The Tomorrow War is a Sci-fi blockbuster, directed by Chris McKay. It has a phenomenal cast and an incredibly intriguing idea which serves as a base for its tremendous action sequences.
The Tomorrow War Movie Plot
The Tomorrow War is all about a war with the future. More specifically, the aliens who invade earth in the future. Dan and his team have to proactively work together in order to come up with a solution which could end it for good and in turn, save humanity.
The Tomorrow War Movie Cast
- Chris Pratt as Dan Forester
- Yvonne Strahovski as Romeo Command
- J.K. Simmons as James Forester
- Sam Richardson as Charlie
- Betty Gilpin as Betty Forester
The Tomorrow War Movie Review
The Tomorrow War is a Science Fiction which forces the protagonists to go into the future to prevent a war from happening in the past. It packs a great concept and some really well choreographed and anxiety inducing action scenes, but sadly, the same can’t be said about its utilization of the concept and how it weaves a narrative out of it.
Chris Pratt is the heart and soul of this movie, and we follow him as he fights these monsters from the future and for most part, all of them are fighting a losing battle. Somewhere in the story of this battle lies a deep and emotional fatherly impact wherein one person selfishly goes to the future in order to prevent his daughter from falling to that same horrid fate.
I would have liked a more concise narrative which flowed better, almost like Edge of Tomorrow and even though the action in this is at par, if not better, the story still lags behind.
We follow the character of Dan (Played by Chris Pratt) in The Tomorrow War. He has lived a simple life, working a decent job as a teacher, but his real talent for science and chemistry lies wasted. In spite of trying so hard to acquire a job which aligns with his deepest passion, his bad luck forces him to go back to school.
So one fine evening, a football stadium in the US gets invaded by a portal and what comes out of it are humans, but from the future. They proclaim that an alien species has invaded the world and the only way to prevent it is to stop it in the future and end the conflict for good.
The prevalent dynamic of kids and youngsters being forced to go in the war is turned upside down as now it is the adults who have to go into the year 2051, for a week, and kill as many monsters as they possibly can. Some are there because of their own personal volition and the others are forced against their will. Each living man and woman is turned into a soldier, and for one week, their life is controlled by a thin fate.
The Tomorrow War Movie: Breathtaking Action Set Pieces
The Tomorrow War has some insane action sequences which don’t just create fights for the sake of it. Everything feels planned and they fit the narrative that the movie is trying to establish. From that entry into 2051 right into a swimming pool with heads bashing on the ledges, the floor and many who completely miss the pool, the brutality of this situation comes into the picture.
It becomes increasingly clear as to how unprepared and desperate the population is that they have no option whatsoever to stop those accidental deaths. Moreover, they don’t even reference those deaths and it just becomes another workplace accident like the thousand other workplace accidents that might have already taken place.
It is dark and not without its stakes. Dan’s experience as a Navy Seal is what keeps him going and promotes him as the self-proclaimed leader of the group as he tries to get the group out of the building, and into the war.
Monsters feel like a blend of Edge of Tomorrow and a Guillermo Del Toro creature, yet they still carry their own gimmicks and character. The one thing that I found really unique and badass was their ability to shoot projectiles from their claws and watching those mini blades stab people in full velocity felt really fresh and unlike anything I have seen before. Their Presence feels menacing and works terrifically as a way of building an incredible amount of tension and anxiety.
The Tomorrow War Movie: A Rather Muddled Climax
Coming back to the action sequences, my favourite one has to be when they try to trap one of the creatures in a pit in the middle of an infested landscape. The CGI and the visual effects flows so smoothly with the choreography of the sequence and watching Chris Pratt singlehandedly tackle this ginormous hunk of a creature with his honed skill set was spectacular.
And obviously, all of these scenes wouldn’t have been the same without that fantastic score by Lorne Balfe. It creates a sense of victory as they get away from an island full of aliens, but it also makes you emotional as characters have to watch their closest allies and children die in front of their eyes.
The concept however, carries a lot of plot holes in itself. It was to be expected that even the most original ideas carry flaws, but the main issue The Tomorrow War succumbs to is its inability to effectively weave the narrative together. It falls prey to some pacing issues and the tension and anxiety it builds with the better part of the movie get lost in its hazy climax.
The slope of excitement which went upward throughout the movie, comes falling down as the climax doesn’t manage to justify the glamour it dished us before. Not just the climax but the events leading up to it feel sudden and unrealized, and quite frankly, silly.
It tries to jumble between light-hearted plot arcs and the yada-yadas of Sci-Fi and it doesn’t necessarily succeed in balancing them. The Father Son portrayal of Chris Pratt’s and J.K. Simmons’s character takes priority, but my investment in Dan’s and his daughter’s relationship was far greater than his and his father’s relationship, so I ended up feeling weirdly confused with the direction that it took.
The other minute plot holes are many in this film, but again, picking out plot holes in a time travel movie is like barking at a moving car, it serves no purpose. Some films do it better, some films do it weird, and The Tomorrow War kinda tips towards the prior.
The Tomorrow War is still an amazing Science Fiction which is epic for almost the entire runtime. Chris Pratt gives a terrific performance as he successfully jumbles between playing a badass soldier and a broken father and son. It is bound to be a treat for die hard Chris Pratt fans, and the connoisseurs of Science-Fiction will have a fairly good time with the build-up of the movie, however I can’t really say the same about its final act. It is a proper blockbuster which will definitely serve as a bang for your Amazon Prime Video Membership.
The Movie Culture Synopsis
Chris Pratt rules The Tomorrow War with one of his best performances till date in a Sci-Fi offering. Chris McKay takes a wild jump from directing animated movies to a full-fledged blockbuster which definitely serves its purpose. It hits hard and amazes you at many points, even when the story gets muddled as it reaches the end.
Watching this on the biggest screen possible will definitely blow you away with its sheer scale and scope, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a mix of mindful and mindless action.
