If you were one of the people who saw and loved the criminally under-watched “Edge of Tomorrow,” you likely feel the same way I do about the prospect of a sequel: rather elated. In a day and age of far too many sequels and reboots, this is one I can say yes to – I want to spend more time in the fun, thrilling world of “Edge of Tomorrow,” and though making a sequel that lives up to the original will be a challenge, I trust the team behind it can come up with a creative new movie that doesn”t totally retread the first one.
Our latest update on a possible sequel to the 2014 Tom Cruise-Emily Blunt sci-fi flick comes from frequent Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie (who co-scripted “Edge of Tomorrow” and directed this year”s “Mission: Impossible” movie). Here”s what he said when Collider talked with him about a follow-up to the movie, based on the book “All You Need Is Kill”:
Do you think it”s one of these films that will ever see a sequel or anything to it, or do you think it”s going to be a one-and-done kind of thing?
McQuarrie: We have the idea for the sequel locked and loaded.
Really?
McQuarrie: Yeah.
Is it something that you have put in treatment form or written anything, or is it just an idea you guys have discussed?
McQuarrie: I don”t know what I can say. I can only say it”s a going concern.
So, not an official announcement or anything, but there”s a level of secrecy McQuarrie seems to be keeping here that gives me hope there”s a solidly in-the-works project for him to actually be secretive about. (I”m hanging – perhaps a little too tightly – onto those words “I don”t know what I can say.”)
McQuarrie said a few months back that Cruise pitched him idea for a sequel that was too hard to pass up, no matter how grueling the production of the first movie was. Say what you will about Cruise – the guy has proved he has a good nose for story that works. It was he who insisted upon making “Edge of Tomorrow” funny, and it was Cruise (teamed with McQuarrie) who took the time in the middle of “M:I 5” production to craft the emotional, suspenseful scene with Benji in a life-threatening situation for the film”s conclusion.
So I”m very curious to learn what Cruise”s idea is. How will the mimics” day-resetting powers come into play in a new way here?
Whatever they do, they better capture the tone of the first movie. One of the best things about “Edge of Tomorrow” is that it”s hilarious. Tom Cruise is in a time loop getting killed over and over again: That could have been very bleak and humorless (and Cruise said that in an early draft, it was), but thank goodness the final cut didn”t turn out that way. The movie has the same excellent dark comedy and slapstick that “Supernatural” went for it its own Dean-killing time loop. Cruise and McQuarrie seem to be well-aware that the laughs really made this movie great, so I”m sure we”d get more of that in a sequel.
Also, I will say this: “Edge of Tomorrow” is an ill-advised title. It sounds like it could be the name of just about any other sci-fi movie. And Warner Bros. seemed to finally realize that when they put out the DVD – the tagline “Live. Die. Repeat.” was made much more prominent than the actual title on home video materials. I dare WB to release the sequel using that tagline as the title, perhaps with a catchy subtitle to differentiate it from the 2014 movie.
“Live. Die. Repeat: The Reckoning.” Just kidding. But now that”s got me wondering what a time loop movie as revenge story would look like…