The Tomorrow War with Chris Pratt - A Good B+ Movie

[gleem]

Just finished watching "The Tomorrow War" with Chris Pratt on Amazon Prime. Kind of a fusion between Independence Day and Terminator 2 (maybe someone else can suggest a better comparison). Is would say it is a good B+. As usual one needs some super-heroics to fight a super enemy as well as scientific breakthroughs to save the world. And of course, you need a smattering of tears. Don't spoil it by reading the Wikipedia blurb.

 

[phinds]

I'd give it more like a C, but I was in the mood for an action flick, so ...

 

[gleem]

I'd give it more like a C, but I was in the mood for an action flick, so ...

Really, not enough action?

 

[phinds]

Really, not enough action?

No, what I meant was I didn't think it was particularly good but I was in the mood for an action movie and it filled the bill

 

[russ_watters]

Just finished watching "The Tomorrow War" with Chris Pratt on Amazon Prime. Kind of a fusion between Independence Day and Terminator 2 (maybe someone else can suggest a better comparison).

Starship Troopers came to mind, especially the capturing the brain bug scene...and the whole, invading bugs from space idea.

I agree with @phinds -- it was just ok. I honestly didn't realize it was a major studio movie meant for theater release. I assumed it was an Amazon original until I looked it up. While the FX were good, it had a bit of a B-movie feel, with mediocre/lazy dialog and some cheap feeling cinematography. Often when two characters were chatting they depth-of-field blurred the background so all you could see was them. I assumed this was a low-budget movie trick to save on sets, but then I saw in the wiki that this movie had a $200M budget, so I guess that choice was made for a different reason. It's a bad choice. In a movie, you (the audience) should be able to look around and view the background in focus just like in real life.

But I felt like watching some mindless action last night and it did the job.

 

[Melbourne Guy]

But I felt like watching some mindless action last night and it did the job.

I'm very late to this, @russ_watters, but if you want mindless violence, 6 Underground fits the bill. It's also on Netflix and more thriller than sci-fi (though the tech deployed in the superyacht KISMET sequence is very future oriented), but it moves at hyperviolence pace. Or, if you're up for a series, Netflix's The Old Guard is good, though again, it's not a sci-fi movie.

As for The Tomorrow War, @gleem, I felt it was two stories smashed into one movie and both were poorly writ. The screenplay looks to only Zach Dean's third and I wondered how much sci-fi he's read (I can't find he's written any), because I felt it lacked a solid understanding of the two main tropes it invokes.

Tom Cruise's alien flicks, Edge of Tomorrow and Oblivion, out act, out script, and out emote The Forever War, which seems to think big name stars can paper over a shaky concept. In that, it reminded me of Netflix's Extraction, where a huge name - Chris Hemsworth in that case - is wasted in a paint-by-numbers plot with so many holes in it that no matter how good an actor you hire, they can't help but fall down a few.

Sadly, The Tomorrow War also took itself way too seriously so there was no edge of sly humour that can save a dumb idea from disaster. Think Red Notice, which is pretty awful, but the actors are having such fun, you're mostly happy to go along with the gag.

It is hard to know if The Tomorrow War was a commercial success. Amazon claimed it was and there was talk of a sequel () mid last year, though I can't immediately find more recent news, but Jeff's studio has sufficient cash to write off a few $200M movies because they support retaining Prime members, so not every one has to be profitable in its own right.

 

[DaveC426913]

... then I saw in the wiki that this movie had a $200 budget,...

I assume this is a typo?

 

[russ_watters]

I assume this is a typo?

Million.

 

[Melbourne Guy]

I assume this is a typo?

Just checking you're awake, @DaveC426913 But didn't @russ_watters add the "M"??

 

[russ_watters]

Just checking you're awake, @DaveC426913 But didn't @russ_watters add the "M"??

I have now, yes.