Major William Cage (Cruise) has made damn sure that he isn’t anywhere near the front lines. When the alien invasion began he ran was involved in advertising, now he works for the army’s media relations. He is not a soldier, although he walks around in uniform and manages to talk the talk in television interview after television interview. But when General Brigham (Gleeson) orders him to the join the imminent invasion of France Cage is not impressed.
He is also pretty much untrained and hasn’t a clue what to do on the battlefield.
He dies.
But then he wakes the morning before battle and has to relive the day. Again and again and again.
When I first saw the trailer for this film I was left feeling utterly meh about it. It looked bland and nothing but a rehash of so many other average sci-fi films. But the reviews I’ve heard have been good so I figured it couldn’t hurt to give it a go.
It wasn’t as bad as the trailer had led me to believe. It was actually quite entertaining. The film revolves around William Cage. He is the only one who gets to develop and grow as a character as he is the only one who relives the day and the experiences. All the others have no knowledge of the time-loop. Of course as viewers we get to know them a little better through their interactions with Cage, but for the most part is the same interaction each time, with minor differences.
The only character who understands what Cage is going through is Rita Vrataski (Blunt). She is the face of the ad campaign trying to persuade the Americans to join in this war in Europe. The “Angel of Verdun” was a rookie soldier when she went into that battle. But with the technology of her military suit she managed to become the hero of the battle. Or so the advertising PR runs. In reality she went through the same experience that Cage is now facing. Dying over and over again, learning something new each time and applying that until she got through the battle alive. This also means she can speed up Cage’s learning curve by shooting him and resetting the day whenever things aren’t going so well.1
It is a good, solid film. Nothing exceptional but nothing to really love.
there is also a moment that Supernatural fans may appreciate if they enjoyed Dean’s multiple deaths in that groundhog-esque episode ↩
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