Tom Cruise in The Edge of Tomorrow

I did not want to see the latest Transformers movie.  The critics and feedback from friends, is that for a movie that ran way over 3 hours, it was a waste of time. Sequels often suck…so I decided to see The Edge of Tomorrow starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt.   I was glad I did.  It was a refreshing science fiction story with a great plot and great acting.

Set in the not so distant future, Earth is invaded by creatures set on destroying the human race.  However through some sort of transference of blood-like essence during fighting between certain aliens and a couple of humans , time is reset.  This means these humans can live a certain pivotal day over and over again.

The central leader of the aliens can control time and seems to use it to try to find these rogue humans played by Blunt and Cruise.  Playing the unlikely hero, Cruise lives several reiterations of the same day getting stronger and trained by Blunt. He often gets killed by her to reset time, giving some of the film’s more comical moments.

More important than the physical training is figuring out the alien’s end game as a way of defeating them. The movie hooks you on early and you enjoy the entire ride to its satisfying end.

This is especially good news for Tom Cruise who has not really enjoyed a recent critical success.  Blunt is wonderful as a tough military type.

If you want to see a great adventure, summer thriller, see The Edge of Tomorrow. It trumps any Transformer out there.