Likability Is Amazing!

Edge Of Tomorrow (2014)

A Review By Ben Hunter

5 Out Of 5 Stars

GET TO THE POINT BEN!

The likability of our hero puts us right in the trenches with him, engaging us to love this story all the more!

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You find yourself waking up in the same place, with the same clothes on, the same people walking by, the same things happening over and over, each day you live.  Add this onto the fact that it’s the future and humans are at war with an alien race hell bent on destroying us all and taking over, making our world theirs.  Just think of the sentinel-like things from The Matrix and you’ll have a good picture of these aliens.  Every time you die you find out more and more about the plan of what it takes to stop these things, for dying everyday grants you to live the next.  Live.  Die.  Repeat. 

Tom Cruise plays an officer in the military, Lt. Col. Bill Cage, who’s basically in a spokesman type of position and is forced to drop down to the private rank and learn to fight as an infantry style soldier.  So our hero isn’t a professional like a Jason Bourne or even one who quickly learns and then our story really gets going like a Neo.  But someone who is in an unfamiliar situation and is trying to figure out what the heck is going on to then possibly start to think about making an effort to participate. 

I really loved the high likability factor with our protagonist.  This is a classic story structure that’s done well, “an ordinary man in an unordinary situation”.  Or, “dude with a problem” as it’s sometimes referred to.  This is a great way to take the audience by the hand and spoon feed them a little bit at a time and REALLY get them on board with what you’re trying sell them on.  A tactic that can be very beneficial with big, commercialized films.  This puts you in the bunker with Cruise or “Cage” as he’s referred to with each situation he goes through.  You’re pleading, arguing, begging, yelling, forcing, etc. with everyone to see that you’re just in the wrong place and none of the disarray should be happening to you.  This was a very relatable story even though no one can relate to being a futuristic world with Matrix-like aliens taking over and being caught in the middle of it all.  But because we’re properly hand fed each little detail little by little as we inch along the story, we very much believe that it’s us going through this as well as Cage.  Brilliantly done!

A friend of mine eased me into the believability factor of Emily Blunt being the heroic savior of this time.  She went through what Cage did, and got good at it, like he did.  This is why they work together throughout the story.  So it makes sense that she’s worshiped as the amazing one even though she doesn’t look like someone who could be an action star.  The GREAT WRITING deems this so!  Which is just more reason why I advocate good writing.  It’s the first and foremost thing we should look for with any story told through any medium. 

All in all, this was a very innovative, creative, a “new and fresh breath of air” kind of feeling with this experience, and definitely a favorite of the year!

Go see it!

Edge of Tomorrow

Sci-Fi, 113 Minutes, PG-13

Written by: Christopher McQuarrie, and Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth

Based on the novel “All You Need Is Kill” by: Hiroshi Sakurazaka

Directed by: Doug Liman

Cast: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, & Brendan Gleeson