The epic action of “Edge of Tomorrow” unfolds in a near future in which an alien race has hit the Earth in an unrelenting assault, unbeatable by any military unit in the world.
Major William Cage (Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously dropped into what amounts to a suicide mission. Killed within minutes, Cage now finds himself inexplicably thrown into a time loop—forcing him to live out the same brutal combat over and over, fighting and dying again…and again.
But with each battle, Cage becomes able to engage the adversaries with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt). And, as Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated encounter gets them one step closer to defeating the enemy.
Liman is directing “Edge of Tomorrow” from a screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie and Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth, based on the novel entitled All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka.
Doug Liman explains what drew him into bringing “Edge of Tomorrow” to the screen, in the following first-person account.
“Well, first of all, this is not a film with two concepts, where there’s an alien invasion and there’s Tom Cruise, who keeps repeating the same day every time he dies. It’s a film of one concept, which is that the aliens are beating us, and the reason they’re beating us is because they can repeat the day and they keep redoing a battle until they win. There’s no way humanity can beat an adversary like that, until Tom Cruise gets infected with their power and suddenly we have a chance.
“I had no interest whatsoever in making an alien invasion film, but what really drew me to it was the journey that Tom Cruise’s character, Bill Cage, would go on. I’m a storyteller—I like being at dinner parties and telling stories that entertain people; I’m not ashamed of that [Laughs]. I’m committed to making movies that are massively entertaining, but I’m also committed to making movies that are smart and thought-provoking.
“The concept of a character who keeps getting plunged into the same battle day after day, where everybody else is doing the same thing and the only thing different is what he does—for me, it’s sort of a metaphor for life. The reality is that you can’t change the world and you can’t change other people, but you can change yourself. That’s the only thing Cage can do during the course of the movie is to change what he does. Everybody else is going to do the same thing. The only thing that he has control over are his own actions.
“When I find a project that has a deeper meaning, and, at the same time, is an unbelievable rollercoaster ride that will have action sequences you’ve never seen before, character-driven comedy, and an amazing love story, of course I’d want to do that movie, immediately.”
Opening across the Philippines on June 5, 2014 in 3D, 2D and 35mm formats, “Edge of Tomorrow” is distributed Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.