Edge Of Tomorrow (12)

Military PR man Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) arrives at the headquarters of the United Defense Force (UDF) in London close to Trafalgar Square.

A hive-like alien race called the Mimics has overrun Europe and the UDF is preparing to storm the continent from multiple angles. General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson) orders Cage to the front line to capture this glorious moment on film for generations to come.

Cage refuses so he is press-ganged into active duty under Master Sergeant Farell (Bill Paxton). A subsequent skirmish on the beaches of France is a bloodbath and Cage perishes in the throes of annihilating an alien. Exposure to the creature’s luminous blue blood miraculously allows Cage to reset time and relive the ill-fated day, dying again and again as he attempts to identify a weakness in the Mimics’ defences.

In the process, Cage forges an alliance with Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), who is known affectionately as Full Metal Bitch to the troops.

Based on the novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, Edge Of Tomorrow is an entertaining futuristic thriller, which establishes its Groundhog Day-style premise and cleverly engineers ways to keep us enthralled as Cage repeats fatal mistakes. Cruise initially plays against type and slowly teases out his character’s likeable qualities.

His transformation from image-obsessed weasel to battle-ready soldier is one of the many pleasures of Doug Liman’s film. Blunt embraces Rita’s ballsiness with gusto amidst a miasma of eye-popping digital effects that look even more spectacular in 3D, available exclusively on Blu-ray.

Rating: 8/10