Doug Liman’s new movie (Director of Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) is about repeating days, strikingly familiar to Jake Gyllenhaal’s Source Code. However, Edge of Tomorrow is a significantly better outing with a performance from Tom Cruise that we truly miss and need. He brings back his Pizzazz and personality from the Mission Impossible series to create a wonderful dynamic and an incredibly entertaining film. Finally a summer blockbuster that is truly in the realms of the summer.

Edge of Tomorrow focuses on one man’s journey, Major William Cage, (Tom Cruise) who is inexplicably put into battle to find a powerful enemy. This enemy, like we’ve never seen before, is a different species. This is where things get interesting. He kills a rare breed of alien and his flesh starts to melt as he wakes up in a cold sweat back where we first find him after his forced recruiting. We learn that Cage now has the power to start ever day over again in the midst of his death. Errily similar to Source Code, Edge of Tomorrow does a significantly better job at not losing the audience and using a strong balance of comedy and action to carry the movie forward. Another aspect that worked extremely well is the chemistry between Cage and Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) which allowed for the audience to buy into their partnership and slight romance to create this extra dynamic of stakes. Between the constant adrenaline filled action, the much needed humor for comic relief, and the brilliant chemistry between Cage and Vrataski, the movie excels beyond expectations.

Other aspects that work overly well in the movie come from a smaller role in the film, from Master Segent Ferris (Bill Paxton). He appears to be having the most fun he’s had in a role in years. Sure he played a despicable character that no one could like in Agents of Shield but he certainly redeems himself in this new role. What also works brilliantly is Christopher McQuarrie’s script, which he co-wrote with Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth. The reason it works so well is because McQuarrie is an expert at deception, wittiness, and brilliance within his scripts, after all he wrote The Usual Suspects.

When you tag team a great director, a wonderful cast, and a genius of a screenwriter there is no reason for failure. The only issue comes within the last few minutes of the film, but the rest is so well done that it does not take away all too much from the final finished product. Edge of Tomorrow is a great way to continue the summer season, with what is shaping up to be a certain blockbuster.

Edge of Tomorrow will certainly leave you at the edge of your seat.

[star v=4]