Edge of Tomorrow
POSTED BY: JEWELSTAITEFAN
UPDATED: Saturday, October 18, 2025 16:24
VIEWED: 42006
PAGE 7 of 22
SPOILER ALERT
SPOILER DISCUSSION IN THIS POST
Quote:
Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:Quote:
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:Quote:
Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
I could tell he liked it because we recited some of the more funny lines and scenes in the movie, plus, and this was a big one for him, we discussed the ending. We both were not satisfied.......me, I wanted it to be told from a different point of view (no spoilers) and he was questioning the helicopter scene. Why there? (For those who've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. If not, send me a message).
T'was better the second time around.
SGG
Do you mean why did the Omega select the location of the helicopter scene for it's significance? It hought that was explained well.
You wanted the ending to be told from a different point of view, or the whole film? From a different character's PoV? What?
When I originally saw the film I didn't realize that, once he beat the Omega that everything was as it was prior to the invasion of the aliens.
In terms of the ending, I thought it would have more impact at the end showing her point of view; meaning meeting Cage for the first time. Then cutting to him smiling at Rita (please know that I note this as a minor quibble on my part).
SGG
That IS what was shown - her meeting him for the first time. Everything else that we and Cage saw didn't happen, and never will. This is precisely why we have seen her reaction to what he will say, because we've already seen the exact same thing over and over every time she meets him.
I still don't understand your reference to the helicopter scene - why there what?
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SPOILER ALERT
SPOILER DISCUSSION IN THIS POST
Quote:
Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
First of all, sorry i took so long in responding.
The hero's truth or reversal: the moment when he sees his purpose, goal or mission. When he, or she, discovers the heart of the matter.
In EoT, that moment of clarity comes at the bridge in London, the one he was crossing on his motorcycle. He stops to look down into the river and he sees the Mimics scurrying through the water - they had reached London. It is at that moment that he sees his truth. He's got to put on his game face and get trained properly or else. I believe it's the moment he decides to go it alone, without Rita.
SGG
I think you have it backwards. That scene was after he knew he had to go without Rita if she was to ever survive (and his life without her would not be worth the world being saved from invasion), he was never able to get that far (past the helicopter) with her along. The last dying scene with her at the helicopter was the last time he brought her along, until he found out the vision was a trap. He would not have gotten to that scene you mention if he had not already decided to go it alone, without Rita.
Also, he had already been getting trained properly - going alone was only a strategery decision.
1. He advances to the helicopter scene, decides next life to bypass Rita to save her life.
2. He advances, without Rita to find it was a trap (just like hers at Verdun).
3. He tells her and the science guy it was a trap, and they re-team to go directly to the weaselly a-hole General.
The 0nly "or else" time was after the transfusion - after that the world ends. Co-opting J Squad was the biggest risk the world faced, and holding her in reserve until he got their attention was the secret weapon - was that the ballsy idea of Rita, or Cage? Likely Cage, because she did not know them. Also remember, he needed to already have made all those connections during his other lives, not knowing that this one time, without the possibility of reboot, he would need that info to convince them - and while you and Mal4 seem to think he was slacking during all those other lives, he was constantly learning the info which would result in the world being saved - and he alone had the power and knowledge needed to save it.
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Yeah, so now you must all see why I find JSF to be such an ass. His attitude carries over from other boards, because he is what he is. He worships any "hero figure" that is sold to him, allowing no criticism, no matter how well grounded.
That obviousness aside - SGG, you bring up some good points, and none I disagree with. There was a definite change in Cage's character. I hadn't really connected it to the bridge scene, but I think you're right on. It makes sense.
Back to JSF's ignorance: I'll bet any online pseudo currency that when the DVD comes out and the writers/directors/actors comment on the arc of the show, they'll describe the arc of Cage going from loser-coward to hero, rather than JSF's neocon fantasy of "always the perfect hero that no one really appreciated".
It's why the RWED arguments come into this: the reason JSF can't allow for the rather obvious arc of the movie is the same reason he has so many blatantly stupid opinions in RWED. He worships his own side as *always* good, no matter what. He cannot grok a shift in character, a person going from bad to good, learning and changing based on the circumstances. I am more than a little amused that JSF is so sold on his neocon worldview that he cannot interpret a very obvious character arc in a completely non subtle Hollywood movie.
Kvetch all he wants: the truth will out in the end. I will point it out to JSF when it happens, and he will come up with some new kvetch about how it's so unfair to mock him for being wrong.
Put this in the predictions thread. I will follow up. Will you, cringing little JSF?
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Yes, I see. But it is a good challenge, testing my mettle (I used metal before to describe Cage's fortitude, obviously that was the wrong word).
I love a good challenge.
SGG
Quote:
Originally posted by MAL4PREZ:
Yeah, so now you must all see why I find JSF to be such an ass. His attitude carries over from other boards, because he is what he is. He worships any "hero figure" that is sold to him, allowing no criticism, no matter how well grounded.
That obviousness aside - SGG, you bring up some good points, and none I disagree with. There was a definite change in Cage's character. I hadn't really connected it to the bridge scene, but I think you're right on. It makes sense.
Back to JSF's ignorance: I'll bet any online pseudo currency that when the DVD comes out and the writers/directors/actors comment on the arc of the show, they'll describe the arc of Cage going from loser-coward to hero, rather than JSF's neocon fantasy of "always the perfect hero that no one really appreciated".
It's why the RWED arguments come into this: the reason JSF can't allow for the rather obvious arc of the movie is the same reason he has so many blatantly stupid opinions in RWED. He worships his own side as *always* good, no matter what. He cannot grok a shift in character, a person going from bad to good, learning and changing based on the circumstances. I am more than a little amused that JSF is so sold on his neocon worldview that he cannot interpret a very obvious character arc in a completely non subtle Hollywood movie.
Kvetch all he wants: the truth will out in the end. I will point it out to JSF when it happens, and he will come up with some new kvetch about how it's so unfair to mock him for being wrong.
Put this in the predictions thread. I will follow up. Will you, cringing little JSF?
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Class is in session (boy that was cocky) I'm feeling the flow..............
"I think you have it backwards."
Perhaps I do, but let's dig a little deeper, shall we!?
The Theme: The heart of the matter
Cage is not exactly hero material at the outset (we agree on that much, right?) He tries to weasel his way out of being thrown into combat. He even can't stand the sight of blood. Okay, the story establishes that early on. This is his truth. Ya with me so far.
Next............
He's at the base camp and he's gently awakened by a drill sergeant, and we get our first glance at Rita's poster on the bus, which is significant, but more on that later**
Skipping on down to his first encounter with Master Sgt. Farrell
Farrell sizes him up and, through his vast experience, he instinctively knows the type he's dealing with. He's a liar (ad man) and a coward, putting himself above others. Selfish, etc.
Why am I going this way? Patience grasshopper, it will all come together.
Farrell strips him of his rank - he is now a private. The military routinely does this, I'm sure I don't need to elaborate. But now he is nothing, a "parasitic scum" and about to be "baptised" in glorious battle, D-Day!
Foreshadowing made flesh.
Farrell's speech, as the audience laughed and giggle (I must say, as I watched I was not aware of it's significance to where I am now - the theme of the movie - and how I, along with my fellow moviegoers, brushed it aside)
was giving us the film's thesis. Now, mind you, I said the film's thesis.
This is important, well because it's crucial to the main thrust of the film, but also because it lurks in the background ready to pounce at the right moment. The time loop; hero = Rita, already a mean mother and transferred to our liar/coward Cage.
It's about to get real!
He goes to battle and, just as the sergeant said, thought of himself and used the bomb to survive. Little did he know that was the beginning of his "baptism" and hence to the beginning of his journey and his fate. Not battle (Ooo, I have goosebumps) but to meet Rita.
Damn, I'm good!
More on that later. let me answer your question directly.
**Actually, I change my mind, because this will tie in nicely. Back when he awakens at base camp, he sees Rita on the bus poster. He knows who she is, and I say he's intrigued, but he's about to meet her (we know this from the trailers). This is his fate. Again movie foreshadowing. Back to the point.
She is everything he's not, they're at opposite ends of the spectrum. Hero - Coward.
They meet in battle, and he steps into her world when he kills the Alpha.
Their fate is sealed right then and there. It is the How we get from point A to point B. From low life pond scum to hero. She trains him because he's their only hope for survival. She must do everything in her power to give him her experience, and hope that he will not wimp out. He's really not into it, no focus, just going through the motions. Until he gets to know her.
Now, each time he resets, he sees her bus poster and she's becoming more to him than just his trainer. We all know that, so on to the helicopter scene where she dies. Yes, he realizes that they cannot get past that point, and "we" see that he cares for her. He doesn't want to live in a world without her, so I agree with you. But it is her determination, coupled with his emotional connection to her, that drives him now. He is no longer thinking of self. He has become HERO.
Now, at the bridge he does come to a realization. He must train harder and focus like never before. He has something to fight for - Rita. She had poured into him everything she was, and he wants this in his life. He is HERO and it was forged within him by her sheer will and strength of character. He is reborn, no longer the sniveling coward. He falls for her and wants desperately to save her, at all costs. So, he does what he
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Quote:
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
...and while you and Mal4 seem to think he was slacking during all those other lives...
Shift those goalposts LOL! No one said this. The man *started* a coward was my point. I said nothing about "all" those other lives.
Hmm. Perhaps you disagree with me because you never actually read my posts and have no idea of what I'm saying.
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**SPOILERS TO FOLLOW
Quote:
Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
Cage is not exactly hero material at the outset (we agree on that much, right?)
Well, you and I agree. JSF sez this:
Quote:
No. The General was being an ass. You might think of it as "first wave" and write them off. But those were supposed to be trained guys. He was not, absolutely not. He was wasting a suit/armor thing. He absolutely should not have been there. You might think him being shanghai'd was reasonable, but that reeks of Criminal acts under the UCMJ. He[Cage] was trying to be reasonable. The general falsified documents, falsely accused him of desertion, framed him, the General was the weasel and coward. Not Cage.
The rest of your take -
The scene in London, on the bridge, I originally didn't see as so important as a character moment. I didn't think he was really deserting when he went for a beer, just taking a day off out of exhaustion and frustration. The attack on London I took to be the writers just letting the audience know how *important* this battle is, in case we hadn't caught it. Cage and Rita already knew that the aliens were out to make this day the Final Battle, right?. (It's been a while so I might have mixed up the timeline a bit, but I think they had that figured out early on.)
But I like your take, that even as he learned to fight and starts to get bad-ass he is still largely selfish. The attack on London and the middle-name helicopter death of Rita are what turned him around internally, because he has that connection to her and something to fight for.
So, yeah. Total agreement!
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**MORE SPOILERS
Back to the ending: Rita's POV, yes, that's totally what I meant by the way I'd tell it if I'd been clever enough to come up with this story. From her POV, and the aliens are suddenly all dead for some reason she doesn't know, but then this guy shows up and tells her how they won, how she trained him and guided him and died in battle over and over and in Paris sacrificed herself so he could kill the omega. All these tellings done in his POV, so her POV is maybe only a prologue and epilogue.
Which gives the victory away at the start, but come on, does anyone really doubt the good guys will win in a movie like this?
And of course she'd believe it as she always does, because she's been through it. And he knows her middle name. ;)
So, JSF, that's what I mean by this interaction between them being different. Of course her initial reaction is the same, as was shown in the movie, but everything to follow the cut-off is all new. No rush to save the world, to train, to survive. Just a long talk while he tells the story. And of course, a budding romance... LOL!
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I agree with you that the scene in the bar is not him deserting, but rather him taking a break to regroup, recharge and see what angle he could approach the battle from. Even when the old codgers insult him by calling him a coward, it doesn't phase him, he's already changed, he just doesn't realize fully the reason why.
I'm a little fuzzy on the timeline myself, but that moment on the bridge was a crucial moment. During his training by Rita, he constantly complains whenever she goes to "reset" because he's hurt or wounded. By the helicopter/Rita scene he's already in love with her, and, for the life of him, he can't figure out how to save her.
Damn, I'm definitely getting the DVD with all the trimmings. The more I try to analyze and discuss the more intrigued I get about this movie's moments and set ups. Each moment I'm more convinced that this was a near perfect movie, as actioners go. Damn, for any movie. I always complain about plot, set up and pay off. I was disappointed in the ending because it was neatly, but quite abruptly tied up into a cute bow. It was, for me anyways, anti-climatic. But not in a totally dissatisfying way. It's just that after all that brilliant set up during the first 3/4 of the movie, it felt like they rushed those final scenes to fit the movie under a certain time.
JSF's opinions notwithstanding.............
To me the bridge scene was saying to us and to Cage - the battle at the beach was lost and now the aliens were IN London. The look on his face was "Shit, this is serious. I gotta do something NOW!" Then he resets. If I remember it correctly, it is then that he gets his game face on and bares down on his training that even Rita looks at him and says "Wow, look at him go." There is a great sequence where he's so focused that he destroys all the practice robots with such ease and assuredness. The final battle sequence the writers let their guard down for a moment, they slip just a little.
Again, I have to read that book. The ending was good, but not great like the rest of the movie, in terms of set up and plot. But that's just me.
As for the general's motivations - truly he was not amused by Cage's attempt at bribery. A low level move on his part, further showing Cage's character. Our friend seemed to overlook that little tidbit. The general's reaction was quite expected under the circumstances. He wanted that PR work to be done his way, period.
The Bridge Scene (as I call it) was when he sees "this is it," as I stated above, but yeah it's been establish by brilliant writing. But remember Rita tells him that it was a trap, so that's in the back of everyone's mind. Could they be setting Cage up for another trap? You see how that is worked in so smoothly by the writers. The seed is planted. But what Cage realizes is that the aliens must have won at the beach because here they are in London. it's like the final chess piece.
The Rita/Helicopter Death scene: Again the writing. It is here where we come to see just how much Cage cares for Rita. The coffee, the little details, the wanting to know her middle name. But there's more and "we" find out as Rita does, that Cage is holding out. In an attempt to save her, he withholds the keys to the copter. With all his fussing over her, she figures it out. He's trying to hard to have her stay there, because he knows she dies and he can't stop or change it. Remember back when the Big guy with no underwear gets smushed by the transporter and Cage turns away as if saying, what the hell he's toast. Well, he comes to that same reality with Rita at this point. It here where I think he decides, "I'm not going to find her and go it alone."
The writing was so good there because we find out at the same moment that Rita does. They show us, the visual equivalent of showing us in a novel....only better. So yes, the Final Battle was supposed to be on the beach, and both Rita
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Epilogue and Prologue...........see this is why I look forward to discussing movies with you. You make me think. I never would have thought of a prologue.
Now it doesn't necessarily have to give away the ending. Bare with me a moment.
Scene: We come in upon the great battle at Verdun. We see Rita in full armor kicking ass, they win, she's wounded and transported asap to the MASH unit, accompanied by her squad - a lot of macho crap goes on; like one of her crew threatens the doctors with death if she dies, she's tagged with the FMB moniker - "tough as nails, she'll never die" - blood transfusion.
She wakes up and we see this look on her face, everyone is celebrating, drinking and carrying on, the general and his press staff names her the "Angel of Verdun" (that instead of FMB), by her bedside is the scientist who knows her secret, she whispers to him and he gets the same incredulous look on his face (all the while she doesn't utter a word). It's Cage pitching an ad for the war in voice over, but he's mainly bragging about himself, how good he is. He mentions that he's going to see the general, self-importance at being called in and they're sending a helicopter.
Meanwhile, as Cage speaks, the camera is slowly zooming in on Rita's eyes and she stares blankly until all we have is her eyes.
As Cage mentions the helicopter, cut to the scene when the copter comes in with him. So we go from Rita's eyes to the helicopter hovering above Trafalgar Square.
It establishes a few of things: Rita is a bad ass; Cage is a used car salesman, Rita's scientist friend, her squad respects her, something is amiss (because of that look Rita gives straight to the camera), foreshadowing of Rita and Cage's fate - all without revealing anything to the audience.
EPILOGUE:
Of course, the ending would need to change a bit. Well, everything remains the same until the moment Rita kisses Cage goodbye.
She goes off to battle the Alpha to distract him from going after Cage, but she dies. We see her courageously battle the Alpha and see her die. The Alpha then goes after Cage, he pulls the pins and the last shot we see are the pins floating in the water - BLAST, screen goes white.
The screen stays white for several seconds, then the faint sound of a news anchor reporting that the war is over. The Angel of Verdun is now the Angel of Orleans. She heroically leads the army to victory in Orleans (not Paris, an obvious tie-in to Joan of Arc who lead the French against the English despite impossible odds).
Church bells ring, doves fly, people dancing in the streets, cats and dogs living together, Joy every where except............
Cut to Rita doing her Yoga thing at the base, alone as usual, her men in the background as usual. She is as focused as ever and nobody goes near her.
Cut to an exterior shot of a helicopter (that seems to be a theme of good and bad news) landing in Trafalgar Square. It opens, door closes..........
Next the camera is following the footsteps, along the corridor everyone is yelling "Attention" but the camera never leaves the feet.
Cut to Rita looking out toward the corridor in her yoga position, all she sees are the feet of someone approaching. She stops, rises.
Camera is focused on her face, she asks him what gives him the nerve to disturb her.
Cut to Cage's face: "Have I got a story to tell you."
He smiles, freeze frame.
Now, will that ending work? Yep. It's established early on that the Omega controls the whole shebang. So it has the powers of the Alpha and then some.
So the audience will assume that Cage reset the timeline because he got the Omega's blood. Cruise still gets his happy ending with a somewhat surprise ending, since we don't see him actually die. But that's minor.
I dare say that even if we know that the good guys are going to win, it's the how, if presented properly, that we are interested in. How did they meet? How did he get away? Cage mus
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