Based on a Japanese novel, this science fiction movie starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt is about an alien invasion and how Major William Cage played by Tom Cruise repeatedly died more than a hundred times before he and Sergeant Rita Rose played by Emily Blunt managed to defeat the alien race.
The movie has quite an interesting storyline where a public relations Major William was knocked out and sent to the battlefield with a squad to fight the invading aliens known as Mimics when he opposed the General's orders. Unknown to them, the aliens behaved like the central nervous system when they were controlled by a central intelligence known as the Omega. William killed an attacking Alpha with a mine before he died, but not before the Alpha's blood spilled onto him, granting him the ability to temporarily take over the Omega's unique ability to reset time back repeatedly to a specific time frame. From a clumsy Major who never ventured to the battlefield to one who managed to gradually anticipate each and every move made by the aliens and avoided their attack until he was killed over and over again, he was able to reset the time loop every single time he died. He met the Angel of Verdun Sergeant Rita Rose in the process and learnt that she possessed the same ability until she lost it through a blood transfusion after getting injured in battle.
With their combined wits, they eventually realized that the Omega set a trap for them instead to reclaim its ability and sacrificed their lives to exterminate the Omega in one final attempt after William too lost his unique ability after he received a blood transfusion. Fortunately, the Omega exploded and spilled all its contents, including its blood, in the water and infused William once again before he died. The time line was reset once again to an earlier time frame when William and Rita were alive but this time with the aliens exterminated permanently.
First, I must say this movie didn't receive rave reviews from the critics but I think it is not bad at all. I am not a movie critic but I do like the storyline, acting and special effects.
With a cast including Aaron Eckhart as the lead character or monster without a soul created by Frankenstein, Bill Nighy, Yvonne Strahovski, Miranda Otto, Socratis Otto, Jai Courtney etc, the movie was reminiscent of the "Underworld" movies from the same producer where war between two opposing legions i.e. vampires and werewolves in Underworld, angels and demons in this movie. All these beings and creatures lived amongst the humans and threatened the existence of mankind but their battles took place for centuries right under our noses unbeknownst to all humans, except the lucky or unlucky few who were drawn into the battles.
Before I comment any further, I must say I enjoyed a number of Aaron Eckhart's past movies where he wasn't the lead protagonist and played good guys. I started to sit up and noticed the change in him when he appeared as Two-Face in the "The Dark Knight". With this movie, I didn't actually see it coming for him to be the lead and took up the challenge of playing such a dark character. Not that he wasn't capable of doing it. It was more of seeing the friendly guy-next-door suddenly becoming a totally different person kind of strange feeling. For one, I think Aaron made the right move in coming out of his comfort zone playing good guys and took on more and more interesting roles to challenge himself. At least in this movie, he was the lead and his acting was good, I must add. Who knew he had such a good bod too? Hollywood must certainly pay notice to a new leading man if this movie performs well at the box office.
It is also interesting that Bill Nighy, who played an evil elder vampire in the "Underworld" movies, took on the role of Prince Nebarius, the leader of demons in this movie. Be careful Bill, before you are typecast forever to play characters from the dark side.
I shan't give the rest of the story away but we all know and believe that good will always triumph evil in the end in such movies.
.jpg)
