In 2014, stars Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt shared the screen together in the sci-fi film, Edge of Tomorrow. It was directed by Doug Liman, who's notable for constructing well-made action movies such as The Bourne Identity and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. While Liman's feature wasn't necessarily a massive box office success, it still made a lot of money worldwide, and had an overly positive critical reception. However, the film deserves way more respect because it provided a more complex protagonist for Cruise, a strong female character for Blunt, and it's a well-choreographed action film that cleverly combines time loops and warfare between humans and machines.
Edge of Tomorrow is a sci-fi story based on the Japanese novel, All You Need Is Kill, by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Liman's film is one of several Hollywood features to adapt from Japanese material. Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, the first film in The Man With No Name Western trilogy, was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's samurai film, Yojimbo. In both movies, the protagonist is the tough hero pitted between two rival families at war with each other.
In Liman's feature, U.S. Army Major William Cage (Cruise) is the protagonist caught between a military coalition called the United Defense Force (UDF) and a swarm of aliens called "Mimics." Cage, despite his ranking, is only a public affairs officer with little to no military combat experience. Cage is left stunned when he's ordered by a commanding General to join J-Squad, one of several units within the UDF that's going to invade France in order to launch an attack on the deadly alien creatures.
The invasion in France ends up becoming a suicide mission since a scared Cage and the entire J-Squad get slaughtered by the mimics. However, after getting blown up with one of the more powerful Alpha aliens, Cage reawakens to the same place he ended up before meeting the J-Squad. The entire film revolves around Cage dying repeatedly and then reliving the same time loop over and over again. However, each time Cage is resurrected, he becomes better at combat and monitors everyone's movement, especially Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Blunt).
Rita is the most skilled fighter in the UDF, and resembles a samurai when killing machines with a large sword. She grows to trust Cage because she has also experienced time loops. Through Rita, Cage is able to become a more experienced soldier, and in return, Cage is able to guide Rita by telling her how the UDF and the machines operate in their time loop. Their camaraderie grows further when they attempt to kill the Omega (the primary source of the Mimics), which would end the war.
Edge of Tomorrow is effective in terms of the high element of danger involving the aliens. Cruise is well-known for portraying strong guys who are highly skilled and tough to beat, like Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible franchise or Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in Top Gun. However, Cruise's protagonist in Liman's sci-fi film is slightly different in the sense that Cage is a scared and vulnerable character who's inexperienced in fighting. In the opening of the film, Cage appears confident on TV when telling reporters that the UDF is a tough military presence that can defeat the Mimics, but when Cage meets General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson), they both know that many soldiers will inevitably die, and Cage expresses his immense fear of war and bloodshed when the General tells him he's going to battle with a squad in France.
Cage's transition from a scared and cowardly army major to a strong and determined soldier is convincing because he knows that he's been given the opportunity to save the world. Of course, if there was no time loop, there would be no hope in Cage's mission, and his death would've been immediate and permanent. This makes Cage very lucky, but also more aware of his chances to succeed, especially in ending the war and saving thousands of soldiers and innocent lives.
Emily Blunt's Rita Vrataski resembles other fierce and powerful female characters who aren't depicted in sci-fi movies very often, like Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley in the Alien series, or Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor in The Terminator films. Rita talks sternly when confronting Cage or other troops, and fights skillfully in battle, whether she's using a sword or large automatic weapons. Cage and Rita, along with every other UDF soldier, have to wear heavy metal exoskeletons that contain guns and rocket launchers.
While most of the film is intense and action-packed, there are some funny moments between the protagonists, especially when Rita has to "kill" Cage several times when he fails or gets heavily injured. Cage's repeated time loop is similar to someone playing a video game, where the gamer battles, dies, and then has to restart the level. Cage also has some comical confrontations with Master Sergeant Farell (the late great Bill Paxton) and the J-Squad, especially when Cage tells them their names and what they're going to say or do next.
Edge of Tomorrow is an example of an expertly crafted feature that borrows familiar elements from the sci-fi genre, but is even better thanks to vulnerable but courageous characters, intense action sequences, and the concept of a time loop. Tom Cruise and Doug Liman also make a great team, since they would go on to do the 2017 biographical feature American Made, another film in which Cruise portrays a flawed and complicated protagonist, Barry Seal, who's in over his head by working for the CIA, selling drugs to dangerous cartels. Perhaps an Edge of Tomorrow sequel is next in line.