This ain’t my first rodeo with this movie, but it’s a great one to revisit. Great combination of story telling, action, and a bit of dark humor thrown in. Because after all, it is a war movie. So any humor there, is the darkest of comedy when applied correctly. It is applied correctly here. But this is not a comedy. Far from it. There’s some wicked shit going down here.
Five years after the first Alien. Fucking. Invasion. We collectively as a planet are getting our asses handily handed to us. It’s not even close. Because, aliens. US Major William Cage (Cruise), basically just a war mouthpiece, ends up on the short end of the stick as Alien D-Day hits. Everybody fights, even him. And it’s an even more brutal slaughter than expected. But...well...there’s this folklore about Groundhogs and Bill Murray that seems to rear its ugly head, and shit goes total sideways. Maybe even backwards.
Gotta say, Tom Cruise impressed me here. I’m a bit apathetic when it comes to Tom Cruise as an actor. He, like many others, usually falls into the trap of just playing himself, just in a different costume. Not all the time, but he kinda uses that to his strength here, with setting up the character. And dammit, regardless the acting style, the guy has done some interesting sci-fi flicks over the years. Also starring here is Emily Blunt, which kinda puts this one over the top. Because she’s Emily Blunt. The rest of it is fantastic action and suspense, with a great role by Bill Paxton to round it out. Some of the alien realizations might be a little sus, but it don’t matter much, great one here to enjoy with a few beers and a bowl of popcorn.
