4K Blu-Ray Review: Edge of Tomorrow

The Film

Take one part Groundhog Day, one part Aliens, throw in a smattering of Terminator, and a whole helping of anime, and you've got Edge of Tomorrow.

Originally titled All You Need is Kill when it was released as a manga, then Live Die Repeat until studio meddling settled for a more generic name, Cruise's big summer movie turned 10 last year, yet feels like it could have come out yesterday. The thrilling script, great performances, and its big crowd-pleaser energy makes it a timeless summer blockbuster that always brings the goods.

In the future, humanity is under threat of extinction as an alien invasion force overwhelms the planet. They seem to know every move humanity makes before we make it, and it's only thanks to the miraculous efforts of Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), a super-soldier in an exoskeleton wielding a giant sword, that there's any hope of survival.

Arriving into this mix is Major William Cage (Tom Cruise), a slimy PR rep sent to sell the war for the rest of the planet. Only this time his superiors have the great idea to send him to the front in the ultimate PR stunt. Cage tries to escape, only to find himself hogtied and on a one way ticket to certain death – which finds him very, very quickly.

And then, he wakes up. Alive, terrified, and repeating the day before his death at the hands of extra-terrestrials. From there, Edge of Tomorrow unfolds at a breathless pace, always keeping the audience guessing what comes next.

Cruise is fantastic playing (mostly) against type. For much of the film, Cage is an insufferable coward; a man who really doesn't belong on the battlefield, and who knows it. There's great fun in watching Cruise throw himself into the part with the same commitment he does for the heroic leading roles. Even as Cage grows into a fearsome action star, we get a sense he'd still save himself first than others. At least for the time being.

Like with Groundhog Day, one of the great pleasures in Edge of Tomorrow is figuring out just how long Cage is stuck in the time loop, and how he grows as a character during his endless purgatory. Cruise sells the reinvention from coward to self-serving fighter to eventually something greater than either he or Vrataski could imagine. Even when the result is obvious, Cruise allows us moments where we can doubt whether or not he'll pull off the impossible.

Similarly, Emily Blunt has never been better than here. Vrataski is like Cage, stuck in an endless loop of slaughter, where her finely honed senses are becoming undone by monotony of death and rebirth. When she meets Cage, her sense of urgency is renewed by desperation and a glimmer of hope. Blunt refuses to play the part as a simple cardboard tough guy. Instead, Vrataski is immensely human and grounded. A perfect foil for the live-wire performance from Cruise.

Directed by Doug Liman and written by Cruise's long-time producing partner Christopher McQuarrie, Edge of Tomorrow sadly wasn't a massive hit at the box office, despite rave reviews from everyone who saw it. In a better world, we'd have at least one sequel to it. Something that could expand on the initial premise even further.

For now, we'll have to make do with this one-off, which remains one of Cruise's best. In a way, it's kind of fitting, especially as one of the main themes in the story is what to do with the limited time that's given to us.

Video

The initial Blu-Ray release for Edge of Tomorrow is one of the best ever, so it's not surprising the 4K doesn't improve on it that much. The HDR10 is a nice addition, though it doesn't pop as much as you'd expect. Meanwhile, the sharpness is just fine, but since the film is upscaled from a 2K intermediate, there's only so much that can be improved from the 1080p source.

But check out the first beach landing sequence, where Liman lays out the rules of the battlefield and the obstacles Cruise's warrior-to-be needs to overcome during the next two hours, and you can see why this is such a great demo disc. There's a ton of stuff happening all at once, and all of it is crisp and clear, with almost no accidental blur or any traces of artefacts.

Only at the end, which takes place mostly at night and underwater, does the film show its limitations of digital cinematography. Whatever the reason for the bland color timing and highlights, the underwater scenes just look a bit drab, and it's sometimes hard to make out what happens in the washed out shadows.

It's not something a simple 4K release could fix, and would require a rethinking of the entire grading. So it's not exactly fair to dock points from the presentation for that.

But at a time when we're getting beautiful restorations to classics both new and old, one could dream of a great re-release for Edge of Tomorrow that really made this film shine.

Audio

Finally, a Nordic release with everything packed into it! Here, the upscaled mix from the Blu-Ray really does make a marked improvement. Everything sounds remarkably better than before, especially in the aforementioned beach landing sequence, where explosions, helicopter engines, alien roars, sand, trucks, and missiles all blend together into an enthralling mix that really tests the speakers.

The dialog is crisp and clear throughout, even during the heaviest action sequences, and it's lovely to see such well designed Atmos mix that never drowns out detail in favor of bombast.

Subtler cues are also lovely, especially in the sequence where Vrataski and Cage seek shelter in an old farm house. Liman plays up the sequence with increasing dread, and it's fantastic to listen to how the creeks and groans of the house play up the increasing tension as Vrataski realizes something's wrong with the situation.

All in all, if you want a great demo disc for an action film, one that really will make the listener sit up and pay attention, you'll have a hard time doing better than Edge of Tomorrow. It's a must-have title for the audio presentation alone.

Extras

The extras are the same as on the Blu-Ray, which means they're just fine and worth your time. Again, since it's a tenth anniversary release, one would hope we'd get something new, but no such luck here.

The featurettes are about a half hour in length, and cover most of the big action sequences and design choices from weapons to creatures. They're nice additions, but sadly superficial and full of the usual "everyone is brilliant, everything was great" marketing talk that is common for this type of PR.

The documentary, On the Edge, is a far better inclusion, featuring Doug Liman's directing process in focus. At 45 minutes, it's also more comprehensive than usual, and despite the self-congratulatory tone, it's nice to see Liman go into the weeds about how difficult it is to put together something as involved as this.

Action films are a particular art of their own, and it's a shame that Cruise and his productions are trying to mystify the craft to this day. For someone like Cruise, who is one of the most talented filmmakers in the field, you'd think he'd want to present every aspect of the production with clarity. Yet, increasingly, his behind-the-scenes footage ends up as half-truths and marketing spin. Here, luckily, it's held back somewhat, but you can see the beginnings of it that would go full throttle with the McQuarrie Mission Impossible machine.

Tangent aside, this is a decent selection of extras. I'm glad they've ported them over to the 4K release.

Overall

While the visuals aren't a huge step forward, Edge of Tomorrow features some of the best audio mixing in any modern 4K release. The film itself is a stone-cold classic and deserves all the love it gets, even a decade after release. While the extras are bereft of anything new, what's there is completely fine.

All in all, Edge of Tomorrow is a must-have title for sci-fi and action fans. One that is so well made it transcends the boundaries of genre conventions and should please audiences all over, regardless of their initial preferences.