I thought I’d give my son Thomas a break on the Film at 11 podcast this week. Rather than forcing him to watch another old movie from the 1970s or 1980s with cheesy special effects he likely wouldn’t appreciate, I picked for him the 2014 Tom Cruise sci-fi action epic Edge of Tomorrow. I knew this one would go down well, and it indeed did, but I still had a lot of trouble getting the kid to say more than two words in our first recording of the podcast. So, much like the characters in the movie, we did it all over again until we got it right. I’m not entirely sure we got there, but I hope I managed to cobble something usable out of it.
Despite its underperformance at the box office, Edge of Tomorrow is, for me, pretty much an exemplar of what a fun summer blockbuster should be. The movie has great action and visual effects, good performances, a clever premise (Groundhog Day, but with aliens and explosions!), and solid writing that doesn’t fall victim to too much dumbing-down from studio interference or test audience feedback. What it didn’t have, unfortunately, was a marketable title that would inspire anyone to rush out and see it. And no, I don’t think either All You Need Is Kill (the title of the original Japanese novel it’s adapted from) or Live. Die. Repeat. (the studio’s failed attempt to rebrand for home video) work any better.
| Title: | Edge of Tomorrow |
| Year of Release: | 2014 |
| Director: | Doug Liman |
| Watched On: | Blu-ray |
| Also Available On: | 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Various VOD rental and purchase platforms |
The Blu-ray
Following its box office disappointment in the summer of 2014, Warner Home Video released Edge of Tomorrow onto Blu-ray in October of that year, offering both 2D and 3D options. The SteelBook edition I bought only included the standard 2D version, which was fine by me. I had (and continue to have) little interest in a 3D post-conversion.
A 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray later followed in 2022, but I haven’t felt compelled to upgrade to that either. As a rule, I remain skeptical of the need to upconvert movies from the 2K Digital Intermediate era. In most cases, I feel that Blu-ray remains sufficient. That said, I can’t speak specifically to the 4K edition of this film.
To be honest, even by 1080p standards, the original 2014 Blu-ray for Edge of Tomorrow looks a little soft. Even though it was photographed on 35mm film, the 2.40:1 image has very little visible grain and may have had some Digital Noise Reduction applied. Whether that was baked-in at the DI stage of post-production or added for the Blu-ray transfer, I can’t say. Colors are also a little drab, though possibly by design.
By and large, the disc remains adequate enough for my needs and I’m still not going to rush out to buy a new 4K copy. However, I’ll concede that the Blu-ray leaves some room for improvement. If nothing else, an HDR grade might give highlights and colors a little more pop, and could help to clarify the murkiness of dark scenes.
In the home theater community, this film’s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack is legendary for the deep, wall-rattling bass drop during its opening credits. That’s still just as eye-opening as ever. In fact, after I started watching, my other son actually ran downstairs to ask if we’d had an earthquake.
Bass action during the rest of the movie is also impressive, but doesn’t reach quite so low or hit quite so powerfully as the opening. The surround channels buzz with activity from every direction during the action scenes. In general, this is everything you could want from an action movie soundtrack, even without Dolby Atmos.
Annoyingly, the Blu-ray opens with a couple forced trailers before the main menu. More relevant extra features include a few short featurettes (each less than 10 minutes) about the Operation Downfall action set-piece, the sci-fi power armor suits, and the aliens, plus a 42-minute making-of documentary and a handful of deleted scenes.
Related
- Doug Liman (director)
- Tom Cruise
- Emily Blunt
- Bill Paxton
- Aliens (1986)
- Apollo 13 (1995) – Film at 11 podcast
- One False Move (1992)
- Predator 2 (1990)
- The Terminator (1984)
- True Lies (1994)
- Brendan Gleeson
The Video File Blog 
Say you were a Sid Sheinberg-esque studio exec, what would your favourite choice of title be? (barring Spaceman from Pluto)
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