Edge of Tomorrow (2014), dir. Doug Liman. Sunday, January 29, Trylon Cinema.

Man, Edge of Tomorrow is one fun movie. This ridiculous tale of invading mechanical/organic insect creatures, a cowardly Tom Cruise, a brave Emily Blunt, and some shenanigans that make Cruise’s Bill Cage repeat the prior day every time he dies. There’s actually a great chunk of the film that shows him dying, hilariously, over-and-over-and-over again.

Weirdly, to me, this movie works because Tom Cruise is a very good actor, maybe great. I don’t like Tom Cruise’s movies, I’m never going to see Maverick, for instance, but I have to acknowledge that he’s got range, and talent. And that works here, and if you had another action star, Edge of Tomorrow would be worse. David Thomson, one of my favorite critics, rightly summarized North by Northwest as being about Cary Grant’s character being pushed into feeling (I’m paraphrasing). Cruise’s Bill Cage is arrogant and a coward, but it’s not just that he’s pushed into heroism and concern (like Han Solo, portrayed by the enjoyable mediocrity known as Harrison Ford), but he is wounded by his feelings for Emily Blunt’s Rita Vrataski. There’s a point at which Cage realizes that, despite his best efforts, he cannot find a way out of Vrataski dying–with every repeated day, he gets better at avoiding death and moving them closer to a secret spot that will resolve this complex plot. When his character comes to this conclusion, Tom Cruise, the actor possessed of emotion, begins his work, and it is extremely effective. And that, paired with a tight script, great direction and editing, the works, that makes Edge of Tomorrow, so damned good.

I will also say this: Edge of Tomorrow obviously borrowed the repeating of the day from Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day is an influential film because of this conceit. However, nothing else is taken from Groundhog Day, because Groundhog Day is a bad movie.

I remember disliking Groundhog Day when it came out, because it was so damned unpleasant. Even today, I’m still at a loss as to why so many people croon over Bill Murray’s shitheadedness. The guy seems like an asshole in life and wears that bright maroon sash on every character he plays. Groundhog Day, the movie, is poorly lit, has some awful actors in it (Andie MacDowell is the worst), and when it tries to get emotional it becomes utterly maudlin and unfocused. I guess Bill Murray’s Phil would start to care after thousands of days have passed. But I don’t care because he’s a prick who’s only thinking of himself, even at the end.

So, yeah, Groundhog Day came first. Edge of Tomorrow borrowed the skeleton of its plot and made a better story.