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posted by LaminatorX on Sunday June 15 2014, @03:42PM   Printer-friendly
from the Where's-the-Uwe-Boll-option? dept.

Carter Glace writes that there have been some decent video game movies, like 'Prince of Persia' or one of the 'Resident Evil' films but plenty of bad ones too just remember 'Super Mario Bros'. But Doug Liman's 'Edge of Tomorrow' shows how to take one of video games' most tried and true mechanics and use it to make an excellent and utterly creative film. In the film Tom Cruise plays a PR officer named Cage who, blessed with the power of infinite lives, has to continually progress through the day while figuring out how to win the battle and the war kind of a cross between 'Groundhog Day' and 'Starship Troopers.'

"The use of the words "infinite lives" is no accident," writes Glace. The premise of the film comes from a Japanese graphic novel titled 'All You Need Is Kill', but it is steeped in the classic video game lore: restarting the game over and over until you are prepared for every conceivable threat. This is a fact director Liman openly celebrates and it works here on countless levels. Cruise's efforts to train are all chronicled through an efficient, fun and fluid montage that serves as an excellent progression through the "levels," while cutting out the more mundane, frustrating repetition it "stands as an incredibly creative, intelligent piece of sci-fi filmmaking." "Taking inspiration from an underutilized resource, Cruise has made an incredible return to form," concludes Glace. "Unfortunately, 'Edge of Tomorrow' is already a box-office dud, but I implore you to support this excellent film."

 
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  • (Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Tuesday June 17 2014, @01:00PM

    by Rivenaleem (3400) on Tuesday June 17 2014, @01:00PM (#56341)

    The squeek/scream he makes when he dies had me in stitches after the 'push-ups' death.

    And the look on his face when he goes back for revenge at the farm really reminded me of myself after passing a particularly hard level in a computer game. Sometimes when you play a game and there's a boss that's just unfairly hard, you don't feel joyous when you beat it, you just feel glad it's over.

    Again, there are times when playing a game that you think "I wonder if I can jump that gap" and you do a quicksave, knowing that if you don't make it you can just respawn. There were many points in the movie that reminded me of that. Knowing you had infinite lives, you could try things you never would in a roguelike. It reminds me of moments in WoW, where you wonder what jumping off that huge ledge would be like, so you just remove any gear that takes durability damage and go fly.

    The only thing I don't like about the movie is the ending, there's not a "Time-Paradox" per sé, however there is a continuity error that I can't figure out. It's far too blatant to be an oversight, so I'm guessing we are just expected to let it pass to allow a form of deus ex to do its thing.

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