Up until now, Amazon has largely beefed up their filmography by either scooping up awards favorites at festivals or well-known properties. However, now, as they flex their finances with their acquisition of MGM, Amazon is definitely due for their first big-budget blockbuster. This feat comes in the form of scooping up Paramount Pictures’ The Tomorrow War, an original sci-fi action flick that’s nothing to write home about.
The film takes place in a time where soldiers from the future come back to the present in order to recruit people for a war in the future against a destructive alien race that will decimate all human life if no one comes to help. Thus, present day people are drafted into the war effort and although the future humans have extra soldiers on their side, it’s only helped in increasing their body count. However, things change as military vet Dan Forester (Chris Pratt) enters the fight. His leadership skills impress Colonel Muri (Yvonne Strahovski), a future version of his own daughter, and he soon comes to realize that he holds a deeper purpose that could save humanity.
For most of the film’s runtime, the story is decently intriguing. The idea of drafting people who are meant to die before the war even starts is smart since it helps alleviate any time travel issues and questions. When they first show Dan being drafted and going into training, you really get a sense of how desperate things have become. Outside of Dan and a few other people, most of this army is made up of everyday people and some of them are probably holding a gun for the first time. Scientist Charlie (Sam Richardson), the clear comedic relief character, even points out that one of them is garbed in a chef’s outfit. This sense of hopelessness is only clearer when we get the devastating and legitimately horrifying opening of the soldiers being sent into the future and essentially falling out of the sky—some to a gruesome death.
All of this creates a reason to care about these civilian soldiers, since most are likely not going to make it, and also works in making Dan a likable and capable protagonist. Pratt is definitely fitting as a lead here. His confidence as a leader shines through and adds some likeable charm to the character. Dan’s whole arc about finding a purpose isn’t exactly the most original or well-put together here, but he’s a good protagonist anyway. There’s something about watching him pull this band of soldiers together and lead the charge that gives you hope and keeps your interest.
The action in The Tomorrow War is nothing special, as it basically consists of the same kind of running, gunning, and explosions that we’ve seen time and time again. It’s a lot of choreographed military movement that’s not all that riveting to watch and slow-motion explosions that Michael Bay has pretty much desensitized us to. The aliens also look kind of cool in their design, but there isn’t much lore established and they don’t do anything all that interesting besides hunt and kill everything in their path. Even the comedic elements of the film are pretty lackluster. Sometimes Charlie has a funny line or two, but most of the time, Richardson seems like he’s being forced to riff and it generally lasts for too long and becomes this awkward, forced sequence you want to get past.
The Tomorrow War‘s biggest mistake, though, is the way it pulls a Hobbs & Shaw. Just like the spin-off in the Fast and Furious series, The Tomorrow War delivers a great second act that could’ve easily served as a strong emotional finale, but it’s painfully, unnecessarily extended into a generic as hell third act. The emotional note that the second act ends on is surprisingly strong and adds a lot of complexity to both Dan’s purpose and his relationship with Muri. And while it opens up the possibly to delve into the personal psychological trauma that Dan’s suffering from and maybe even open up themes about PTSD, none of this unfortunately happens. Instead, we get a tacked-on third act that extends the film’s runtime to a painful near two and a half hours that contains only bland story moments and an unremarkable wrap up. The entire closing monologue is the cherry on top of The Tomorrow War’s shortcomings, as it’s totally generic and a sad disservice to the story’s potential.
The Tomorrow War might be Amazon’s biggest blockbuster to date, but that’s really the only remarkable thing about it. It features some solid potential that it simply doesn’t exploit and it ends up just being another forgettable sci-fi action explosion fest.
