To go on with the summer blockbuster season, here is the sci-fi movie with The A-list actor, who has many time fulfilled the mission of saving humanity; Tom Cruise. Without many expectation, I quickly get into the screenwriting game: live again and again the same day. Quite daring for the genre and with many traps to avoid!
The comic of situation works also for sci-fi. Saving the world is not an easy task, but when you have the opportunity to master yourself through multiple attempts, it is then a complete different story! The details, the rhythm and the different camera shots provide many situations that make you smile and an offbeat humor which is pretty rare for this kind of movie. Indeed, the film manages to juggle with the traditional directing not to say almost tribute to older movies and the key scene experienced again and again. For example, the scene of the great battle refers directly to the D Day 1944 with a way in the heart of the fight like in Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. How to switch from the horror of war to the irony of a endless situation? Actually, this technique is quite unsual but put a certain distance between the audience andthe threat of an alien invasion. Why caring on when you have another chance of reloading no matter what? The very effective immersion like Spielberg directing loses some of its dramatic intrigue. Concretely, you do not get to know so much about those aliens and their threat.
Tom Cruise, almost against type casting. As a matter of fact, it is quite smart and daring to introduce at the beginning of the film, Tom Cruise as the “marketing guy”. The officier who wears the uniform more for TV than for fighting and gladly runs away from the imminent assault before becoming back the warrior you are used to see on screen. After Minority Report, War of the Worlds, and lastly Oblivion, action, aliens and incommensurable risks are the actor’s day-to-day challenges. So back to the starting point with the sexy mentor Emily Blunt. This is probably the most interesting part since Tom CruIse performance is the best. As a come back to the sources, it almost reveals a better start than the one of the arrogant and extremely annoying young pilot Maverick from Top Gun! Nonetheless, don’t panic, he is quickly taking back the commands, due to experience, since the poses, the punchlines and the grin show up in great-Armageddon-style action scenes!
In short, an entertaining movie where a « noob » (Newbie or video game novice) succeeds in the Special Forces since he boosted enough experience through several missions he could replay as many times he wants. Missions with a rising level of difficulty until the final boss when the hero re-spawns at the saving point.
Entertaining? Sure, as a good video game.
