- Details
- Published: Thursday, 01 July 2021 13:07
- Written by Lupe R Haas
In Amazon Prime’s THE TOMORROW WAR, a group of time travelers from 30 years in the future arrive in the present day to recruit civilians and soldiers to help fight a deadly alien invasion in the future. Pratt’s Dan Forester, a former soldier and science teacher, is one of those drafted and sent to the future to save the world.
Directed by Chris McKay (LEGO BATMAN, Robot Chicken), THE TOMORROW WAR also stars Yvonne Strahovski, (The Handmaid's Tale), J.K. Simmons, Betty Gilpin (Netflix's Glow, THE HUNT), Sam Richardson, Jasmine Matthews, and Edwin Hodge.
There are plenty of nail-biting action sequences that seem like your standard stunt pieces, but the monsters are particularly scary in their design and weapons. The aliens are referred to as Spikes because they shoot spikes out of their tentacles. If being pierced doesn’t kill their victims, their numerous long fangs will cut you in half. There are plenty of gruesome deaths along the way. The CGI monsters were flawless in their execution at a close-up. When there were multiple Spikes attacking a large target, the CGI was more noticeable.
Chris Pratt is no badass in THE TOMORROW WAR. Instead, he comes off as your average man who happens to be a good soldier. He’s not cocky like most of the action heroes or his Star-Lord persona in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. Chris Pratt is good at playing the everyman, and for this story - it works.
All the actors do their part in the movie and share in the action glory. Particular standouts are Edwin Hodge as the brooding soldier with a death wish, and Sam Richardson as the guy who represents all of us if caught in that situation. Most comedic sidekicks are annoying whiners but Richardson uses logic to point out the absurdity of civilians like himself fighting monsters. In one scene, Richardson’s character must outrun incoming monsters while shooting at them, yelling “shit” repeatedly as he narrowly escapes death. That would be many of us if put in that situation.
That’s the beauty of the film in that the characters are all your average people. None of the characters are gung-ho about fighting aliens nor are they looking for glory.
A family drama also plays out in-between the action in THE TOMORROW WAR, but some may find it distracting or not particularly interesting. It does add another layer, and some may say heart to the story.
THE TOMORROW WAR is diverse in its casting. There’s plenty of representation for people of color and women which hopefully equates to Hollywood realizing what inclusion means. Women characters are portrayed in many positions of authority and as soldiers.
Skydance and Paramount Pictures opted to make the film for Amazon Prime, but the film works more so as a communal experience on a large screen. Having watched THE TOMORROW WAR both at home and at the premiere on a gigantic screen, the premiere experience was much more enjoyable and added to the intensity of the action and the scares.
Since THE TOMORROW WAR is not playing in movie theaters, gather up your vaccinated or masked friends, and gather around your big screen television sets on July 2 to watch on Amazon Prime.