October 9, 2014 Edge
Edge of Tomorrow is a 2014 Sci-Fi Action movie with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. It is based on Hiroshi Sakurazak’s novel All You Need Is Kill. Will Cage is stuck in a time loop. Aliens have invaded earth and all countries unite against a common enemy. Cage is sent to the front line despite being better at selling wars than fighting in them. He ends up killing an Alpha Creature and gets its blood all over him. The blood connects him to the Omega or hive like brain of the Aliens. Destroy the Omega and they win. The trouble is the Aliens know the future and are usually one step ahead of them. Rita Vrataski , who once experienced her own loop, helps Will in his mission to save humanity.
The movie is like a fractal, with variations on the same sets of days. While there have been comparisons to Ground Hog Day, this movie steps up the stakes. Humanity, not Romance, is on the line. Will and Rita demonstrate the sacrifice that all men and women in the military must be willing to make. But instead of being injured or killed, they must die a hundred deaths before escaping the time loop. The world they exist in is brutal and filled with tough choices, but they make the best of it. Will could have chosen to transfuse his blood and die the final death without saving Rita o Humanity, but he doesn’t do it. The deserter decides that his sense of duty is stronger than his own desire to end his own own misery. And a hero is born.
The world they live in may be Sci-Fi, but it is not far from the world my boyfriend has inhabited. He is particularly upset that after all he suffered through to protect his country (13 years service in the US Army, including combat action) that his country has all but abandoned him. The judge in his disability case determined that he is fit to work, but that the type of work he could get may be limited. Essentially, he is being doomed to a life of poverty because his government isn’t willing to take care of him. They used him and tossed him away. Some thanks that is! No wonder he is pissed off! I’d be pissed off too if I were him. His sacrifice should be honored, but life is not like the movies….
