Edge of Tomorrow (Live, Die Repeat) Movie Review

Edge of Tomorrow (Live, Die Repeat) Movie Review

In recent years, original science-fiction films haven’t been as prominent on the big screen. With big franchise films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars franchise taking centre stage. With that said, from the few entries we have received, there have been some memorable films amongst these, including the 2014 Doug Liman directed ‘Edge of Tomorrow or Live Die Repeat’. Whilst loosely based on a Manga called ‘All You Need is Kill’, this film feels wholly original, using the ‘Groundhog Day’ concept of living the same day over and over again, as a foundation, to tell a fun, sci-fi story. Despite starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, the film didn’t light the box office on fire back in its initial release back in 2014, but it did still manage to gross an impressive $377 million worldwide, sparking the development of a sequel, that is still being worked on more than 10 years later. The film did great with physical media sales upon its release on DVD and Blu-Ray, giving it a second life and a new name, with the film now called ‘Live. Die. Repeat’, but for the sake of this blog post, I will continue to refer to the film by its original title. Edge of Tomorrow  also holds an impressive 91% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 90% audience score. Over time, it has become more and more popular, often in the discussion of one of Tom Cruise’s best films.

Edge of Tomorrow follows Cage (played by Tom Cruise) who finds himself living the same day over and over again. He wakes up in the middle of a conflict with men pitted against an alien threat, which threatens to destroy humanity. Cage teams up with an elite soldier, Rita (played by Emily Blunt), as the to enter vigorous training to combat the aliens and stop this war once and for all. The films fun premise, likeable cast and frenetic action make it one of the better sci-fic action films in recent years.

Tom Cruise has made a name for himself over the span of his near 50-year career, as one of Hollywood’s most reliable leading men. His dedication to action, putting his body on the line to do most of his own stunts, has been a drawing card with Cruise’s action films since the release of the Brian De Palma directed Mission Impossible film back in 1996. He continues this here, doing his own wire and stunt work, all whilst wearing a heavy mech-suit costume. Emily Blunt also notoriously matched Cruise’s physicality with this film, doing a lot of her own stunt work as well, again wearing a crazy heavy mech suit. Cruise and Blunt are both fantastic in this film, making for a great duo in the film. They have wonderful chemistry with one another and the progression of their friendship together is believable. The supporting cast are all a lot of fun here as well, with Bill Paxton and Brendan Gleeson doing a great job here in their smaller, supporting roles.  

The other strengths here lie in the action set-pieces. The framing device of the same day being repeated is fun and at the time, we hadn’t seen it in an action context for quite some time. It rejuvenated the sci-fic action genre, that at the time, hadn’t seen entries quite like Edge of Tomorrow in quite some time. The action sequences are also very well helmed. Doug Liman is no stranger to the action genre, having started as a comedy director in the 1990s with ‘Swingers’ and progressing to action with ‘The Bourne Identity’. He combines his sensibilities here as a filmmaker, incorporating humour to these sequences, giving them levity and making them fun. I hope he gets to helm a sequel to this film someday, because his style perfectly works with this world.

‘Edge of Tomorrow’ still holds up over 10-years later. Its fun, fast-paced and really well executed. Doug Liman and Tom Cruise make for an amazing team and Emily Blunt and Tom Cruise also make for a fantastic duo in front of the camera. This film is the perfect example of lightning in a bottle. Everyone at the top of their games, delivering a fantastic, modern-day sci-fi classic. You can now enjoy Edge of Tomorrow on 4k UHD . Be sure to pick-up your copy today, you won’t want to miss it.

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Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here