The Tomorrow War

Pure-blooded military sci-fi for dads and their daughters. An interesting story structure, where things don’t follow one after the other and the biggest punch up doesn’t come at the end; it works well and you don’t get bored. McKay successfully surfs on the waves of humor and pathos, but manages to shoot serious scenes too. Surprisingly the biggest strength of The Tomorrow War lies in the emotional sphere. The action is excellent, only at places it seems rather video-game like, but it’s mainly the small scenes which go against the pulse of today… about the traditional family values and about the fact that wanting more is bad for a relationship and can kill you… these scenes carry the whole thing along nicely. (03/07/2021)

The trailers didn't do this action sci-fi flick a good service, and even when The Tomorrow War went straight to stream, you kind of assumed that you weren't going to be treated to a quality show. But it turned out unexpectedly well this time. The Tomorrow War is far from perfect, but the two and a quarter hours in front of the TV pass pleasantly quickly. They may be quite blatantly ripping off Edge of Tomorrow, Terminator, Alien, or even The Thing, but who could be mad at them for looking to the best for inspiration? Moreover, after a slow start, Chris McKay hits the gas hard and showers the audience with one action scene after another. In doing so, he makes sure not to dumb down the style and the setting, so after intense fights in the city and one not-quite-successful hunting trip, there's a spectacular shootout that would have been quite fitting for the big screen, and the whole thing is finished off a little differently. And it paces the whole thing well enough for one to overlook that it's pretty much just plain. Chris Pratt may play Star-Lord at first, but once the serious stuff starts happening he puts on a serious face and is quite good at it. The designers went truly bonkers with the monsters and I find myself wanting to watch a few scenes again a few hours after the closing credits. Who would have expected that after the crappy trailers? (04/07/2021)

A strange film indeed. Its better parts felt like a thrilling video game I wished I could control. However, this lack of control took away from the overall impression. The weaker moments felt purely American, with a handful of individuals saving the world in typical fashion, the team composition changing based on current trends. In these weaker moments (well, more than moments...), there was an excess of melodrama and flying over Russia on board a Hercules aircraft. The 90s have long passed, yet here we are, with Americans still saving the world just like they did back then. It's getting a bit repetitive. However, I did appreciate seeing Yvonne Strahovski and Betty Gilpin again, which added a certain spark to the experience. (11/10/2021)

The Tomorrow War is pure guyish pleasure, an enthusiastic B-movie packed with everything that we love about the action sci-fi genre. Human characters with sincere, emotionally charged relationships, unpredictable and richly escalating plot development, set in an attractive fantasy world, with delicately brisk action and well-made repulsive aliens. Cleverly written and directed with heart, cunningly hiding its art behind a false mask of cheap trashiness, this is the best Emmerich movie without Emmerich. (13/11/2021)

The Tomorrow War tries to bring a flashy science fiction story with gritty action scenes, strong family drama and a heavy dose of explanatory scenes to the television screen, however, it does none of it consistently, originally or memorably. The next day, after watching it, the only thing that sticks in your mind is that it was fairly paced and sort of OK, if you can get past the rushedness and the many really stupid tropes. All in all, it is just a rehash of many things you have already seen in other movies where they were much more skillfully executed, (especially the recent Edge of Tomorrow, whose finale is blatantly copied in this movie), and is unfortunately just a superficial, big-budget TV movie. (05/07/2021)