Around this time last year I saw Oblivion, a competent if generic sci-fi vehicle for everybody’s favourite action robot, Tom Cruise. When news came out that Cruise would be starring in a Hollywood adaptation of the Japanese novel All You Need Is Kill (but with the much blander title Edge of Tomorrow), I expected something equally mediocre. Fortunately, my expectations were exceeded, and I got to see nearly two hours of some solidly enjoyable sci-fi fun.

Cruise stars as the (initially) obsequious Major Bill Cage, a US liaison to the European forces fighting in the vanguard of a war against an alien race known as ‘Mimics’. Despite his attempts to escape frontline duty, he is strapped into a powered exosuit and dropped into the invasion of France. After a chaotic and bloody few minutes, he manages to kill an elite mimic before his messy demise. Death isn’t as final for him as you’d think, as Cage wakes up the day before with memories of his previous life intact. The invasion happens as planned and he dies again, only to wake up to face this horrific ordeal seemingly in perpetuity. His attempts to explain meet with derision until he meets Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), a combat veteran who seems to know exactly what he is going through. With the help of Vrataski, Cage uses every recycled day to increase his understanding of the alien menace and his ability to fight back.

This film was a lot of fun, consisting of a nice sci-fi premise wrapped up in a lot of shooty action – if Michael Bay had directed this, I think it might have less explosions. It’s directed by Doug Liman (the man who kicked off the Bourne franchise), so it’s a very competent film with a good pace. He also relies heavily on practical effects, keeping you involved during the numerous scenes of powered combat suits jumping around and blowing things up. 

Tom Cruise gets a lot of stick these days (more for his personal beliefs than anything else), but he remains a perfectly capable action hero. It was a pleasant surprise to see him start the film as a coward willing to do pretty much anything to escape the fighting; it made good use of his slightly superficial intensity that can be off-putting in other roles. Emily Blunt displays some true grit as the co-lead, putting Cruise through his paces over his many incarnations and kicking ass in her own right. There’s even a nice supporting turn from sci-fi staple Bill Paxton, chewing the scenery as a drill sergeant and adding another gribbly alien to the list of monsters that have killed him over the years.

However, it’s not all positive. The film does drag a bit in the middle (although not too much, and it’s valuable, plot-advancing stuff) and culminates in an action set piece in which the special effects finally overwhelm the suspension of disbelief and the heroes survive crashes that would pulverise every bone it their bodies. With the exception of our two leads (and the reliably excellent Brendan Gleeson as a grumpy general), most of the other characters are unmemorable attempts to recreate the macho camaraderie of the colonial marines from Aliens. The mimics themselves won’t win any awards for innovative creature design, but they are at least functional and otherworldly, which is more than can be said for other alien-heavy films (looking at you, Cowboys and Aliens).

Overall, it’s still a notch above your average Hollywood blockbuster, so go see it if you’re in the mood for an entertaining slice of sci-fi shootiness. At the risk of sounding pessimistic, from the look of the trailers before the film began, Edge of Tomorrow might be one of the best sci-fi films that we can expect this year.