Shadows on the Wall | The Tomorrow War

The Tomorrow War

dir Chris McKay
scr Zach Dean
prd David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Jules Daly
with Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, JK Simmons, Betty Gilpin, Sam Richardson, Edwin Hodge, Jasmine Mathews, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Keith Powers, Mike Mitchell, Jared Shaw
release US/UK 2.Jul.21
21/US Amazon 2h18

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An over-stretched but enjoyably cheesy action epic, this movie's best scenes involve snappy interaction and time-travel mumbo jumbo. By contrast, director Chris McKay makes battle sequences either oddly dull or chaotically loud. The script is packed with bombastic machismo, so there are plenty of high-octane moments, but not much actual suspense. Still, the extended running time allows for a number of rousing climaxes, including a ripping 40-minute coda.

In December 2022, Dan (Pratt) is a high school biology teacher happily married to Emmy (Gilpin), with a chirpy young daughter Muri (Armstrong). But he feels that life has something special planned for him. Sure enough, a group of soldiers from 30 years in the future turns up begging for help to save humanity from an alien threat, and Dan is drafted to fight. After visiting his estranged father James (Simmons), he joins an ill-prepared team sent to an apocalyptic 2051 Miami. And Command (Strahovski) takes him on a mission that's a last desperate gasp.

The script keeps the mechanics of time travel messy and vague, while the family-friendly rating leaves most grisliness off-screen., And the dialog has the usual snap and crackle in between the action chaos, mixing sarcastic humour with earthy emotion to quickly establish character motivations and plot points. When the carnivorous, spike-hurling aliens finally show themselves, they're a contrived mash-up of every relentlessly vicious movie monster imaginable. And amid the threat of oblivion, there's a steady stream of rah-rah heroism.

Although the roles aren't hugely demanding, these scrappy soldiers are well-played by the ensemble cast. The always likeable Pratt plays Dan as calm under pressure thanks to his requisite special-ops back-story. And Strahovski is terrific as a tough, smart leader who has learned to control her feelings. Their scenes together are fizzy, always engaging even if it's eerily improbable for scientists to be so militarily astute. Richardson offers a continual stream of comedy, while Hodge is the over-serious veteran and Rajskub deploys sardonic comebacks.

The movie includes nods to everything from Alien to Waterworld to It's a Wonderful Life. And it's obvious from the start that there will be some sort of temporal twist that carries a cautionary message. Thankfully, the soapy drama is effortlessly involving, as is a predictable revelation that adds some welcome emotionality. Indeed, Dean's script includes very few surprises, carefully written to the usual formula. But McKay and his cast add just enough personality to keep us watching the brainiacs save the world.

themes, language, violence 2.Jul.21

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