Plot Details: This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
All You Need Is Skill
Plot Overview
In the near future a meteor smashes into Earth near Hamburg, Germany, being kind of a spore, one of thousands of wandering rocks containing a “perfectly evolved world-conquering organism.” They resemble sea anemones but can adapt to land, mimicking the armies and strategies sent to destroy them. Mimic biology expert Dr. Carter (Noah Taylor) believes they are a single organism consisting of a fat brain (omega) in control, some sizable scouts (alphas), and countless foot soldiers. The alphas send back battlefield data to the brain a day in the past allowing it to anticipate strategies and destroy a world's troops. They overtake continental Europe in five years and are poised to invade England.
UK Special Forces Sgt. Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) became known as “the Angel of Verdun” (“full metal bitch”) when she singlehandedly slaughtered hundreds of the buggers, demonstrating the superiority of “new jacket technology,” with but limited training on it. What she's not telling anybody, for fear of being thought a lunatic, is that when she got covered with the blood of a wounded alpha, she tapped into their time-altering mechanism, so she herself relived the battle again and again becoming proficient—as she capitalized on her advance knowledge, as well. She lost this ability, though, when she received a battlefield blood transfusion. Tomorrow's invasion of France by United Defense Forces (UDF) may turn into a rout.
Something similar happened when I caught and released a shrew that had taken up residence in my house. It came back, so we had to REPEAT the process. Same trap, same bait, only this time I moved it all the way to the park on top of the hill, not just to the edge of my property. Since I'm a more highly evolved species than a mouse, I learned to move him farther before he learned to avoid the trap. All's right with the world.
It's just that some young cougars have been prowling the park and investigating the neighbor's chickens. If I'd been going up to the park the night the cougars were coming down, we might have had a different outcome. PR man US Army Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) had been loaned to the UDF to promote the new technology, and when he refused commander General Brigham's (Brendan Gleeson) order to “be on the beach in the first wave,” he was stripped to a Private and sent with “the tip of the spear” J–Squad, into a battle that his R.O.T.C. training had not prepared him for. When he gets drenched in alpha blood and starts experiencing the same battle day over and over again, his skill and courage improve markedly, so even a mimic world-dominating species may find itself in trouble.
Ideology
I once applied for a sales position only to be told there were few positions and many applicants. When I didn't get called back, I looked up the guy doing the hiring. He said he was about to call some other dude to give it to him. When I asked why and he told me, I gave him a long spiel turning my liability into an asset. He liked what he heard: a man who doesn't drop the ball but overcomes consumer objections. That got me hired.
Major Cage had gone into Army PR work straight his from sales job. From a salesman's perspective, he did a keen job of explaining why he shouldn't be sent anywhere near the front lines. Unfortunately, Gen. Brigham was stubborn and a stickler for military protocol (“It's not an offer, Major, it's an order.”) Cage in desperation resorted to blackmail, threatening to use his media position to make the General a scapegoat if the war didn't go well. In that regard Cage was taking the historical role of priest at Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement, selecting the Ur-scapegoat, see Lev. 16:8.
The old General turned the ironic tables on this uppity "priest." Major Cage refusing to cover the effectual invasion was acting like a priest too frightened to get near a recovered leper to process him back into society à la Lev. 14:3-4. Therefore Gen. Brigham stuck him in the front of the battle (“edge of the knife”) where the alpha would get killed, Lev. 14:5, in “the fiery crucible in which true heroes are forged.” Major Cage is to be the bird dipped in the alpha's blood, Lev. 14:6-7. I don't think the General planned it all out that way, but that's how the Spirit inspired the script writers along Old Testament lines per Heb. 10:15, “Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us.” According to my Jewish Study Bible, vs. 7, “The two birds are considered one entity. Thus the impurity, after being removed by the blood of the slaughtered bird, is believed to be transferred to the second, live bird which is then dispatched, thereby permanently disposing of it.” There's a sci-fi high tech transfer needs to take place in the movie in its own right, but the concept is nothing new.
Production Values
“The Edge of Tomorrow” (2014) was directed by Doug Liman. The script was adapted by Christopher McQuarrie and brothers Jez & John-Henry Butterworth from the Japanese novel, All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. It stars Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. Also appearing are: Bill Paxton, Jonas Armstrong, Tony Way, Kick Gurry, Franz Drameh, Dragomir Mrsic, Charlotte Riley, Terence Maynard, and Madeleine Mantock. The acting was all adequate for the Action–Sci-Fi flick, and the two leads were superb in roles that suited them to a tee.
Motion Picture Rating (MPAA), was Rated PG–13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, language and brief suggestive material. Christophe Beck's score was nothing memorable. On the map seen at the movie's start, the capital of Hungary, Budapest is misplaced. It was Attila the Hun's brother Buda who founded Budapest, so that works as homage to their military prowess. I thought the special effects were awesome.
Review Conclusion w/ Consumer Recommendation
“The Edge of Tomorrow” really felt like the edge of tomorrow, so engrossing was the sci-fi premise. The lead actors were at their best, the CGI looked real, the plot was suspenseful, and the ending not quite predictable. This is an altogether first rate action / sci-fi movie.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Edge of your seat action-packed. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years w/guidance. Special effects: Absolutely amazing special effects! Video Occasion: Fit For a Friday Evening. Suspense: Don't watch this movie alone. Overall product rating: Five stars out of Five.
Works Cited
Scripture taken from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Print, software.
The Jewish Study Bible: Tanakh. New York: Oxford University Press. New Jewish Publication Society 2nd ed. of 1999. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org