This isn’t “news” as much as it is, I suppose, a compelling point for discussion.
I know a great many folks who pretty much loved Tom Cruise’s darkly humored, thoroughly mental time looping epic THE EDGE OF TOMORROW. The one consistent criticism of the film, though, has been it’s ending.
If you’ve yet to see the movie, it’s best not to proceed beyond this point. But for those of you who have, FilmSchoolRejects has an interesting discussion with scripter Christopher McQuarrie about the challenges of closing Cruise’s exhausting loop and ending the picture.
“I was always arguing it has to end on the helicopter,” he explained. “You have to be thrown back to wondering, ‘Did the movie even happen? Did any of this really happen?’ To that end, there were a million things you had to do with the writing and visually, to serve that ending. That presented a lot of challenges and debate for us. We really struggled to deliver what the movie needed to be emotionally. I know the ending was somewhat controversial, with some people who didn’t like it. I think the only way to make those people happy would to end the movie in a way that wasn’t happy. We weren’t interested in doing that. It needed to end in a way that wasn’t harsh.
..says McQuarrie HERE, in a piece which also discusses some changes to the film’s final campaign against the Mimics.
I didn’t mind EDGE OF TOMORROW’s ending - I felt it was at least earned and rational within the framework of the narrative - but I do feel the wrap-up might’ve had a bit more emotional bite or resonance. There’s cewrtainly an agreeable ambiguity to ‘what happens next?’ - but I’m not sure it payed off completely in terms of how much we’d already invested in the Cruise and Blunt characters.
What do you think?
If you haven’t seen EDGE OF TOMORROW, consider checking it out. Some of the humor - which I understand Cruise had to guide filmmakers towards - is rather wonderful, and it’s a spectacular and generally smart ride as well.
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Glen Oliver
"Merrick"
