Tom Cruise's best action movie ever!: a review of Edge of Tomorrow!

Recipe for a kick-ass film. Blend the following ingredients: 
A cup of Tom Cruise
A cup of Emily Blunt
A table spoon of Brendan Gleeson
A table spoon of John Paxton
Hardware, lots and lots of futuristic military hardware
A dash of Run Lola Run
A sprinkle of Starship Troopers
A sprinkle of Black Hawk Down

Stir vigorously.  Set surround volume to HIGH. Place clean disc in player and leave it for 113 minutes. Serve with 2 (or more) cold beverages of your choice with a side of chips--and don't forget the guacamole dip!

Director Doug Liman's 2014 science fiction action thriller Edge of Tomorrow starring Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt and Brendan Gleeson is one of the most exciting and original action films from a director known for bringing Robert Ludlum's Bourne series to the big screen. Also known for the tagline Live. Die. Repeat., Edge of tomorrow centers around Major William Cage, a U.S. Naval officer--played by Cruise-- with zero combat experience who is unwillingly deployed to the front lines of a landing operation to battle with alien creatures that have invaded earth. There, he teams with Special Forces leader Rita Vrataski known as the Full Metal Bitch--played by Emily Blunt --and becomes caught in a time loop that resets every time he's killed. 

This is 1 of those films like Paul Verhoeven's 1997 film Starship Troopers that somehow managed to fly in under the radar. Having seen Liman's work on the original Bourne movie and his excellent 1999 film Go, I figured that if anything else, Live. Die. Repeat. would be fairly entertaining and have a decent script. What I wasn't prepared for was how easily the film would measure up with iconic films like The Terminator or even The Matrix. This is a muscular super-toy one can appreciate from a geek standpoint with all of the military gadgets like the combat exoskeletons the soldiers wear, to its humor, to its James Cameronesque level of action--everything about this film cries out for a sequel which is coming, I read, in 2020 and deservedly so. Tom Cruise is, as always, great in his role as a soft public relations officer who grows by experience on top of experience into a hard-core warrior. Emily Blunt is also great as a seasoned field warrior who mentors him. Brendan Gleeson is also great as Defense Force Commander General Brigham. And finally, the late Bill Paxton is great as Master Sergeant Farrell who whips Cruise and other soldiers into shape prior to the landing operation. 

Live. Die. Repeat or, if you prefer, Edge of Tomorrow, is a damn good film that proves that you can make  an entertaining movie that is under 2 hours. If you're a Tom Cruise hater you have no idea what you're missing out on!