Live Die Reteam: Some Thoughts on the Upcoming EDGE OF TOMORROW Sequel

One of my favorite movies from 2014 was the Tom Cruise/Emily Blunt sci-fi action movie Edge of Tomorrow (retitled Live Die Repeat for home video, which is annoying). The film was a critical hit, but audiences were slow to catch up to how great it was. The film made about $370 million at the worldwide box office, which is low in the face of its $175 million budget. However, because the movie attained a lot of goodwill with critics and audiences, the idea of a sequel has been floating around. Everyone seemed to be into it, including screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie (who has worked with Cruise on MI 5 and Jack Reacher). Stars Cruise and Blunt and director Doug Liman seem to be on board as well.

Edge of Tomorrow is a great film, one that deserves to have a proper legacy in sci-fi action. The story is based on a Japanese mange called All You Need is Kill. The narrative was interesting, with an interesting world around it. Cruise and Blunt are electric. Considering how crowded the summer blockbuster season usually, it's not hard to imagine why this movie seemingly slipped under the radar. The movie didn't come from an established property, and Tom Cruise has a hard time selling his non-Mission: Impossible stuff. Truth be told, it's more important that movie exists and people see it. Even if that means after the fact.

News about a sequel should be exciting. The film has a great world, and it managed to hit the right balance between high-octane suspense and pure moviegoing entertainment. The movie may not be perfect (it becomes a little "basic" as it heads towards the climax), but it does exactly what it promises and with unquestionable confidence and style. As it stands, Edge of Tomorrow remains a modern-day sci-fi classic, one that I enjoy recommending to people who had barely heard of it two years ago.

Having said that, I can't muster up much zeal for an Edge of Tomorrow sequel. Of course, when it comes out and it turns out to be good then that's awesome. But, dear readers, we've seen sequels to good original movies crash and burn before, haven't we? Horrible Bosses 2. Takens 2 and 3. Zoolander 2. Sequels have the burden of living up to the original; the name recognition is a double edged sword. A blessing (easier to greenlight/market) and a curse (expectations). The issue arises when studios try to wrangle franchises out of one-shot hits. It's okay for a movie to exist as a singular story that begins and ends within 2 hours, even in our franchise culture.

Instead of sequels, I'd rather see the same group of people work on something new together. A lot of the success in Edge of Tomorrow had to do with the competence and commitment displayed by the actors and crew members. Edge of Tomorrow is not the first of a series, nor does it central concept give way to a franchise. A sequel and other subsequent installments could either repeat the process (Groundhog Day-like time loops) or abandon it by expanding the universe further. Both scenarios are tricky. Repeating the time loop process would seem tiresome, but hanging up that idea could rob the series of its own hook. For a movie like Edge of Tomorrow, the central concept seems like flash-in-the-pan. It really can't be recreated, but also would be missed. A spiritual successor, with the same team working on something new, could be an option.

I don't presume to know more than people who actually get paid to produce this stuff. I just want to point out that it's going to be tricky to find a way to recapture that magic. The team tasked to write the sequel are John Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse, who recently penned the Jesse Owens biopic Race and are working on an adaptation of The Grey Man (directed by McQuarrie and starring Charlize Theron). I'm not super confident in an Edge of Tomorrow sequel. But I guess we shall have to wait to see how it turns out.

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