The Tomorrow War Review!

 Alright! Today I'm reviewing The Tomorrow War, which was one of 2020's most promising original movies before it was delayed several times, snatched by Amazon, and finally released several weeks ago. 

Yes, I am aware I'm reviewing the movie several weeks late. It took me a while to watch it. 

Basically, The Tomorrow War very well could have been the coolest blockbuster of this year simply based on the concept - 30 years in the future, humanity is losing a war against aliens, so they start to draft soldiers from the past to fight in the, ahem, tomorrow war. 

They open the movie pretty bombastically as well. The time travellers arrive during the World Cup, make a giant wormhole, and then announce to all of humanity that a worldwide draft needs to be initiated to save the human race. The main story is about Chris Pratt's Dan Forester, a draftee who's drafted and just wants to get back to his family. 

Now, based off of the concept alone, this sounds absolutely incredible. It's stupid how awesome this idea is. It's such a fascinating hook for a big original movie. Convoluted enough to sound confusing but simple enough to make you feel smart for understanding it. 

Sadly enough, the movie doesn't follow through on the awesome premise. It touches on a lot of things that have made incredible movies but never hits any of them with the same level of depth that would have made the movie awesome. 

For example, the movie has a pretty great emotional core, very reminiscent of Interstellar. Dan Forester gets to the future and meets his daughter, but finds out about his own future, where he abandoned his family and died in a car crash.

But upon learning this information, does he break down into tears? Sob for four minutes after the emotional reveal as in Interstellar? No, he just says "I'd never do that." Moves on. Maybe he gets teary-eyed, but at the end of the day, he's relatively unaffected by the news. The movie never even bothers to bring up how it's a parallel to his own father abandoning him. 

And that's actually a good mantra for the movie - "It doesn't bother to bring up [X]" For example, the worldwide draft is initiated. Why do they need soldiers when they could take the 2051 technology to 2022? Get a head start of 30 years? When Dan is drafted, they're already on the brink of an enzyme that can kill the aliens. 

The movie never brings it up, and you know they talked about it in the writer's room. It's fairly evident they never figured out an explanation and thus left it unspoken. I mean... that's certainly one way to handle a massive plothole. 

Another thing the movie tries to create drama around is the idea that Dan taking the enzyme to the past will condemn his future daughter to death. They never bring up that Dan saving his future saves his daughter as well. Not once. But they try to create drama around it. 

The Tomorrow War also does a really tricky thing by drafting Dan 7 years before his death. That's gotta create some paradox. I get taking a guy who dies of cancer in six months, but seven years? That's a long time. Apparently, he didn't do anything in those 7 years to justify living, which is... really sad... but again, the movie doesn't bring it up.

Independence Day is a good parallel.

And it would be pretty easy to sit here and poke holes in the movie all day. So many missed opportunities and parallels are paired with cliches that it creates its own generic blend of what a blockbuster from the 1990s would be like. 

But the movie also does a lot of things I really like - the concept, mostly. I like Chris Pratt, so the movie has that going for it. I loved the way the movie opened, with the draftees being mercilessly dropped hundreds of feet in the sky and most of them dying right off the bat, followed by a pretty tense retrieval mission and first look at the aliens. I loved that. 

This midmovie fight was way too short, it easily could have gone on for another 10 minutes with the monster action.

Then the movie writes off two secondary characters, but that's ultimately fine. They probably would've just died if they were present. Cue a science montage to create the enzyme, and then a pretty awesome World War Z type finale. 

But then the movie doesn't end! It continues for another 40 minutes! They get back to the past and head to Russia to stop the aliens 30 years before they get here! Even worse is that they say "There's not time We have to stop them now!" It was like... chill out, dudes... you have 30 years to prepare, and for all you know you'll release the aliens early. 

Excellent alien design.

It was like they had a pretty great (If generic) sci-fi movie and then combined it with an idea for a sequel, a la The Lost World: Jurassic Park. And they're making a sequel anyways, so... there's nowhere left to go... maybe something akin to Netflix's Fear Street would have been better, where they release two feature-length movies in two consecutive weeks. 

Because honestly, a first movie where they go to the future and kill the aliens paired with a second movie where they stay in the present and kill the aliens now sounds way cooler than a single movie where they do both. 

Or maybe it would have worked best as a videogame? The fetch quest and then a lab base and then a tactical assault mission, coupled with the CGI and general camera movements made it feel like an incredible video game. Absolutely epic video game. So so movie. 

Here's a fun summary: The Tomorrow War is either a really stupid Christopher Nolan movie or a really smart Michael Bay movie. Your choice. 

Overall, I give The Tomorrow War a 7/10. "Don't overthink The Tomorrow War. The people who made the movie obviously didn't. As it stands, it's just an enjoyably dumb movie that could have been amazing."

Could have been amazing. It wasn't. Ultimately what you'd expect.