by May Honey, Contributing Writer
Chris McKay’s The Tomorrow War starring Chris Pratt follows a family man Dan Forrester (Pratt) as he is drafted into a future war where the last of humanity is being hunted by invading aliens.
There were lots of things that made me really optimistic about this movie, like McKay finally making a second film after The LEGO Batman Movie, having Pratt in the lead role, and its concept, which was original and enticing as an audience member. All of that seemed like it would lead to a great summer blockbuster that could be exciting, intense, occasionally funny, and emotionally engaging.
As a TL;DR, this was pretty disappointing and didn’t live up to much, if any, of the potential it had. There are many reasons why though…
To rip off the biggest band-aid first, the script is lackluster in many different ways. The pace is a little too fast for its own good. The script clearly intends for it to be a non-stop action thriller, where even the slower moments are still being carried by and (maybe unintentionally) swept up by the faster moments. Very few emotional scenes and consequently, very few actual character relationships stick beyond the passing moment, leaving it feeling underdeveloped. I found this immensely frustrating, because especially as the plot starts to really take hold, it relies on those very character dynamics more and more in between the exciting action. By the end, most of it left little to no impact to the point where most of the time, I just wanted the moment to end out of disinterest.
When dealing with just the concept and aliens themselves, though, it was carried along enough for it to never be boring. The aliens had an awesome reveal and a quite tense scene attached to it. But I really wish we were given more with them beyond the very basics, and I’m not talking about their world or some tacked on understanding that adds nothing to the overall narrative. I mean more definition to the overall conflict, circumstances, and story that would’ve led humanity to this state of desperation and desolation. The possibilities are limitless and could have added such a unique twist and emotional layer to this world that would make following a formulaic script not seem to matter.
It is worth noting that none of these actors do a bad job with this script. But honestly, that’s really all you can say about the actors in this movie. At the end of the day, the performances weren’t impressive, but serviceable enough to carry it along.
I talked earlier about McKay being the thing I was most looking forward to, and thankfully he was the thing to me that most lived up to what I wanted. He showed with The LEGO Batman Movie that he has a pulse on what an audience wants and feels going into a film more than most directors do. He proves that here with his understanding of tension like the example I gave earlier with the alien reveal scene. Moments sit when they need to, music is never overused in those scenes, and they feel more purposeful and crafted than most blockbusters nowadays. There was also a clear intention not to blend into the way the PG-13 rating is treated, and they pushed it pretty far in a few places. It was never focused on too heavily, but every now and then there were some surprisingly gruesome deaths that kept me on my toes in a fun way. If there’s one thing that really went above and beyond, I’m happy I can say that above all it was absolutely McKay’s direction, and I’ll still absolutely be interested in what he does next.
I had all the highest hopes going into this, but unfortunately this just didn’t do it for me. It doesn’t blemish any of the actors, and Mckay does a great job, but a lackluster and low-impact script really lets down the excellent premise it promised.
Grade: C-
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