New EDGE OF TOMORROW Footage Description With *SPOILERS*
Edge of Tomorrow arrives this summer and we have a slightly better idea at what to expect from the Doug Liman-directed film as Total Film provides us with a description for over 20 minutes of new footage.
Some of the folks over at Total Film Magazine were lucky enough to attend an exclusive preview for the Tom Cruise-Emily Blunt-starrer, Edge of Tomorrow. The preview, which consisted of approximately 20 minutes from the film, was introduced by Tom Cruise himself, through a pre-recorded video and followed by a Q&A with director Doug Liman. In his introduction, Cruise went on to describe his co-star Emily Blunt as a "Badass, with extraordinary range." Liman later added praise for Cruise: "Tom is a brilliant comedic actor, truly brilliant. He's the gutsiest, most courageous actor I've ever worked with." He also playfully added a little incentive for non-Tom Cruise fans to see the film: "If you hate Tom Cruise, he dies 200 times in the movie." The preview wasn't a consecutive sequence, but rather a compilation of scenes spread throughout the course of the film. It was described as being fairly humorous in tone. Check out the full footage description below:
*SPOILERS BEGIN HERE*
The footage opened on Cruise as he wakes up in the middle of a military base. Bill Paxton's Master Sergeant Farell approaches, and reveals that Cruise is being processed with the other new recruits ahead of a big battle tomorrow. Cruise explains he's a PR man, not a soldier, and that there's been some kind of mistake. He asks for a phone call, and Farell pulls a switch-a-roo, revealing that Cruise is a deserter, and he's going to be forced to fight the next day. We cut to a huge armada of spaceships flying through the air, then we jump into one, with Cruise's William Cage strapped into the craft with a bunch of other soldiers all in their exo-suits. After a rousing speech from Paxton - "Remember, there is no courage without fear!" - Cruise has just enough time to ask one of his fellow soldiers how to take the safety off his gun, before a sudden explosion rips through the craft and bodies start to drop. Still attached to the ship via a connective wire, Cruise's Cage pirouettes through the air, before dropping into a beach battle scene. After a spot of battlefield fun - including a very dark gag drawn from a falling spaceship - we're introduced to Emily Blunt as she punches and blasts an alien into submission. The aliens look a bit like Matrix squids covered in ultra-violet lights, and were probably the only minor disappointment in the footage. But it is a small negative and the footage revealed there's much more to Edge Of Tomorrow than that. We then saw a fairly beautiful shot of Blunt, framed by trails of missile smoke, looking like the coolest bad-ass in the galaxy, before suddenly - and shockingly - an alien attacks, killing her in an instant. Cruise joins his group, who are quickly torn up by an attacking squid. He manages to switch on his gun, blasts one of the aliens, before working out how to use a rocket launcher, and exploding another. Unfortunately, that creature's weird acidy blood splashes Cruise's face, and kills him in a gross melty way that drew gasps from the crowd. He wakes up back on the base, where we first found him, and the movie's Groundhog Day concept is revealed. He relives the processing day, the battle sequence, with each time trying to change events. We saw a few minutes of this stuff, before the next big twist was revealed - after he finally manages to save Blunt, she realizes the situation he's in and tells him "Come and find me when you wake up." We cut to Cruise seeking Blunt out, who, after a minor confrontation, since she doesn't remember him, is convinced of Cage's time-loop situation, and tells him "What happened to you, happened to me, I had it and I lost it." We then go into an impossibly cool training sequence, as Blunt trains Cruise to be the ultimate fighter, swinging a massive sword about and generally being amazing. Then, when Cruise f*cks up, falls down and complains of a broken back, she wearily pulls out a gun and shoots him in the head so they can start all over again. Then, we went straight into an extended sequence of Cruise being a badass. If you like it when heroes shoot baddies casually, without so much as looking at them, you're going to find a lot to enjoy in this film. We got goosebumps during one moment of Cruise awesomeness which is pretty impressive.
*SPOILERS END HERE*
From this footage, it seems as though the upcoming blockbuster will focus as much on character as it does explosions. Liman expressed his relative lack of interest in the alien creatures with this statement: "At the end of the day, I wasn't making a movie about an alien invasion... Alien invasions don't necessarily bring out the best in the characters." He also went on to say how he was afraid initially to do Edge of Tomorrow as he didn't want to seem like he was "selling out," but was extremely relieved when Warner Bros. encouraged him to be "contrary and rebellious." The general response to the new preview footage seems to have been overwhelmingly positive as it looks like we can expect a good blend of humor and epic action/adventure in a character-driven film. This is great news for any Sci-Fi fan, and even greater news for any Tom Cruise fan, including myself, as it looks like he's going to add another blockbuster film to his already impressive resume. Find Total Film's full reaction and Liman's full quotes HERE
Oscar nominee Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt star in Warner Bros. Pictures' and Village Roadshow Pictures' sci-fi thriller "Edge of Tomorrow," under the direction of Doug Liman. 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.
Edge of Tomorrow features: Director: Doug Liman Tom Cruise as Lt. Col. William "Bill" Cage Emily Blunt as Rita Vrataski Bill Paxton as General Farrell Bartolome Kick Gurry as Griff Dragomir Mrsic in an unspecified role Charlotte Riley in an unspecified role Jonas Armstrong in an unspecified role Franz Drameh in an unspecified role Lara Pulver in an unspecified role Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Dr. Whittle Kidus Henok as Lewis Jeremy Piven as Col. Walter Marx Tony Way as Kimmel
Edge of Tomorrow hits theaters June 6, 2014.