Edge of Tomorrow is super videogame-y

[Johnny Novgorod]

And I loved it. Groundhog Day kind of time loops aren't all that uncommon these days so it's not exactly pushing an original idea, but it spins it in a clever way. I think it's one of the most videogame-y movies I've seen, certainly more in tune with the concept of gaming than most movie adaptations of games.

It's basically a Demon's Souls (or Dark Souls, because apparently nobody played the first game ) grind: guy goes into battle and every time he dies resets everything back to place. Every enemy he killed, every obstacle in the battlefield, every single kind of progress or development is completely rebooted. No checkpoints, no autosaving, nothing. The only kind of progression are his knowledge and his skills. The ultimate goal being, finish the war/game in one run and within a specific time limit (otherwise he won't be able to reload from a safe spot). And I love the practice of committing suicide because he fucked up some part, so he has to start all over again.

I kinda felt identified with all the concepts the movie was juggling. The idea of grinding, reloading save files, killing yourself to restart, going for a 100% run, trying different methods to achieve different results, developing a strategy, etc. I think gamers will get an extra kick from all of this.

It's not a perfect or a particularly original movie, but like I said it's a fresh take on an old favorite fantasy of everybody's - the idea that you have unlimited time to perfect yourself - and the action is top notch, no shitty lightning or shakycam or cheating with night scenes and such. The fight choreography has a reason for looking as good as it does, and that's because the character has literally rehearsed the run over and over.

Small gripe:

Spoiler

Not a big fan of the ending though. Didn't ruin the movie for me but it took some of the excellence out of it.

So there you go. Fun movie, love to see these kinds of mechanics pop up on the big screen, hope there's more of this in the future.

For discussion value:

What are other videogame-y movies out there, besides Scott Pilgrim?
What game mechanic would you like to see tackled in a movie?

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

I enjoyed the book it's based on, All You Need is Kill so I've been looking forward to this. It looks like it's taking the concept in a couple of different directions rather than retreading what the book did, which is my favourite kind of adaptation. Glad to see the praise it's been getting; I should be going to see it next week.

 

[Zhukov]

Been looking forward to this one.

No idea if it'll be any good, and I'm not exactly a Tom Cruise fan (although I think he's a competent actor), but the trailers were enough to convince me that it's worth a go.

Haven't actually seen it yet, so not really much to add.

 

[Vault101]

Been looking forward to this one.

No idea if it'll be any good, and I'm not exactly a Tom Cruise fan (although I think he's a competent actor), but the trailers were enough to convince me that it's worth a go.

Haven't actually seen it yet, so not really much to add.

yeah..I can only ever see "tom cruise" regardless of how good he may be

I rarely go to the movies so any film "decent" enough to get me to go (on a 40m busride to a shopping centre my mum keeps insisting is in a dodgey area full of..*sigh*..."towelheads"..*cringe*) its a plus

I may see it next week though...while I'm in emlbourne so I can drag my brother along

 

[LobsterFeng]

Wow this actually sounds really cool. I saw a trailer for it in theaters but I had no idea what it was supposed to be about.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

No idea if it'll be any good, and I'm not exactly a Tom Cruise fan (although I think he's a competent actor), but the trailers were enough to convince me that it's worth a go.

yeah..I can only ever see "tom cruise" regardless of how good he may be

I'm the first to ridicule the guy in between films, becase of the couch thing and scientology and the missus and so on. But the fact is you can't help root for the guy while you're watching him in a movie. He puts up a very down to earth act, characters are easy to relate, I've been picking a bit of self-deprecation in his last few movies, etc.

 

[Briantb]

I'm kind of curious if the ending of the movie is the same as the book?

It sucks it was a stand alone book but maybe with this there will be another one.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm kind of curious if the ending of the movie is the same as the book?

It sucks it was a stand alone book but maybe with this there will be another one.

No idea, haven't read the book. I'll spoil the movie for you if you want though.

 

[Briantb]

I'm kind of curious if the ending of the movie is the same as the book?

It sucks it was a stand alone book but maybe with this there will be another one.

No idea, haven't read the book. I'll spoil the movie for you if you want though.

Yeah go ahead

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm kind of curious if the ending of the movie is the same as the book?

It sucks it was a stand alone book but maybe with this there will be another one.

No idea, haven't read the book. I'll spoil the movie for you if you want though.

Yeah go ahead

Spoiler

The hero loses his alien time-reversal powers when he's knocked out cold and gets a blood transfusion, so he's left with a single shot at winning the war. Death will now be permanent. Luckily they just managed to pinpoint the location of the Omega creature that's masterminding the alien hive mind. He goes with Rita and their squad to the place, everybody gets a heroic death and the hero blows up the creature, himself dying as well.

The part that made me roll my eyes was the fact that the hero gets enveloped in the Omega creature's blood as he's dying. This sends him way more back in time than usual, pretty much the beginning of the movie, with the only difference being that the aliens have died (or at least that's what's reported) and the war has ended without even beginning. Everyone's alive, and the hero goes to meet Rita "for the first time".

I don't mind happy endings but this one seemed pulled out of the movie's ass. How could the aliens die in the past as a CONSEQUENCE of dying in the future?

 

[Reaper195]

I like seeing Cruise in these somewhat unique sci-fi movies. I loved the shit out of Oblivion, particularly the art style of the towers, helicopter/plane thing and the robot spheres.

 

[Briantb]

I'm kind of curious if the ending of the movie is the same as the book?

It sucks it was a stand alone book but maybe with this there will be another one.

No idea, haven't read the book. I'll spoil the movie for you if you want though.

Yeah go ahead

Spoiler

The hero loses his alien time-reversal powers when he's knocked out cold and gets a blood transfusion, so he's left with a single shot at winning the war. Death will now be permanent. Luckily they just managed to pinpoint the location of the Omega creature that's masterminding the alien hive mind. He goes with Rita and their squad to the place, everybody gets a heroic death and the hero blows up the creature, himself dying as well.

The part that made me roll my eyes was the fact that the hero gets enveloped in the Omega creature's blood as he's dying. This sends him way more back in time than usual, pretty much the beginning of the movie, with the only difference being that the aliens have died (or at least that's what's reported) and the war has ended without even beginning. Everyone's alive, and the hero goes to meet Rita "for the first time".

I don't mind happy endings but this one seemed pulled out of the movie's ass. How could the aliens die in the past as a CONSEQUENCE of dying in the future?

Go read the book. Much better ending. I will probably end up still seeing it but yeah that's disappointing.

 

[FPLOON]

Video game concepts in movie form, eh?

*thinks* How about using a key as both a sword and as a way to unlock various locks? You can even have one of the villains/antagonists be played by Dakota Fanning, I guess...

Also, regardless how this movie was going to turn out, I was still going to watch it anyway just because it looked like a better version of Source Code... (Still need to read the original book, though...)

 

[Sniper Team 4]

*thinks* How about using a key as both a sword and as a way to unlock various locks?

"Or...it's a key all the time, and when you stick it in people, it unlocks their death." I'm sorry, but that quote came to mind the moment I read your post.


I have a question! The trailer for this movie makes me want to see it: lots of explosions, fighting in mech suits, battlefields, and basically a sci-fi war movie. However many movies manage to look like this in the trailers and the movie itself is not about that at all. Examples would be Will Smith's After Earth and Tom Cruise's Oblivion. They both play up the one major action scene and then the rest of the movie is nothing like the trailer. As such, I'm more than a little suspicious when I see these trailers now.

Does this movie measure up? Is the war in the forefront? Your rather interesting and unique way of explaining the movie makes it sound like it does, but I would like to know for certain. I'm not talking about the whole moving being nothing but one big firefight, but if the majority of the movie is about Tom talking with that girl and trying to figure out what's going on and we only get small bits of action that last maybe twenty seconds each time, then I'll pass.

 

[Briantb]

Was it not based on a Japanese Light novel?

Also there is a manga about it too. Very stupid name, but decent - All you need is kill .

Will see how it holds up.

Yeah that's the name of the book.. well "light novel" I was talking about the movie is based on. Didn't know there was a manga.

 

[Queen Michael]

The movie's based on a novel that was inspired by video games, so it's no surprise that it's video game-y. And I don't mean inspired by one game in particular, just by the way the author kept dying, starting from the latest checkpoint, and using the things he'd learned during previous tries to advance.

 

[mecegirl]

I understand why they chose Tom Cruise for the protagonist. It will be a big draw to people who would otherwise never see the movie. But I am just getting sick and tired of seeing him. I am just legitimately Cruised out. LOL! I didn't even realize that the movie was based on All You Need is Kill until my friend brought it up. I just saw Tom Cruise and checked out. Brain just went "Nope not seeing this."

I do wish they would give another actor a chance. Especially since it looks like they kept Rita Vrataski's character the same as in the light novel, but changed Keiji Kiriya's race so that Tom Cruise could play him. I also wish that they used Mecha's like they do in the source material, because I'm a dork and like mecha's, but they probably just wanted to make sure that we all see Tom's face...

 

[HardkorSB]

I'm the first to ridicule the guy in between films, becase of the couch thing and scientology and the missus and so on.

I honestly think that all of that was a calculated plan to give Cruise a boost in popularity.
Just as his career was getting stale, he did all that "stupid shit" and suddenly, for a few years, he became the most popular actor on the planet.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I have a question! The trailer for this movie makes me want to see it: lots of explosions, fighting in mech suits, battlefields, and basically a sci-fi war movie. However many movies manage to look like this in the trailers and the movie itself is not about that at all. Examples would be Will Smith's After Earth and Tom Cruise's Oblivion. They both play up the one major action scene and then the rest of the movie is nothing like the trailer. As such, I'm more than a little suspicious when I see these trailers now.

Does this movie measure up? Is the war in the forefront? Your rather interesting and unique way of explaining the movie makes it sound like it does, but I would like to know for certain. I'm not talking about the whole moving being nothing but one big firefight, but if the majority of the movie is about Tom talking with that girl and trying to figure out what's going on and we only get small bits of action that last maybe twenty seconds each time, then I'll pass.

It's pretty action-packed, a million years better than After Earth or Oblivion in that department (and several others). Even when he's not on the battlefield Cruise's character is always running out of time and dying a lot. I did not feel shortchanged by the movie in any way. The best thing is that there isn't a core "action scene" that takes the cake and renders the rest of the movie more or less flat (like say Pacific Rim). Yes, there're bound to be scenes in which Cruise figures out what's going on and so forth but these are dealt with pretty quickly and easily.