Edge of Tomorrow, Movie Revew

Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

Edge of Tomorrow starts on a somber note.  We are treated to news report visuals, highlighting a 5 year alien attack on Earth.  Europe turned red in a wave.  The footage is a little jarring, but effective, as we are led, not really told, into Cage's (Tom Cruise) story.  He's pompous and arrogant, a first class jerk, selling the American public and World the idea of joining a fight he refuses to take part.  He's successful. Many people enlist.  But this success isn't enough to keep Cage out of the fight.

There was a major victory at Verdun, thanks to Rita (Emily Blunt), the new face of the war.  Her image plastered everywhere.  A hero.  This success encourages the military to launch Operation Downfall, a full assault on the alien Mimics in Europe, where everyone fighting will wear mechanic exoskeletons to aid the fight.  Cage is ordered to the front lines to cover the first wave, but he refuses, and then blackmails the General.  Not smart.  Soon Cage is thrust to the front lines where time will begin to repeat itself, caught in a loop, reliving the same day over and over again every time he dies.

Okay, I think I just made this movie sound kinda lame.

Edge of Tomorrow isn't lame at all, but extremely well written, intelligent, fast paced, action packed with a great balance of humor, none of which I was expecting.  And the aliens in this movie are really quite interesting.

Oh, and can I mention how awesome Emily Blunt is in this movie!?  There, I've mentioned it.  And I'm not a huge Tom Cruise fan at all, but I really like him in this role.

The movie's trailer gave me the initial feeling of lament, capitalizing on the loop theme of Edge of Tomorrow.  "Live. Die. Repeat" is Edge's tag line.  The trailer portrays the film as stark serious and repetitive. A darker side to Groundhog Day and Source Code with an alien invasion theme.  We've seen it all before, haven't we?  The trailer seems unoriginal, but this is further from the truth.  The marketing campaign for this movie was all wrong!  Instead the trailer should have showed us cocky Cage before the battle, and then scenes of fighting mixed with quips of humor, separating Edge of Tomorrow from the pack.  I'm afraid the poor marketing has buried a fun action fun, sense it came behind The Fault in Our Stars and Maleficent last weekend.

The pacing seemed a little slow getting into the movie, but it's when the looping starts that Edge becomes really interesting.

Really pay attention during the last five minutes of the movie!  I missed a little information at the end, leaving me a little confused.  (I'm a visual thinker, not auditory, so when I'm visually thinking about something I miss auditory clues.  I had to ask family members some of the ending details because it's given in a news report.)  Also, not everything that happens at the end is completely explained, but my brothers came up with a great theory as to why a certain thing happened, and I totally buy it.  I can't spell it out here because I'll spoil the ending!

I honestly have some mixed feelings over the ending, though my family loved the way it all tied up

Also, don't bother with the 3D.  I don't think it added much.

Overall Edge of Tomorrow is a great Summer blockbuster that lovers of speculative fiction will enjoy.

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, language and brief suggestive material.

Groundhog Day: More or Less Winter?

(Public Domain)

Punxsutawney Phil the groundhog didn't see his shadow this morning in Philadelphia, and you know what that means!  Spring is coming early . . . or is it?

According to the Stormfax Almanac Phil has been right only 39% since 1887.  Those aren't great, dependable odds, and that only leads me to realize that I should believe the opposite of whatever tradition dictates.  Technically with that average we have a 61% chance of more Winter.  That I do believe.  This Winter has been insane with snow, fog, and freezing rain.  There doesn't seem to be an end in sight.   

I've always believed the groundhog tradition to be counter-intuitive.  If a groundhog sees his shadow, that means there's Sun.  If there's Sun there's warmth, and anything warm isn't Wintery.  So where did this backward thinking, and proven more times wrong then right, tradition begin?

In early America February 2 was called Candlemas day, A Christian Holiday celebrating the presentation of Jesus at the Temple, and like all good Christian holidays, the Christian Holiday mingled with the pagan Imbolc, which is a Gaelic season festival between the Winter solstice and Spring equinox.

A diary entry written February 4, 1841 by James Morris in Pennsylvania reads:   

Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate.  

And an old English poem reads: 

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Winter has another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Winter will not come again.

Another fun note: Back in Europe they depended on the badger instead of the groundhog.

I do admire a holiday that hasn't been overly commercialized, because everything is commercial these days.

So bundle up!  Grab some Hot Chocolate, because, no offense Phil, we've got many more cold days of Winter ahead of us.   

Sarah