The Tomorrow War (2021)
The war for the future starts tomorrow.
It’s the day to celebrate all those soldiers who did what they had to do so we can do what we do - and of the lineup that I had, it was decided to spice things up without getting too spicy. Yep, that’s right, I found a movie that could service as commentary, action, spectacle, and do it all whilst serving as a way to salute three separate generations of vets like some sort of perfect storm. Take the old man out to dinner and thank a soldier, tonight we look at The Tomorrow War.
A man seems to be having some rough times with his outlook on life and his current job as plain old teacher after all that military training - but things quickly get complicated when the future comes knocking. In this case, the literal future when a bunch of people drop out of a wormhole and tell the planet “Hey, we need soldiers to fight aliens in the future, or we are all screwed.” Of course, the world is all for it - and then barely any of the first wave of soldiers make it back. Obviously the next step is the civilian draft - and the returns on those aren’t much better. While really just not feeling it at the classroom one day, our lead teacher ends up finding himself called back to arms - this time by the future. His only real goal is to make it back to his family - but the math isn’t in his favor.
So we have a blend of things here, and it’s going to lead to perhaps some spots not shining as bright as if it was a more focused line. For example - the whole idea of “taking people from the past to fight in the future” is just a logical dead end of stupid - I don’t care how quick they try to explain it off with human expiration dates and raft analogies. Now, I still like the movie that comes out of that story beat - the horrible monster-ridden near future is a great place as far as various entertainment forms go, including spooks, tension, gunfire, and horde-grade “oh noes!” Doesn’t stop me from recognizing stupid for stupid - and the closest it gets to having a real logical reason comes from one soldier’s end-game plan that doesn’t really feel like everyone got the memo on - it works, but don’t think too hard on it or you are going to dampen your fun of the good parts.
The acting is normally well done. I mean, the only real substantial character depth goes to the main and future leader, but we do get a bunch of less in-depth attempts for at least three side characters as well, with two playing out as though they have developed some over time as they interact with the main. The characters could have been a lot dumber then they were - both in actions and presentation - but I’ll admit how much you enjoy the comedic side kick action is totally up to your sense of humor despite it entertaining me. There’s a few times where facial expressions can be a bit… void with our lead actor. The future female lead is far better with the emoting and emotions, and I’m not entirely sure that it wasn’t intentional that the male lead was a bit spaced out at times, but it feels a bit wobbly enough for me to call it out regardless.
The future at a glance.
Costumes aren’t anything super duper crazy for the most part - it’s not so futuristic in the future parts that we have exosuits and fancy battle gear - it’s mostly all just standard modern gear getting used, probably on account of it all coming from the past and getting sent forward with the exception of the future-squad that does a bit of raid action for a scene or two, but even that isn’t too futuristic. I’m not going to dock it any for it - the costumes we get still serve their purpose, and the selection of guns all look good despite their propensity to feel as though the magazines are bottomless until it’s dramatically efficient to requires a swap to a sidearm. The mix of gear also causes everyone to looks somewhat different, which makes distinguishing one character from the next super easy during scenes of battle - well, until you get into the “nameless faceless” grunts of the future covered up head to toe and rather indistinguishable from each other.
The beasties are great looking. I’d argue it’s like a more alien take on a displacer beast, but that would do nothing to describe it unless you already do a lot of fantasy games or Dungeons and Dragons. We’ve got crazy white critters with a pair of spike-shooting tentacles that are armored up pretty much everywhere except the neck and stomach - which means they get to be incredibly menacing the entire movie. Yeah, the heavy calibers seem to do a phenomenal job of not giving two craps about that hard body - but where they lack in threat from durability it’s quickly replaced by shear numbers. Honestly, i love the design, as there isn’t much about them that isn’t menacing or functional, although I do question the one scene of gliding critters given it never comes up again - but I’m not going to say it’s a waste because the sweet chopper pilot maneuvers knock it out of the park in entertainment value.
Audio isn’t bad. I mean, it’s all balanced well, and plenty of background noise to help make the scenes feel whatever mood they want. Couldn’t recall any of the soundtrack of the top of my head, but much like the background noise it does exactly what it needs to do when it needs to without overpowering everything else. Line deliveries are well done, even if sometimes the facial expression won’t quite line up with it - and the effects work is all well done as well. Surround sound with a nice bass is a real bonus whenever the beasties start getting uppity - your room will be absolutely rife with the heavy clicking.
Cease and desist!
If I had to knock the movie for anything, it’s the reason of the plot - and if just one element of the plot is the biggest gripe I have, I think it’s safe to say a lot of folks could enjoy this. Acting is well enough, the character moments come out nicely, it has plenty of stuff to offer. Maybe you want that little bit of a relational bonding, maybe you want that sweet alien-fighting action, maybe you want that objective: Survive story - it handles all of it’s elements well enough that it’s enjoyable, even if it doesn’t necessarily excel over a more focused attempt. The monsters look sick, the action is kicking, and there’s even that under laying message of PTSD to help give it a bit more depth.