Cruise fights endless battle in Edge of Tomorrow

MANILA, Philippines - Tom Cruise finds himself in an endless battle over and over and can succeed only by employing a most implausible strategy — Live. Die. Repeat — in Warner Bros. Pictures’ new sci-fi action adventure, Edge of Tomorrow.

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). As Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated encounter gets them one step closer to defeating the enemy.

Cage’s unusual situation stems from his first — and seemingly last — battle with an alien. He quickly loses, and should lose his life, but has the unique ability to “reset” the day, waking once again in the exact location, at the exact moment, he did that morning. Justifiably, utterly confused, Cage can’t understand why no one else seems to be aware of the horrific events that already happened. Rather, they are prepping for the very fight they unknowingly have already lost.

Cruise says he was intrigued by these wholly unforeseen, highly-undesirable circumstances and the way his character reacts to them. “The structure of the story and the way the time loop works allow the audience to come in, understand the rules, and then go right along with Cage on a constant accelerative progression. Even though he is living the same day over and over, it never feels the same because his behavior always changes; he always moves the action forward.”

Edge of Tomorrow is now showing in theaters.