(Doug Liman, 2014, USA)
After spending the bulk of his career avoiding death on screen, Tom Cruise dies repeatedly in Edge of Tomorrow, an action movie take on the frequently popular ‘time loop’ subgenre in science fiction cinema. Set during a future war between humanity and squidlike aliens (known as ‘Mimics’) who have invaded continental Europe, the film utilizes its Groundhog Day scenario to comment critically on both the marquee iconography of its star and the narrative philosophy of its genre. Cruise plays Major William Cage, a former advertising executive turned military spin doctor, whose feeble attempts to blackmail a general (a terse Brendan Gleeson) and avoid active combat finds him forced into service as a new recruit, branded a deserter, and essentially sentenced to die on the battlefield. And die he does, within minutes of landing on the beach as part of a D-Day-esque invasion of northern France, barely twenty minutes into the picture; of course, since this is hardly a Psycho or even Executive Decision instance of audience trickery, Cage immediately awakens the previous morning, replaying the day’s events but taking advantage of his prescience to avoid death – at least for a couple seconds, that is. And so the cycle resets again, and again, and again, with Cage meeting his demise in increasingly amusing and even hilarious ways, from being squashed by a falling ship to squished by a passing truck. It’s possibly a bit morbid in the way it plays mortality for laughs, but there’s hardly time to reflect on this before the next loop starts and Cage’s efforts to stay alive begin anew.
Cinema Charchuk 