to nitpick about the overall cleverly conceived Edge of Tomorrow, it’s the disappointing concluding last act. The aliens with their extraterrestrial badass killing antics are easily subdued which reminds one of Independence Day. In spite of this, this is a must-watch sci-fi flick of 2014. The visual effects are flawless, the sound as loud with everything else, smarter and sharper than a movie with transforming robots.     

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Weapons of the Future is an 8 minutes segment that discuss the practical exo-suit wore by the cast members and the various physical stunts involved.   

Creatures Not of This World discusses the look of the alien creatures and how their physicality and movement is conceived. 

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Details and imaging are insane in the visual department and the Dolby Digital 5.1 is no doubt an outstanding achievement with realistic madness and chaotic surround effects especially during the assault sequences.  

MOVIE RATING:


DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee
 



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 ABOUT THE MOVIE

Genre: Action/Sci-Fi
Starring: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Charlotte Riley, Jeremy Piven, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Tony Way
Director: Doug Liman
Rating: 
PG13 (Some Violence & Brief Coarse Language)
Year Made:
2014

 SPECIAL FEATURES

- Weapons of the Future
- Creatures not of this World

 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Languages: English/Portuguese/Thai
Subtitles: English/Chinese/Bahasa Indonesia/Cantonese/
Portuguese/Korean/Thai
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Running Time: 1 hr 53 mins
Region Code: 3
Distributor: InnoForm Media