same brutal combat over and over.
Based on the Japanese novel “All You Need Is Kill” By Hiroshi Sakurazaka, the film “Edge Of Tomorrow” unfolds in a near future in which an alien race has invaded earth.
Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously commissioned into what amounts to a suicide mission. Killed within minutes, Cage inexplicably finds himself thrown into a time loop—forcing him to live out the same brutal combat over and over, fighting and dying again… and again.
But with each battle, Cage becomes able to engage the adversaries with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt). And, as Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated encounter gets them one step closer to defeating the enemy.
Emotional wall
The unexpected pairing of two people wholly reliant on one another, despite only one of them being able to remember they’ve ever met, allows for a good deal of humor, especially between Cage and Rita.
Screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie notes: “Cage begins as a self-serving media spin doctor who initially sees Rita as a means to an end. But she has unmatched combat experience and understands his situation better than he does—in short, she’s the key to ending his nightmare. Meanwhile, she starts every day wanting nothing to do with him.”
Cage quickly realizes that his usual charm won’t work on her, and he’ll have to find another way to win her over.
“I thought it was the most original screenplay about combat I had ever read,” remembers producer Jeffrey Silver. “I loved the really original way he keeps replaying the same day in this time loop, which often comes out in a very funny way, and I also felt it worked on the most basic, human level with characters who have an unusual relationship.”
Extremely unusual
Director Doug Liman was drawn to the project by the extremely unusual circumstances in which Cage finds himself. “The concept of this unique time loop hooked me in,” he says. “It opened everything up and created an opportunity to explore what was interesting about Tom’s character and to witness, day after day of the same day, what takes Cage to the brink.
“It also forces him to become not only the soldier, but the man he has to be. When I find a project like this, that has a deeper meaning conveyed with tremendous action and great humor, that’s a movie I want to make.”
Cage’s unusual situation stems from his first—and seemingly last—battle with an alien. He quickly loses, and should lose his life, but has the unique ability to “reset” the day, waking once again in the exact location, at the exact moment, he did that morning. Justifiably, utterly confused, Cage can’t understand why no one else seems to be aware of the horrific events that already happened. Rather, they are prepping for the very fight they unknowingly have already lost.
Opening across the Philippines on June 5, “Edge of Tomorrow” will be distributed in 2D and 3D in select theaters by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
