Aug. 24 — The annual movie on the lawn and Public Safety BBQ was held on Saturday. Students formed a giant line as they patiently waited for pulled pork sandwiches, beans, chips and coleslaw provided and served by Public Safety. For the past two years, movie on the lawn has been one of the biggest films shown by Laker Cinema that year; however, the big budget movie Edge of Tomorrow, directed by Doug Liman and starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, did not live up to expectations.
Before the movie students seemed content eating and playing frisbee, or just hanging out with friends as they waited for the sun to go down and the movie to start. Activities Board did a good job hosting the event with a ton of free popcorn and candy as well as a raffle containing several DVDs and candy, which was ironically won by a member of Public Safety who helped with the BBQ.
Edge of Tomorrow is loosely based on the Japanese light novel titled All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, which was adopted into a manga earlier this year. The story revolves around William Cage, played by Tom Cruise, a man with no military training who unwillingly is sent on a suicide mission during a war against an alien species called “mimics.” After miraculously defeating one of the monsters, Cage gains the ability to reset the day with one catch: he has to die. After hours of training by protagonist Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), he may be humanity’s last hope.
As a standalone, the movie was solid. Students tended to dislike it, claiming that the film was not very compelling and was repetitive. Others enjoyed the movie due to its interesting plot and fast-paced action scenes.The ending was a little too convenient, too happy for the deadly theme carried throughout the film — a typical Tom Cruise ending as stated by several students. The special effects were well done, although a bit distracting at times, and the mimics were never even clearly seen in the movie. Rather they were dark, moving shadows that emerged from nowhere. A big distraction for viewers on Brady lawn was that several scenes were not much more than a black screen, including the finale. This coupled with the light-pollutednight sky made it difficult to decipher what was happening. Fans of the original story will most likely be disappointed by this film. The movie kept the same basic premise and Rita Vrataski’s name, but the similarities end there. Iconic images from the original such as the battle suit’s colors, Rita’s battle ax, and the homemade coffee were eliminated. The plot was altered, and a great story was altered by Hollywood’s big time script writers.
The event itself was a fun chance to hang out with friends, eat, and relax outside before classes start and the snow inevitably follows. Sci-fi fans may like this movie for the beautiful effects, advanced technology used in the story,and an interesting plot, but wasn’t the All You Need is Kill that readers wanted to see adapted.
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