Hacker Cinema
Edge of Tomorrow
2014 · Film · 114 min
Directed by Doug Liman
Major Bill Cage is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously demoted and dropped into combat. Cage is killed within minutes, managing to take an alpha alien down with him. He awakens back at the beginning of the same day and is forced to fight and die again... and again - as physical contact with the alien has thrown him into a time loop.
31 positive5 negative18 neutralfrom 54 commenters
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57 comments on Hacker News
This reminds me of the movie Edge of Tomorrow where the main character decides he doesn't want to fight the aliens today and instead goes into town to get a drink at the pub. The aliens still get him.
Robots and stuff are going to start appearing everywhere soon. He's not going to like that. Hoodlums are probably going to start burglarizing his house with their robot accomplices. Then he won't be able to go outside because he doesn't have a robot bodyguard. His UBI would have paid him to stay inside and stare at the wall, but he won't sign up for that cause it requires a smartphone and an identity implant. Probably wind up homeless with a handwritten sign, "Destroy All Clankers! Anything (without an embedded microchip) helps."
Yeah I mean edge of tomorrow is a great concept though and would have worked without him. Whereas a movie that’s got less going for it like MI 5 will seem bland once he’s commodified
I don't fully agree. Perhaps you're right when it comes to images as a whole, but I think individual images themselves still capture that emotional value for me.
Even if there were a million fake Tom Cruise movies I would still like Edge of Tomorrow (even if it had been AI made).
I replied to the dead "What did you read in 2025" thread, so I'll just paste it here.
Usually I hit a book a week pretty reliably, but this past year has been particularly crazy according to my audible purchase history. There are around 80 titles that I've added in 2025 and I've completed the vast majority of them. Some stand outs for me:
Dungeon Crawler Carl - One of the few novels that I think it actually much better in audio format. The narrator is excellent and it's a fun adventure that never takes itself too seriously. I'm not into litrpg typically, but I really enjoyed the 7 novels in the series so far.
The Laundry Files - I've made it through seven of these books and I really like the mix of mundane government IT with supernatural horrors. Tropes come up like the government tracking paper clip usage, and then you'll get a mystical explanation that makes sense in world so suddenly tracking individual paper clip usage doesn't seem so ridiculous. Generally a fun series, but it seems to be moving towards a revolving cast that I'm less interested in continuing on with.
The Library at Mount Char - One of my favorite books this year. Quite dark and mysterious. I liked the payoff and character arcs. But really it's the well maintained atmosphere that pulls everything together.
There Is No Antimemetics Division - What might the science and research of literally unknowable things look like? Things your mind rejects or presences which can influence your mind to make themselves invisible and leaves no memories behind. Weird novel that doesn't hold your hand too much.
Heavy Weather - A sort of modern cyberpunk meets western novel. Storm chasers following a predicted F6 super tornado across the US south.
The Running Man - I'm not typically a King fan, but I do like some of his works. I have fond memories of the movie from childhood nostalgia so finally gave it a try. I do think it's one of his better works according to my tastes.
Mickey7 - I'm a sucker for time loops and death loops and adjacent novels. This was a short but fun book.
The Society of Unknowable Objects - Small group of people collect mysterious objects from around the world to keep humanity safe.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - Another one dealing with memory. What would it be like to be immortal, but everyone you interact with forgets about you minutes after you leave them.
Edge of Tomorrow - Time loops!
The Troop - Decent read if you like horror novels. One of the better horror novels I read for the year.
Usually I hit a book a week pretty reliably, but this past year has been particularly crazy according to my audible purchase history. There are around 80 titles that I've added in 2025 and I've completed the vast majority of them. Some stand outs for me:
Dungeon Crawler Carl - One of the few novels that I think it actually much better in audio format. The narrator is excellent and it's a fun adventure that never takes itself too seriously. I'm not into litrpg typically, but I really enjoyed the 7 novels in the series so far.
The Laundry Files - I've made it through seven of these books and I really like the mix of mundane government IT with supernatural horrors. Tropes come up like the government tracking paper clip usage, and then you'll get a mystical explanation that makes sense in world so suddenly tracking individual paper clip usage doesn't seem so ridiculous. Generally a fun series, but it seems to be moving towards a revolving cast that I'm less interested in continuing on with.
The Library at Mount Char - One of my favorite books this year. Quite dark and mysterious. I liked the payoff and character arcs. But really it's the well maintained atmosphere that pulls everything together.
There Is No Antimemetics Division - What might the science and research of literally unknowable things look like? Things your mind rejects or presences which can influence your mind to make themselves invisible and leaves no memories behind. Weird novel that doesn't hold your hand too much.
Heavy Weather - A sort of modern cyberpunk meets western novel. Storm chasers following a predicted F6 super tornado across the US south.
The Running Man - I'm not typically a King fan, but I do like some of his works. I have fond memories of the movie from childhood nostalgia so finally gave it a try. I do think it's one of his better works according to my tastes.
Mickey7 - I'm a sucker for time loops and death loops and adjacent novels. This was a short but fun book.
The Society of Unknowable Objects - Small group of people collect mysterious objects from around the world to keep humanity safe.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - Another one dealing with memory. What would it be like to be immortal, but everyone you interact with forgets about you minutes after you leave them.
Edge of Tomorrow - Time loops!
The Troop - Decent read if you like horror novels. One of the better horror novels I read for the year.
Thats from "Aliens", right? Not the movies in the title. As a sibling comment says, RIP Bill Paxton. Really enjoyed the similar army grunt stick from him in "Edge of Tomorrow".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsx2vdn7gpY
Sort of the impetus (which at least gives us a reason unlike the movie adaptation Edge of Tomorrow but is not as important as the impact) in the novella All You Need is Kill.
See also the films Groundhog Day and (especially) Edge of Tomorrow.
Also, this contemporary homage published recently on a British military blog: https://wavellroom.com/2025/07/25/defence-baltic-bridge-dreams/
If data integrity is assured, and thus there is no change in the data to store/transfer, then that's the opposite of computationally transforming the data?
How do we see robot and AI and helping interactions in film and tv and games?
A curated list of films for consideration:
Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" or "The Modern Prometheus" (1818), Metropolis (1927), I\, Robot (1940-1950; Three Laws of Robotics, robopsychology), Macy Conferences (1941-1960; Cybernetics), Tobor the Great (1954), Here Comes Tobor (1956), Jetsons' maid's name: Rosie (1962), Lost in Space (1965), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), THX 1138 (1971), Star Wars (1977), Terminator (1984), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Flubber (1997, 1961), Futurama (TV, 1999-), Star Wars: Phantom Menace (1999), The Iron Giant (1999), Bicentennial Man (1999), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Minority Report (2003), I\, Robot (2004), Team America: World Police (2004), Wall-E (2008), Iron Man (2008), Eagle Eye (2008), Moon (2009), Surrogates (2009), Tron: Legacy (2010), Hugo (2011), Django Unchained (2012), Her (2013), Transcendence (2014), Chappie (2015), Tomorrowland (2015), The Wild Robot (2016, 2024), Ghost in the Shell (2017),
Giant f robots: Gundam (1979), Transformers (TV: 1984-1987, 2007-), Voltron (1984-1985), MechWarrior (1989), Matrix II: Revolutions (2003), Avatar (2009, 2022, 2025), Pacific Rim (2013-), RoboCop (1987, 2014), Edge of Tomorrow (2014),
~AI vehicle: Herbie, The Love Bug (1968-), Knight Rider (TV, 1982-1986), Thunder in Paradise (TV, 1993-95), Heat Vision and Jack (1999), Transformers (2007), Bumblebee (2018)
Games: Portal (2007), LEGO Bricktales (2022), While True: learn() (2018), "NPC" Non-Player Character
Category:Films_about_artificial_intelligence : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Films_about_artificial_intelligence
List of artificial intelligence films: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_artificial_intelligence_films
Category:Films_about_robots: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Films_about_robots
Category:American_robot_films: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_robot_films
Some of my favorites (no particular order):
- The Martian
- Arrival
- Snowpiercer
- Annihilation (a bit scary in some parts, but not really horror overall)
- The Congress
- Ex Machina
- Her
- Children of Men
- Blade Runner & the new Blade Runner
- Gattaca
- District 9
- Edge of Tomorrow
- Elysium
- Terminator 1 & 2
- Upgrade
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Mad Max (new one) and Fury Road
On the cheesier side:
- Demolition Man
- Judge Dredd (both the original and the new one)
- Terminator 3 and beyond
- Matrix movies
Grand vistas but slow and sometimes boring, and often haughty / overbearing:
- The new Dune movies
- 2001: A Space Odyssey and its sequel (some other number, like 2010 or something, can't remember)
- Interstellar
- Inception
------
Of all of those, my top 3 would be the first three (Martian, Arrival, Snowpiercer).
There's a very obvious reason sci fi armors don't look like historical armor: so they look sci fi. If you make your plasteel armor look like a medieval suit then your movie will look like laser jousting. It's why tatooine looks like a western even though it's made of jet engine parts- everyone is just dressed like a western, except the guns shoot lasers.
Also, weight is no longer an issue like it historically was. You used to march to a place and set up camp to fight; now you run patrols and missions. Soldiers need to carry packs and water and ammunition; every loadout will be heavy and cumbersome.
Transport and communications make heavy loadouts possible. Realistic sci fi would not have two armies sprinting at each other or dramatic last stands or light loadouts. Unfortunately that makes for extremely boring movies. People carrying 100 lbs of gear and ambushing each other, then sitting in cover and waiting for heavy fire support is not dramatic.
That said IMO there's a dearth of "heavies"- dress up some huge 7' guy with 4" thick plates of chunky armor and those leaf spring stilts and have him sprint around with a machine gun. That would be fun! If you have a massive population and elite soldiers then why does every single guy look incredibly normal?
Alao shoutout to edge of tomorrow for shaving the coolest power armor of any movie, even if it looked pretty dumb when they were just gliding around on wires. Tom Cruise sprinting in that getup looked awesome.
Hiroshi Sakurazaka wrote 'All you need is kill', which became Edge of Tomorrow film.
And, while not SciFi, I think Haruki Murakami's books are worth a read and might scratch and itch you didn't realise you had. Start with Norwegian Wood if you want a light intro, but then Windup Bird Chronicle next. Possibly 1Q84 after that?
Live-action anime is an oxymoron commonly used to describe live-action film or TV series based on anime or manga, or having similar style to them.
The term is not well-defined.
You could say it applies to Ghost in the Shell, because it is based on existing IP of the genre.
You could stretch it to include The Matrix, which is an original IP but employs a lot of the style
Edge of Tomorrow, even though based on a Japanese light novel, has deviated enough both in plot and style for the term not to apply
I fed the list to GPT and asked which ones the OP liked:
- *Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer (1984)* - Highly recommended, really trippy.
- *Groundhog Day (1993)* - The classic, loved it.
- *Run Lola Run (1998)* - Fun with lots of details on rewatches.
- *The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)* - Highly acclaimed anime adaptation.
- *Timecrimes (2007)* - Classic, intense, and worth watching.
- *Triangle (2009)* - Really good with unexpected twists.
- *Coherence (2013)* - A standout, very good.
- *The Incident (2014)* - One of his absolute favorites.
- *Edge of Tomorrow (2014)* - Pretty great.
- *Blood Punch (2014)* - Pretty good with unique mechanics.
- *Happy Death Day (2017)* - Very good.
- *The Endless (2017)* - The best of the best, though micro-budget.
- *Palm Springs (2020)* - Highly recommended.
- *Boss Level (2020)* - Action-driven, but worth checking out.
- *Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (2020)* - Very good.
- *Maanaadu (2021)* - An excellent Bollywood time loop movie.
Some that haven’t been mentioned yet: Matinee, The First Great Train Robbery, Dave, Ghibli movies (Laputa, Mononoke, Totoro, Kiki, …), Mad Max 2, Nightmare Before Christmas, Edge of Tomorrow, Tremors, Godzilla Minus One, Watchmen, The Fly, Dark City, Passengers, Predestination, Strange Days, WarGames, Tron, Timecrimes, Sneakers, The Frighteners.
I'm going to check out Mad Max for that! My show off my home theatre sound / Atmos go to movies are Edge of Tomorrow, Dune, and the newer Blade Runner.
‘Stuck in a time loop’ stories are essentially extended montages where the point is to watch the protagonist repeatedly fail to get it, give up, look for easy ways out, until finally they figure out the redemptive path to escape. In fact the montage trope within such movies is generally the ‘repeated failure in increasingly awful ways’ montage. Groundhog Day culminates its darkest chapter in a sequence of suicide attempts; Edge of Tomorrow has montages of Tom Cruise doing stuff like misremembering whether to go left or right and dying messily. Both also feature days where the protagonist just doesn’t want to do it, and days they try to just sneak away from the challenge.
The 2010s in sci-fi gaves us:
- Dredd
- Melancholia (may not qualify for some sci-fi fans, I suppose, and I can understand why—it's so very allegorical)
- High Life
- Under the Skin
- Annihilation
- Ex Machina
- Edge of Tomorrow
- Looper
- Blade Runner 2049
- Sorry to Bother You
- Arrival
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- The Last Jedi (I know lots of people hated it—I think it's the only more-or-less good Star Wars movie since the original trilogy, and was shocked at the broadly-negative reaction, having come out of the theater thinking "finally, we got a good one, even if it did play the ending way too safe; everyone's going to be so happy!". We're not gonna change each other's minds in HN comments. Agree to disagree.)
And that's just the ones I've seen and thought were somewhere between good and great. And that I could remember or quickly find a reminder of with a quick search. I hear very good things about the new Planet of the Apes series (like, "each entry is better than the last" good) but have only seen the first one. Lots of people liked Rogue One, Snowpiercer, Ad Astra, and Interstellar (I didn't, or at least didn't think they were notably good, but hey, lots of people did). Godzilla, Pacific Rim, and Kong were OK romps. Heard good things about Upgrade and Attack the Block, but haven't seen them. The Martian was OK (some loved it). Inception was alright (again, lots of others like it way more than I do).
How many really good sci-fi movies did the 70s produce? The 80s? I think we're doing fine.
Very true. I can see that Edge of Tomorrow, Limitless, and Source Code are all PG-13, so he might want to start with those.
Edit: At the same time I feel like these suggestions (including the R-rated ones) are all wonderfully simple, understandable, yet though-provoking and constantly entertaining. Perfect for anyone that finds 2001 to be a slow and tedious movie. I would really want to trust that it's safe for anyone to watch these as long as they have an adult next to them, and someone they can talk about the movie with after.
First some that I don't see mentioned here yet:
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Limitless (2011)
Looper (2012)
Upgrade (2018)
Source Code (2011)
District 9 (2009)
Black Mirror S3E2: "Playtest", S4E1: "USS Callister"
The 7 minute YouTube video "Slaughterbots"[1]
The YouTube series The Backrooms[2]
If you are worried about your son hearing swear words and seeing blood, and not just whether or not he will be able to understand/appreciate the movie, then you probably want to wait with a couple of those.
And then I would also agree with those here that mention Inception, Interstellar, Back to the Future, The Martian, Men in Black, Minority Report, The Terminator, Terminator 2, and The Expanse. I also don't think he should have much of a problem following along with The Matrix.
[1]: https://youtu.be/O-2tpwW0kmU [2]: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVAh-MgDVqvDUEq6qDXqORBioE4Yhol_z
I get the sense that you would like some adult themes, but not too slow?
Top of my mind (and in no specific order) would be:
- Dark City
- The Thirteenth Floor
- City of the Lost Children
- Tron (original and maybe new one)
- Interstellar
- Inception
- A Clockwork Orange
- Her (very relevant to our times)
- Dune (2021 version)
- Brazil
- The Martian
- Children of Men
- Edge of Tomorrow (most like Marvelverse on this list but still very good)
- Moon
- Twelve Monkeys
- Upgrade
- The Fifth Element
- Contact
- Okja
- District 9
- Predestination (very relevant to our times)
- Serenity (but might need some prep from the tv show before watching)
- World on a Wire
- The Abyss
- Minority Report (very relevant in our times)
- The Fly
- Videodrome
- Equilibrium
- Strange Days
- The Andromeda Strain (relevant after Covid)
- eXistenZ (trippy but I loved it when it came out and was only around your sons age)
- In Time (interesting class dynamics on display)
- Enemy Mine
- Franklyn (some interesting takes on mental illness)
- The Arrival
Ghost in the Shell, Sunshine, Children of Men, 12 Monkeys, Edge of Tomorrow, Moon
The Expanse show/books are great
I’m waiting til 13 for Akira
Mine is 11 and matrix, terminator, back to the future, arrival were all too slow. He liked the Jurassic Park books but the movie was “too hokey.”
Blade Runner, Avatar, Ender's Game (which sucked, but still), Aliens movies/Predator movies, Edge of Tomorrow, Matrix movies, Star Trek movies. There are plenty of "not Star Wars" examples out there, some of which are extremely successful.
I don't think it's easy at all. Try to come up with an original plot for a hollywood big budget time travel movie. Take the plot of Edge of Tomorrow. I could never come up with that. Ideas are easy when it's just "Grand theft auto in space", but actual originality? Extremely difficult.
Brazil, The man from Earth, Moon, The fountain, Ad Astra, Donnie Darko, Ender's Game, Edge of tomorrow, Solaris (the old one), Westworld (70s), Metropolis (the japanese anime), Dark Star (trippy, 70s, great end), Firefly series and Serenity movie, Attack the block, Fifth Element, planet of the apes (the old one), ex machina, children of men
I super enjoy pushing innovative new front end technologies in personal projects where a 30 second fix might take as much as 5 minutes after test automation and all necessary due diligence, but at past jobs I just dig that hole they tell me to dig.
If you try to bring up that the days work could be solved in less than hour if only we didn’t make all the wrong decisions and fear the platform they will look at you like you’re retarded. I have heard this mentality expressed perfectly in the movie Edge of Tomorrow: Don’t tell anybody. Are we clear? Best case scenario you’re gonna end up in a psych ward. Worse case you’ll get dissected for study
> saved files are somehow more reliable
I have a whole set of ebooks I picked up at a less than reputable site in '11. They're all in pristine condition, all perfectly readable. I have books on my Kindle that are older than that (though not by a lot).
My 5 year old copy of "Edge of Tomorrow" (The LN "All You Need Is Kill" movie tie-in release) is yellowed and the binding is coming loose due to re-reading. The ebook manga I got at the same time is also in pristine condition, and will remain so when the book is long gone.
I half expected this to depict the battle of Verdun in the Edge of Tomorrow movie.
> non franchise
For now. They've been trying to get an Edge of Tomorrow sequel movie going since about a year after the original, and earlier this year announced a TV series spinoff.
I generally like Tom Cruise movies, they're good more often than not. Edge Of Tomorrow was one of his best.
I've even shown it to my 9 years old kid, he was flabbergasted. Might have not understood everything (he doesn't have the context) but overall he said it was the best movie he ever saw (so far).
+1 for Edge of Tomorrow!
As a Cruise film, it may fall off many people's radars, but it's got some really well worked out trippy stuff in there.
But I'm a sucker for non-completely-dumb time travel stuff. If you are too, be sure to check out Tenet and Predestination, if you haven't watched them already.
Both are well done, evoke consistent atmospheres, and didn't get the attention they deserve. Predestination is more physical in a Cronenbergian sense, while Tenet is pure Nolan administered intravenously.
Total Recall has it all: The rather bloody action and shooting, the gimmicks (digital nail polish! Live X-ray scanners!), abstruse ideas and images (Kuato lives!), Arnie delivering zingers with an Austrian accent. And then, once you grow up and read Philip K. Dick, you actually understand how much of his ambiguous mind games made it into the movie, and watch it a couple of times with that additional perspective. There are very few films which deliver similar amounts of cinematic joy, unfortunately. The last two that I watched were Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men, and surprisingly a Tom Cruise film, Edge of Tomorrow. Both highly recommended if you like Total Recall.
Edge of Tomorrow is another very good sci-fi non franchise film. Also Dredd 2012 which is a comic book film, with an awesome design, but it's fully standalone.
I agree with your take on platform where there is near 0 barrier to entry. Netflix for instance, or TV programming. Casual people will be less willing to go through reviews to device on a piece, and they'll also probably have had other customer reviews or view count guide them in their choice.
It is albeit different if to watch the movie you need to carve 3 hours of your time-off, go to a theater and pay 15€. Instead of randomly choosing a movie currently airing in your local theater, you might want to know if it's something you have any interest for (Imagine watching Edge Of Tomorrow thinking it will be some Star Trooper like spectacle). In that setting I think people expect critics adjust their assessment to the target public of the movie and give an accessible review of the piece. Which is super hard, but that's what they are expected to do.
Edge of Tomorrow builds on a similar premise (Tom Cruise explores a decision tree): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1631867/
> dark. The last few scenes of Edge of Tomorrow were impossible to understand because of this. My impression is: The "arteestes" have taken over Hollywood
1. I thought movie firms were paid to sell more modern screens with contrast ratios 3000:1, so they made it look pitch black for everyone with an older screen. Didn’t occur to me that it could be for art.
2. Oh, in terms of unwatchable shooting style, there was the hype of shoulder cameras in the 2010s, with its apogee in Bourne Legacy (4th). Most shots were 0,5s to 1 second for 20 minutes in a row, unbearable. Especially when it’s a dialog with someone expressing feelings, feels like the director is surfing on the view selectors.
If only the artists have taken over Hollywood...
Do you genuinely believe films like Edge of Tomorrow are works directed by a genuine auteur with full control? That is almost certainly not the case. The director is Doug Liman. He's not a bad director by any means but if you look at his filmography—Mr & Mrs Smith, Jumper, Bourne Identity—he's not exactly Francois Truffaut.
Besides, artists do not behave consistently. Some may care less about comprehension, while others may care deeply. Lumping them all into one category and making a false dichotomy between style and comprehension are both vast oversimplifications.
> On an unrelated note: I dont know why so many movies are shot in the dark. It might make sense when viewed in a theater, but when viewing at home, I can't see anything. The last few scenes of Edge of Tomorrow were impossible to understand because of this.
Actually after re-watching BladeRunner 2049 on my q95t I came to conclusion that I like watching dark scenes on my TV as much or even more then in cinema.
> My impression is: The "arteestes" have taken over Hollywood, and making stylish movies take precedence over making movies that are easy to watch and hear.
Based on what? In my experience, most of the worst audio experiences are middle-brow action movies (such as Edge of Tomorrow and Nolan's movies), not auteur.
For me-- I rarely watch movies without subtitles nowadays; can't understand half the dialog.
Part is the too many audio tracks being mixed in, that the article talks about. Also, I've noticed American actors seem to mumble their lines a lot, I dont know why. British actors (usually) speak clearly. Maybe its a cultural thing, like Americans prefer method acting more?
Also, I've noticed that stage actors like Patrick Stewart , speak clearly, maybe because on stage you have to enunciate properly.
The end result is: If a movie doesn't have subtitles, we don't watch it. (And havent been to a cinema for 2+ years, obviously, in cinemas you rarely get the option).
On an unrelated note: I dont know why so many movies are shot in the dark. It might make sense when viewed in a theater, but when viewing at home, I can't see anything. The last few scenes of Edge of Tomorrow were impossible to understand because of this.
My impression is: The "arteestes" have taken over Hollywood, and making stylish movies take precedence over making movies that are easy to watch and hear.
yea interstellar would be my top movie pick if i was stuck on a desert island that also had a working dvd player
what about under the skin? edge of tomorrow? ex machina? arrival? bladerunner 2049? tenet?
but maybe you mean that they were flops, ie not huge box office hits, or that you didn't enjoy them
Slightly OT: Is the title a reference to "All You Need Is Kill", the source material for the Tom Cruise movie "Edge of Tomorrow"?
One of my favorite movies "Edge of Tomorrow" has dope exoskeletons, and while its a movie - thats where this is heading...
I am surprised Boston Dynamics hasnt made one! If you converted the agility of Atlas into an exoskeleton, that would be pretty interesting...
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
A high-budget, playful action movie exploring the respawn mechanic and video-game logic as a military advantage.
All You Need Is Kill is a great read. The movie, Edge Of Tomorrow, was based on this book.
Most comments here just seem to generally crap on all video game movies to date (correct) and surmise that it's a losing concept (wrong).
Movies afraid to deviate away from source material I don't think applies to the problem. I've probably seen most video game movies (even the cringe-worthy Uwe Boll ones) and I'd say the overwhelming problem is no one on set even bothering to look at the source material, or understanding what they're trying to do.
Someone mentioned Edge of Tomorrow, which never was a game. It was based on a very light-sci-fi japanese novel, in turn inspired by a player's forum account of restarting a game over and over in order to incrementally learn enough to finish it.
But it doesn't really matter whether Edge of Tomorrow was or was not based on a video game. The fact that it works as a movie and you can think about it in terms of a video game proves that there's no issue with making a video game movie.
The problem with Hollywood sometimes or often putting out crap is a Hollywood problem, not a medium or genre problem.
Think of a movie you thought had all potential to be good, but turned out bad, and then google the backstory on its production. I'll put $10 on saying that it most likely suffered from "too many chefs"/creation by committee, and focus-grouping it to death, instead of trusting the vision of the creator(s), whether that be screenwriter, director or other.
This is obviously subjective, but why is the best Marvel movies Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, Deadpool and Logan?
For example, James Mangold did both The Wolverine and Logan, what changed between them?
⌘F Edge
"Edge of Tomorrow" is a fantastic video game movie in spirit. The Groundhog-Day-Formula is not new, but it nails the game experience of having a "savepoint" and getting better and better until you master the bullet hell level.
I'd say Scott Pilgrim, Jumanji, and Edge of Tomorrow are better video game movies in that sense.
All You Need is Kill/Edge of Tomorrow covers the worst case scenario, for the receiving planet. I think they left out the explanatory chapter in the novella out of the movie since that required an omniscient narrator or Jeff Goldblum's character from Independence Day.
I hated 3D movies at first. Then I watched Edge of Tomorrow twice: first in 3D and then in 2D. I stopped noticing that it was in 3D partway through the first time. When I watched the second time, I noticed a significantly muted emotional response when viewed in 2d.
Going to repeat a lot of what has been said so far:
- Minority Report (The TV show isn't bad either)
- Ex Machina
- District 9
- Elysium
- Oblivion
- Edge of Tomorrow
- Looper
- I am Legend
- Her
- The Martian
- The Matrix (Only 2 & 3 if you're super bored)
- Basically any of the Mad Max series
- Firefly (TV show, movies are OK)
- Dark Matter (TV show)
- Snow Piercer
- American Ultra
- Last Witch Hunter (more fantasy than SciFi)
- Riddick
- Dredd
- X Files (I mean, it's not NOT scifi...)
- Treasure Planet (Yes, the animated one)
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Gets a bad rap for being animated, but it has it's own language and everything)
- Serial Lain Experiments (anime)
- Watchmen
- The Dark Knight
- Inception
- The Prestige (technically SciFi)
I can go on for hours
Stargate. District 9. Inception. Equilibrium. Mad Max: Fury Road. Moon. Edge of Tomorrow.
Edit: The Man From Earth if you can dig independent cinema.
It didn't help that they changed the name to Live Die Repeat for its home release. My wife doesn't like action movies or Tom Cruise but loved Edge of Tomorrow. That movie was definitely a missed opportunity.
I am not an insider but wow, this really resonated with me.
> We pursued a potentially great summer movie like Edge of Tomorrow and completely botched its release.
Edge of Tomorrow was a pretty solid movie. I would absolutely have gone to it in the theater, but the marketing just did not connect with me. I've run into this with a number of movies now.
The next study should be how many times we re-watch the same show / movie because nothing else appealing is on.
Have watched Edge of Tomorrow on HBO probably 20 times now and have started re-watching from the beginning House of Lies. Probably re-watch House of Cards next.
A process a little bit like that is a background detail in the book 'All You Need Is Kill' – which is the basis for the Tom Cruise movie 'Edge of Tomorrow' ("Live, Die, Repeat").
Aside from the fact that Google doesn't have much choice WRT to DMCA and it's the US government fault, there's this funny thing about ChillingEffect that it doesn't really censor that much.
For instance, let me search for "Edge of Tomorrow full movie". At the bottom of the page I can see that some results were removed due to DMCA request. There's a link to the complaint:
http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=1802711
Voilà! All the "censored" links enumerated right there (many of them working).