BRIAN: I really enjoyed this picture. There didn’t seem to be a ton of hype about it in the past few months, but judging by the premise and trailers it seemed right up my alley. I’m a big time travel fan and of course love Groundhog Day like everyone else, but taking that idea and putting it in the setting of an alien war was a great idea. Source Code did give the Groundhog Day formula a sci-fi spin already, and I do like that movie a lot, but Edge of Tomorrow really amps that idea up, and it turned out awesome. It’s one of the better sci-fi action flicks I’ve seen in years, maybe even centuries.

BRAD: I agree with you 113%! I thought the premise was going to be a weak action/adventure/sci-fi rip off of Groundhog Day and pretty much wrote it off as a possible renter for the future but lo and behold it was one of the more entertaining flicks I’ve seen since X-Men: Days of Future Past which was 2 weeks ago. So far this is a great summer if, what I thought was going to be a snoozer, was a great time at the picture house.

Another reason I planned on avoiding this movie was because of my reluctance to take Tom Cruise seriously anymore; especially in action pictures. The dude’s now 52 years old and he’s still running around, bouncing off walls and fighting baddies like he’s 23! He also doesn’t a day over 23 either but his personal life clouded my judgment for the most part. Growing up I really liked Cruise and his movies, even the odd ones like Legend and Jerry Maguire—I thought his movies were always well done, entertaining and always worth seeing. I hate NASCAR but even I enjoyed Days of Thunder and owned it on VHS. In the past few years I mostly avoided his movies like Knight & Day and Oblivion but I have to admit my mistake. I think he never makes a bad movie. If he happens to be in a bad movie his part is at least worth seeing — like Magnolia. Now I’m always going to see a Tom Cruise feature no matter what. He just doesn’t make a bad movie. PLUS I was shocked at how he’s still charming and funny he is. Even in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi flick we laughed a lot more than I was expecting.

BRIAN: Although I hate to say it, overall I probably enjoyed Edge of Tomorrow more than Godzilla. I’d still take the final battle scene in Godzilla over Edge of Tomorrow’s battle scenes, but yeah I’d say I had a better time from start to finish with Edge of Tomorrow. It took a little while for it to hook me in the beginning, and the ending was too unicorns and rainbows (with apologies to Mr. Cruise), but that’s like 10-15 minutes in an otherwise blast of a film.

Yeah I’ve always been fine with Cruise. He’s a total wackjob in the real world, but in movies that doesn’t matter, and although he does play the same kind of character over and over again, it doesn’t get annoying, it’s just comfortable. Like one of your favorite pairs of jeans (that may or may not be bedazzled). He does make bad movies on occasion, such as:
-Cocktail
-Born on the Fourth of July
-Eyes Wide Shut
-Mission: Impossible II
-Vanilla Sky
I haven’t seen Rock of Ages or Jack Reacher but I hear they’re not so fantastic. Regardless, he’s usually the best thing in those shitty movies.

BRAD: I can easily say that I enjoyed Edge of Tomorrow way better than Godzilla. I can sit down on a lazy Saturday afternoon and watch Edge for the 13th time way more than Godzilla’s first half.

Jack Reacher is on Instant Netflix and I may watch it this week to see if my theory about him not making terrible movies holds water. But don’t ever EVER call Cocktail a bad movie!

Yeah the ending was almost a total letdown…almost. It wasn’t so terrible that it ruined the whole movie but I would’ve preferred it ended 10 minutes earlier. Would’ve been the bolder, less-Hollywood choice. But again, didn’t ruin the movie at all.

I was also very skeptical about Emily Blunt being a bad-ass female action star but again, I was dead wrong. She was great, looked great and held her own against Cruise. I have only seen her in about 2-3 movies and they were all dramas or comedies so I will have my sharp eye out for her future projects.

And Bill Paxton hammed it nicely too. Always a fan of Bill Paxton and while watching the film I was a tad put-off by his wacky portrayal of a humorless drill sergeant but after a few days of rethinking about the film I’ve grown to like his performance. I think he was trying to a cross between Sgt. Hulka from Stripes and Gung-Ho from G.I. Joe.

BRIAN: Cocktail can suck a cock. That movie is terrible. “Hey how about Saturday night we go to that new bar in town: Cocktails & Dreams!” [gets beaten with a tire iron]

Yeah it was ok for Groundhog Day to have the schmaltzy ending where everything was perfect because it was a comedy. But the Edge of Tomorrow ending felt too forced. Has Tom Cruise ever died in a movie? Maybe that’s in his contracts.

Emily Blunt was great, and I’m really glad they didn’t cast Jessica Biel in that part, who is easy on the eyes but a much shittier actress. It was nice to see a really strong female hero. And I also appreciated that they showed her doing that stripper push-up multiple times.

Bill Paxton was good, I just wish he’d played like Hudson’s descendant and talked exactly like him in that manic way.

I think my biggest gripe in the movie is that Cruise was supposed to be the media mouthpiece for the war effort, appearing on TV numerous times talking about the war, yet no one on the base recognizes him at all. And why did the general want him on the frontlines so badly to begin with? He said it was to drum up support for the offensive, but who was against it?

BRAD: It was the ’80s! It was a glorious and wacky time! Give Cocktail a break. Besides it has Liz Shue and Bryan Brown as the old wise sage bartender.

I also liked how they didn’t take the time to go all macho and gung-ho about the military like Tony Scott or Michael Bay would. They really couldn’t since this was basically a European/British movie and hardly any Americans involved. Which also brings up the question about why did the Mimics just attack Europe? The movie barely or if ever mentioned much American involvement at all or if they (or any other continent) were affected by the invasion. But to go back to my earlier topic of the military they really downplayed how righteous or dignified the army was in battling the aliens. There was barely any brothers-in-arms moments that usual war movies have. Starship Troopers was all about military camaraderie and defending your fellow international fighters against a greater alien enemy and played that satirically. Edge kinda forewent that element for the more important plot element of looping over and over again. The did make a point of ostracizing Cruise since he was a “deserter” and not one of the J Squad but again it was used more to show how much Cruise used his new power of repeating the day to his advantage against them or to use them for him to get better every new day.

With a weak military (the film made a point to show how much they were out-numbered and out-gunned and lost many battles before they finally won a battle) and morale down, Cruise was basically the brand man to helping boost morale and drum support as you said but maybe no one recognized him because they don’t have time to watch TV or care enough to watch some happy-glad-hands in a majors’ uniform blow smoke up peoples’ asses. The movie very much rushed us into the story with a quick up-to-date to how and when Earth was invaded but really didn’t get into boring particulars so its unclear how long Cruise was even drumming up support. But you make a great point about why the general forced Cruise (who had zero battle or even basic training experience) into combat. Sure, it showed that Cruise was a reluctant and cowardly fighter and that helped with his character development as the story progressed but it was a dick move on the general. It made the general seem like he had something personal against Cruise but that plot was never developed or introduced at all. But I also said that it was very foolish and dumb of the military to put someone with zero training in a million dollar fighting metal suit and he wasn’t even showed how to turn the safety off.

BRIAN: I don’t believe that not one person on that base wouldn’t have seen him. During a war like that everyone would be glued to the TV for updates.

That was the only real problem I had with it though. Other then the confusion about why Cruise was forced to go into battle, and the sappy ending, everything else is cream cheese. Great action, great story, effects that weren’t too overblown, pretty cool-looking aliens, a pleasantly surprising amount of comedic moments, and a sweaty Emily Blunt make this picture a must-see for any fan of sci-fi and push-ups. Don’t wait until tomorrow, edge your way into the theater today!

Brian’s Score: 8.75 playing cards eaten (out of 10)

Brad’s Score: 8.75756 Maggots (out of 10)