Directed by Chris McKay
Written by Zach Dean
Starring Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, J.K. Simmons, Sam Richardson, and Betty Gilpin
Running Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language and some suggestive references.
Streaming via Amazon Prime July 2

by Ian Hrabe, Staff Writer

There is a thread that stretches back to H.G. Wells 1898 classic The War of The World that connects pretty much every alien invasion movie ever made. Though films about kinder, gentler aliens do exist (Arrival, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind), that of the nasty intergalactic goon hell-bent on destroying humanity at all costs is a story we have seen a hundred times before. Independence Day, Starship Troopers, A Quiet Place, Signs, Edge of Tomorrow, every cinematic adaptation of The War of the Worlds, and those are just the ones that immediately come to mind. Not to mention the Alien franchise which solidified the idea of alien as truly horrific monsters. The Tomorrow War is the latest alien invasion flick at the end of that thread, and it feels like little parts from all of the aforementioned movies have trickled down into this movie. 

Does that mean that The Tomorrow War is derivative? Absolutely. Does that keep the film from being the most ridiculously fun time I’ve had watching a movie in years? Absolutely not. It’s Starship Troopers without the commentary on neo-fascism, Edge of Tomorrow with the time travel elements extrapolated, the pure suffocating horror of Aliens, and the existential extinction scenario of Independence Day and War of the Worlds. Add a hefty dose of Joe Haldeman’s novel The Forever War and the comedic touches to alien warfare in John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War book series and you have a perfectly unoriginal and exceedingly entertaining Summer blockbuster. 

The story is a simple one: Soldiers fighting a war against alien invaders 30 years in the future time travel back to present day to enlist humanity’s help fighting this existential threat. Soldiers are shuttled into the future and barely any survive. Average civilians enlist to help save the future world (by far the most far-fetched thing in a film that is as far-fetched as it gets, given that we can’t even get people to recycle) and barely any survive. Our hero—Army veteran and high school biology teacher Dan Forester (Chris Pratt)—is drafted into service, has a time travel bracelet installed on his wrist, and is hurled into the future to be the hero who blasts and science-brains his way to finding out the weakness in the aliens that will prevent the war from ever happening (might as well add in a hefty dose of The Terminator while we are at it). 

The plot is solid enough even if the time travel elements are frequently nonsensical, but what makes The Tomorrow War work isn’t its thrilling action sequences or the pure and uncut nightmare fuel of the alien baddies the White Spikes, but the way it takes that little extra step to have you give a damn about the characters. I don’t know why more action movies don’t do this. I know there are meatheads out there who just “want see stuff go boom *chugs Monster energy drink and smashes can on forehead before punching a hole through drywall*,” but so many times I have put on an action movie like Extraction or Without Remorse and wondered why the screenwriters didn’t think it was important to add any emotional depth to the story. The Tomorrow War illustrates how such a small thing like giving the characters a little bit of believable depth can elevate a film tremendously.

It certainly helps that the movie’s cast is dynamite. Chris Pratt continues on his journey of playing thoughtful and relatable action heroes, which forever gets a boost from the fact that a lot of us remember him as the lovable oaf Andy Dwyer on Parks & Recreation and that bakes in a lot of his charm. His affable everyman quality smooths over the some of the cornier dialogue. His charm sells his character as a loving husband and father and his confidence (and abs, you thought he wasn’t gonna take his shirt off in this one?) sell his Army squad leader capable of mowing down the film’s dreadful White Spikes. You have Yvonne Strahovski as the warrior-scientist in the future trying to find a toxin that will kill the aliens, and while she is outstanding as one of The Handmaid’s Tale’s best antagonists, it’s refreshing to see her play a character who isn’t a psychopath. J.K. Simmons plays Papa Forester, AKA the film’s Daddy Issues nucleus, and despite playing a pastiche of an off-the-grid dOn’T tReAd oN mE survivalist type obsessed with guns, jeeps, and hating the government, reminds you why the guy won an Oscar and steals the show every time he’s on screen. Detroiters’ Sam Richardson adds the comic relief as a slightly goofy science dude who gets drafted alongside Pratt’s Forester and they quickly become best buddies. Their chemistry is fantastic and though their relationship is primarily there to leaven the film’s merciless horrors, Richardson’s style is so idiosyncratic and hilarious that you immediately have that emotional reaction of “please don’t let this guy get ripped apart by aliens.” 

It’s a shame this one is sequestered to Amazon Prime instead of getting a proper release on the in theaters. The Tomorrow War is a film that is built for a movie theater. I vividly remember seeing Independence Day on the big screen on Fourth of July weekend 1996 and the glee I experienced in that theater is one of those movie going memories that is seared into my soul. It’s one of those core memories along the invisible thread of what makes me a movie lover. I’d be lying if the reaction I had to The Tomorrow War wasn’t identical to that one. I fist pumped. I whooped. I did all the things you’re supposed to do when you see a kickass action movie. But you know what else I did? I gave a damn! Will Smith does the same sort of emotional heavy lifting in ID4 that Pratt does here, but if there’s one thing that The Tomorrow War does better is that it gives you a world you really care about. The emotional core of the film isn’t just superficial because the screenwriter feels like you’re supposed to have one in these big dumb blockbusters, it is layered in at every level of the film. The movie’s structure is a little weird—it feels a bit like a three part miniseries melded into one—and it’s about 20 minutes too long, but honestly when you care about the characters and you’re having a ton of fun none of that really matters. What matters is you remember how much fun it is to watch a big Summer blockbuster that doesn’t treat you like an idiot and lets you enjoy big action set pieces and earned emotional tearjerker moments in equal measure.