The Tomorrow War (2021) (2021)
July 4, 2021 9:27 PM - Subscribe
“The world is stunned when a group of time travelers arrive from the year 2051 to deliver an urgent message: Thirty years in the future, mankind is losing a global war against a deadly alien species. The only hope for survival is for soldiers and civilians from the present to be transported to the future and join the fight. Among those recruited is high school teacher and family man Dan Forester. Determined to save the world for his young daughter, Dan teams up with a brilliant scientist and his estranged father in a desperate quest to rewrite the fate of the planet.”
(From Rotten Tomatoes)
Chris Pratt and J.K. Simmons star in this movie, which has a similar intensity level as the first Alien movie.
It’s currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
Chris Pratt and J.K. Simmons star in this movie, which has a similar intensity level as the first Alien movie.
It’s currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
This was kinda sorta interesting, but dumb. Then it got absolutely stupid. I could go on, but I'm not invested enough to care to.
I thought that the first half was engaging enough; the setup had a lot of potential but they didn't go after any actually interesting bits.
As an action movie, it was fair but nothing special. Personally disappointed with what it ended up being.
Dan teams up with a brilliant scientist and his estranged father
I must just be in a critical mood; there should be a comma before the "and," or "his estranged father" should be swapped with "a brilliant scientist" in that sentence.
posted by porpoise at 10:22 PM on July 4, 2021 [2 favorites]
I thought that the first half was engaging enough; the setup had a lot of potential but they didn't go after any actually interesting bits.
As an action movie, it was fair but nothing special. Personally disappointed with what it ended up being.
Dan teams up with a brilliant scientist and his estranged father
I must just be in a critical mood; there should be a comma before the "and," or "his estranged father" should be swapped with "a brilliant scientist" in that sentence.
posted by porpoise at 10:22 PM on July 4, 2021 [2 favorites]
If it had ended when Pratt returned to 2022, I would have rated this an excellent sci-fi time-travel summer action movie. Up until that point, The Tomorrow War was actually quite a clever film for the genre. However, for its final act the producers appear to have hired another far less competent screenwriter who took every premise the film had established to its dumbest possible conclusion.
posted by fairmettle at 11:41 PM on July 4, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by fairmettle at 11:41 PM on July 4, 2021 [5 favorites]
I feel like it's time whoever is doing it should stop trying to make Chris Pratt happen.
posted by fullerine at 12:32 AM on July 5, 2021 [17 favorites]
posted by fullerine at 12:32 AM on July 5, 2021 [17 favorites]
Pratt is an Executive Producer (and proud of his first foray as one), and JK Simmons got the role solely on his 'buff grandpa' viral pic.
Although I do have to give Pratt props for doing "approaching middle aged dad" well without being extremely schlubby or excessively cut. An everyman kind of actor - to a big big demographic of white American dudes.
posted by porpoise at 1:38 AM on July 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
Although I do have to give Pratt props for doing "approaching middle aged dad" well without being extremely schlubby or excessively cut. An everyman kind of actor - to a big big demographic of white American dudes.
posted by porpoise at 1:38 AM on July 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
Agree with porpoise, though I put my cutoff at the "landing in the pool for real this time" mark. Everything after that was dumb in a bad way. It feels like someone saw the rough cut and gave them a pile of bad notes to "fix" the second half.
As always, Pitch Meeting does a better job of listing the plot holes than I ever could.
posted by Mogur at 3:30 AM on July 5, 2021 [6 favorites]
As always, Pitch Meeting does a better job of listing the plot holes than I ever could.
posted by Mogur at 3:30 AM on July 5, 2021 [6 favorites]
This will make the greatest MST episode. Totally stupid from the start although the sequel where it shows how it's his poor choices trigger the monsters and his daughter jumps through time to kill her dad will be even more classic hollywood genre grabbing lame. The first half seemed interesting until the later plot points were such absurd set ups, the 13 year old obsessed nerd knowing the secret clue to where the spaceship exists, woof.
posted by sammyo at 4:27 AM on July 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by sammyo at 4:27 AM on July 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
This was just a series of scenes from other, mostly superior, SF movies spliced together. The writer and director appeared to have no awareness of that, though? How could anyone in this day and age make the brain bug queen capture/experiement scene without the ghost of Gestapo Doogie Howser from Starship Troopers showing up and slapping them around?
I was also sorta appalled that an entire timeline, including Pratt's daughter, were apparently slaughtered for the sole purpose of teaching Chris Pratt The Power Of Love or something. Seriously, the toxin ended up being completely pointless. They killed 99% of the bugs with guns and explosives and there was no reason to use it on the queen at the end either except to try to paper over the fact that the whole toxin thing was a red herring.
It would have made much more sense and been a far superior film if losing his daughter in the future turned Pratt into the guy who would walk out on his wife and child out of obsession with finding and stopping the aliens. He spends the next decade+ searching, eventually finds the ship, and closes the time loop by being the one that wakes up the aliens in the first place, starting the invasion. You'd have to change the car crash thing but that's minor.
Apparently the original ending was much darker and, reportedly, nihilistic. I assume it had something like this in it as it makes much more sense narratively than what we ended up with.
It's a shame because there were some good set pieces, they just didn't add up to anything. The initial botched drop with folks falling from super high and bashing into buildings and splatting was quite good. The stairwell scene introduction was creepy and good. But the movie as a whole was a jumbled mess with a nonsensical ending.
And, yeah, Gestapo Doogie Howser was in the corner shaking his head at the producer's complete lack of self awareness.
posted by Justinian at 4:28 AM on July 5, 2021 [8 favorites]
I was also sorta appalled that an entire timeline, including Pratt's daughter, were apparently slaughtered for the sole purpose of teaching Chris Pratt The Power Of Love or something. Seriously, the toxin ended up being completely pointless. They killed 99% of the bugs with guns and explosives and there was no reason to use it on the queen at the end either except to try to paper over the fact that the whole toxin thing was a red herring.
It would have made much more sense and been a far superior film if losing his daughter in the future turned Pratt into the guy who would walk out on his wife and child out of obsession with finding and stopping the aliens. He spends the next decade+ searching, eventually finds the ship, and closes the time loop by being the one that wakes up the aliens in the first place, starting the invasion. You'd have to change the car crash thing but that's minor.
Apparently the original ending was much darker and, reportedly, nihilistic. I assume it had something like this in it as it makes much more sense narratively than what we ended up with.
It's a shame because there were some good set pieces, they just didn't add up to anything. The initial botched drop with folks falling from super high and bashing into buildings and splatting was quite good. The stairwell scene introduction was creepy and good. But the movie as a whole was a jumbled mess with a nonsensical ending.
And, yeah, Gestapo Doogie Howser was in the corner shaking his head at the producer's complete lack of self awareness.
posted by Justinian at 4:28 AM on July 5, 2021 [8 favorites]
Typing that made me so angry. They massacred a world simply to teach Chris Pratt to appreciate what he has and not yearn for something different! What the fuck! It's like if It's A Wonderful Life had a bunch of vampires show up and slaughter everyone in the alternative timeline and then it was revealed that the alts were real people who died horribly.
posted by Justinian at 4:30 AM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Justinian at 4:30 AM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
Half of people aren't "qualified" to go forward, it turns out because they are still alive in the future. But there are only 500,000 people alive in the future?
posted by biffa at 5:45 AM on July 5, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by biffa at 5:45 AM on July 5, 2021 [5 favorites]
Yeah caught that as well. That don't make no sense at all. Virtually everyone would be eligible.
Also, they said that "thousands" of soldiers were being sent forward every week. Thousands? Per week? No wonder they're getting their ass kicked. That's ridiculously low. What are thousands a week going to do spread across the entire planet? Might as well throw a water balloon at a five alarm skyscraper fire. And global protests at such small numbers? More people than that are killed tripping in the bathroom every day.
I get they only had the one time portal thingie and they probably figure thats the most people would believe, but even with that constraint they should have been sending folks through essentially 24/7 non stop like a conveyor belt. Who gives a shit if its not "sabbath day".
posted by Justinian at 5:51 AM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
Also, they said that "thousands" of soldiers were being sent forward every week. Thousands? Per week? No wonder they're getting their ass kicked. That's ridiculously low. What are thousands a week going to do spread across the entire planet? Might as well throw a water balloon at a five alarm skyscraper fire. And global protests at such small numbers? More people than that are killed tripping in the bathroom every day.
I get they only had the one time portal thingie and they probably figure thats the most people would believe, but even with that constraint they should have been sending folks through essentially 24/7 non stop like a conveyor belt. Who gives a shit if its not "sabbath day".
posted by Justinian at 5:51 AM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
Also nice of them to mostly fight with 5.56 small arms and not, like, main battle tanks which would be entirely impervious to the alien attacks. What are the bugs going to do against depleted uranium armor and .50 cal armor piercing rounds? Die so fast and futilely that the humans keel over from laughing so hard? eh.
posted by Justinian at 5:53 AM on July 5, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 5:53 AM on July 5, 2021 [3 favorites]
When I started the post, the Description from Rotten Tomatoes was automatically populated. I just added the attribution. Is this what normally happens in Fanfare posts?
posted by gt2 at 6:09 AM on July 5, 2021
posted by gt2 at 6:09 AM on July 5, 2021
And why not send back plans for all the tech invented between 2021 & 2048? Since the whole plan was to go off on another whole timeline anyway? Plus the details for the time machine so the whole process could be iterative if necessary?
posted by biffa at 6:10 AM on July 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by biffa at 6:10 AM on July 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
I thought the frozen here concept was pretty original. Is that concept from some other movie?
posted by gt2 at 6:17 AM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by gt2 at 6:17 AM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
Okay, I admit I laughed when the high school scene showed that global warming woke the aliens up. I guess it really is bad for the planet.
The closing credits reveal that the US military supplied the vehicles and helicopters for the movie, which makes sense, but did the US military also insist that every vehicle (and soldier) in the movie be spotlessly clean?
posted by Mogur at 7:12 AM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
The closing credits reveal that the US military supplied the vehicles and helicopters for the movie, which makes sense, but did the US military also insist that every vehicle (and soldier) in the movie be spotlessly clean?
posted by Mogur at 7:12 AM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
I put this on a few nights ago and fell asleep, so I may be confabulating between what I actually saw and stuff my brain made up from the sounds. But someone should definitely tell Pratt that effective leadership consists of more than glowering at people.
Also nice of them to mostly fight with 5.56 small arms and not, like, main battle tanks which would be entirely impervious to the alien attacks.
Eh. The whole genre of "alien animal fucks up Earth" is kinda stupid. Wiping out dangerous megafauna has pretty much been our stock in trade for tens of millennia. Hell, we do this even when we don't particularly mean to. So to hell with MBTs and assault rifles and helicopters; humans would promptly extinct-ify them with nothing more than neolithic tech and for no better reason than to look good in front of the other hunters.
This is true even for much better movies like A Quiet Place. "They're attracted to sound!" as if that's somehow a strength and not a weakness that easily exploited by hanging windchimes over a pit lined with punji sticks. Oh, you've got super hearing? I've got ear protection and a 15,000 watt car stereo. Enjoy 130 dB of "Baby Shark" because fuck you, you ate my grandma.
No aliens, but see also the true version of The Birds, in which Grant and Hedren just put on thick clothes and sunglasses and beat the birds to death with tennis rackets.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:35 AM on July 5, 2021 [29 favorites]
Also nice of them to mostly fight with 5.56 small arms and not, like, main battle tanks which would be entirely impervious to the alien attacks.
Eh. The whole genre of "alien animal fucks up Earth" is kinda stupid. Wiping out dangerous megafauna has pretty much been our stock in trade for tens of millennia. Hell, we do this even when we don't particularly mean to. So to hell with MBTs and assault rifles and helicopters; humans would promptly extinct-ify them with nothing more than neolithic tech and for no better reason than to look good in front of the other hunters.
This is true even for much better movies like A Quiet Place. "They're attracted to sound!" as if that's somehow a strength and not a weakness that easily exploited by hanging windchimes over a pit lined with punji sticks. Oh, you've got super hearing? I've got ear protection and a 15,000 watt car stereo. Enjoy 130 dB of "Baby Shark" because fuck you, you ate my grandma.
No aliens, but see also the true version of The Birds, in which Grant and Hedren just put on thick clothes and sunglasses and beat the birds to death with tennis rackets.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:35 AM on July 5, 2021 [29 favorites]
When I started the post, the Description from Rotten Tomatoes was automatically populated. I just added the attribution. Is this what normally happens in Fanfare posts?
Yep; that happened when I started the post for Zola (although it took the description from IMDB because that's where I linked). I just deleted it and wrote my own before posting.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:53 AM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
Yep; that happened when I started the post for Zola (although it took the description from IMDB because that's where I linked). I just deleted it and wrote my own before posting.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:53 AM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
I watched this because I'm a fan of the Doughboys podcast and this is the breakout action movie for on the of the hosts, Mike Mitchell, AKA The Spoonman, AKA Mr. Slice. I sort of lost interest after his character died.
For a whole month the podcast had guests from the Tomorrow War including Chris McKay and Chris Pratt. I got a little hyped and thought Mitch would play a bigger part. Release the Cowan cut I say!
posted by paper chromatographologist at 9:01 AM on July 5, 2021
For a whole month the podcast had guests from the Tomorrow War including Chris McKay and Chris Pratt. I got a little hyped and thought Mitch would play a bigger part. Release the Cowan cut I say!
posted by paper chromatographologist at 9:01 AM on July 5, 2021
"We have a toxin, bit only works on males."
OK what's the problem then? Clearly the species doesn't use parthenogenesis to reproduce, so...I'm failing to see a real downside here.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 1:02 PM on July 5, 2021 [7 favorites]
OK what's the problem then? Clearly the species doesn't use parthenogenesis to reproduce, so...I'm failing to see a real downside here.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 1:02 PM on July 5, 2021 [7 favorites]
We also watched the movie because the Doughboys brainwashed my husband. I told him it was going to be stupid but he was hopeful, and I don’t mind stupid movies so I went along with it. When I saw in the trailer, though, that he had a little girl and that the commander in the future was a pretty lady, I thought to myself, “mmhmm. I know this movie.”
One thing I will say: it was a lot better than Godzilla vs. Kong. Oh, and after living through the last several years I absolutely do believe the US Secretary of Defense would be so stupid and impatient to dismiss what is obviously a world-saving idea.
But like. Why was that lab team working from the 7th floor of a building in alien-infested Miami?
posted by something something at 1:41 PM on July 5, 2021 [4 favorites]
One thing I will say: it was a lot better than Godzilla vs. Kong. Oh, and after living through the last several years I absolutely do believe the US Secretary of Defense would be so stupid and impatient to dismiss what is obviously a world-saving idea.
But like. Why was that lab team working from the 7th floor of a building in alien-infested Miami?
posted by something something at 1:41 PM on July 5, 2021 [4 favorites]
Based on the trailer, sombody's read The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley. You should, too. Also, Dragonflight.
posted by Rash at 2:01 PM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Rash at 2:01 PM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
The whole genre of "alien animal fucks up Earth" is kinda stupid.
Give us the damn adaptation of the Dark Horse Aliens: Outbreak storyline already
posted by Apocryphon at 5:18 PM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
Give us the damn adaptation of the Dark Horse Aliens: Outbreak storyline already
posted by Apocryphon at 5:18 PM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
So only 500,000 people are still alive... The aliens need us for food... They can time jump several thousand people at once... Why not just time jump all survivors back to 2022 and let the aliens starve to death?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:42 PM on July 5, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:42 PM on July 5, 2021 [4 favorites]
Not to overthink a movie chock-a-block with obviously dumb stuff, but either (1) a sole female is utterly incapable of reproducing on her own, so bothering to kill a lone escaped female is pointless or (2) a female can reproduce on her own, so the bat-aliens who built the ship and brought the Whitespikes to Earth also brought hundreds of males for no reason.
Also, the venom was used to kill a sum total of five aliens. Old standby C4 killed the rest, I guess. Too bad the future people decided to sacrifice everything to send the venom back rather than the secret to time travel. Hopefully the aliens lost Earth's address.
posted by axiom at 8:32 PM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
Also, the venom was used to kill a sum total of five aliens. Old standby C4 killed the rest, I guess. Too bad the future people decided to sacrifice everything to send the venom back rather than the secret to time travel. Hopefully the aliens lost Earth's address.
posted by axiom at 8:32 PM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
Alien invasion does not make much sense at this stage in our development, because whatever benefit you get from eating us or taking our water or whatever is negated by the sheer effort it took to get to us. Surely there are easier calories and/or mineral sources you can obtain.
I am more likely to buy a "you're in our way" approach like Vogons or "we like assimilating species" like the Borg.
But then I didn't watch this movie so maybe they attempted a reason beyond "yum humans".
posted by emjaybee at 9:47 PM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
I am more likely to buy a "you're in our way" approach like Vogons or "we like assimilating species" like the Borg.
But then I didn't watch this movie so maybe they attempted a reason beyond "yum humans".
posted by emjaybee at 9:47 PM on July 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
emjaybee - are you asking for spoilers?
There's a throwaway line speculating that the alien cargo might not have been intended for Earth and crashed by accident.
As for reasons for war, maybe it's over a religious thing?
posted by porpoise at 10:58 PM on July 5, 2021
There's a throwaway line speculating that the alien cargo might not have been intended for Earth and crashed by accident.
As for reasons for war, maybe it's over a religious thing?
posted by porpoise at 10:58 PM on July 5, 2021
This was a stupid movie, but the setup—where they’re all “we have to fight for the future and for our children” while music swells in the background—struck me right in the climate grief nerve. Maybe because I have a daughter about the same age as Chris Pratt’s character, maybe because that kind of thinking parallels my own thoughts on real-life future extinction-level threat climate change. Ugh.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 12:58 AM on July 6, 2021
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 12:58 AM on July 6, 2021
The daughter tells the main character he is going to leave his family and then die, which for him is the worst thing he can imagine. The movie would have been much better if he had worked hard to avoid that future, but his actions had ended up causing exactly that. That's the whole point of someone telling you your future. Either it's tragically unavoidable, or it is avoidable and therefore completely uninteresting and pointless. Also, the original plan was to manufacture toxin and send it to the future to save the remaining 500,000 people, rather than manufacture toxin and use it right away when the aliens show up?
posted by starfishprime at 3:10 AM on July 6, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by starfishprime at 3:10 AM on July 6, 2021 [4 favorites]
Also, why does every monster/alien make the EXACT same roar, like a mixture of peacock and lion. Did someone make that sound like thirty years ago and every movie producer was like, yes good enough we'll use it for everything.
They even made a point of one traumatized veteran saying they make a horrifying clicking and then all click at the same time. I thought, that sounds really menacing and scary. Imagine hearing that in the dark! Then, when the aliens finally show up... peacock lion roar.
posted by starfishprime at 3:19 AM on July 6, 2021 [3 favorites]
They even made a point of one traumatized veteran saying they make a horrifying clicking and then all click at the same time. I thought, that sounds really menacing and scary. Imagine hearing that in the dark! Then, when the aliens finally show up... peacock lion roar.
posted by starfishprime at 3:19 AM on July 6, 2021 [3 favorites]
This was just a series of scenes from other, mostly superior, SF movies spliced together.
Mostly it lifts from Aliens. Mostly.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 6:57 AM on July 6, 2021 [9 favorites]
Mostly it lifts from Aliens. Mostly.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 6:57 AM on July 6, 2021 [9 favorites]
the setup—where they’re all “we have to fight for the future and for our children” while music swells in the background—struck me right in the climate grief nerve
For sure. This was the best thing about it. As stupid as many/most parts of the execution were, that central premise--using an alien attack one generation in the future as a metaphor for climate change--was very good. Even our tween twigged what they were going for and did some reflecting.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:19 AM on July 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
For sure. This was the best thing about it. As stupid as many/most parts of the execution were, that central premise--using an alien attack one generation in the future as a metaphor for climate change--was very good. Even our tween twigged what they were going for and did some reflecting.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:19 AM on July 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
The plot was bad, but I appreciated the special effects. The aliens got a lot of screen time and didn't look totally unreal, which must have taken some doing.
As a climate change metaphor, it sort of botched it, but I appreciate the effort.
Here's another weird thing about the "toxin" problem. We are shown the things can be sedated by standard Earth sedatives. Surely Earth-native neurotoxins should also work- and those things are very, very potent. Just break out some cold-war era VX gas and go to town.
posted by BungaDunga at 8:50 AM on July 6, 2021 [4 favorites]
As a climate change metaphor, it sort of botched it, but I appreciate the effort.
Here's another weird thing about the "toxin" problem. We are shown the things can be sedated by standard Earth sedatives. Surely Earth-native neurotoxins should also work- and those things are very, very potent. Just break out some cold-war era VX gas and go to town.
posted by BungaDunga at 8:50 AM on July 6, 2021 [4 favorites]
There's a throwaway line speculating that the alien cargo might not have been intended for Earth and crashed by accident.
As for reasons for war, maybe it's over a religious thing?
I assumed the critters were basically a form of biological control that, for some reason, happened to end up unleashed on Earth. Who knows what the intended use of them was.
posted by BungaDunga at 8:53 AM on July 6, 2021
As for reasons for war, maybe it's over a religious thing?
I assumed the critters were basically a form of biological control that, for some reason, happened to end up unleashed on Earth. Who knows what the intended use of them was.
posted by BungaDunga at 8:53 AM on July 6, 2021
Yeah, that premise in the ad was what got me interested. I was expecting a certain level of dumbness (done right dumb can be fun) but there was just too much. Both dumb and movie.
posted by biffa at 9:05 AM on July 6, 2021
posted by biffa at 9:05 AM on July 6, 2021
More and more questions keep popping up as I think about this silly movie.
So where did Sam Richardson's character come from at the glacier's ending scene when he plops down beside the Foresters? They hopped on snowmobiles and ditched him back at the ship, didn't they?
And how was that 200 hundred foot plunge into a rooftop pool survived without shattering half the bones in their bodies against either the water itself or the bottom of the pool?
And why are aliens always effectively immune to bullets? It's a tired, old, utterly predictable trope.
You can only send people through the time gate that are already dead in the future. Wait, isn't everyone effectively dead in the future? It was made clear about 500,000 people were left. We've got over 7 billion so I don't understand the problem.
Surely Sam Richardson-the-scientist's peer network would have been able to quickly put him in contact with an actual volcanologist? Finally a way to make Twitter useful and they blew it, lol. But more importantly, why was there millennia-old volcanic ash under their claws if the ship melted out due to climate change?
You've figured out exactly where the infestation begins. Why not drop a nuke on the spot now and call it a day? Surely the survival of the human race—and given the alien's obvious appetite likely the planet—would merit a one-time authorization to use one? The planet survived hundreds of open air nuke tests over the course of decades. Pragmatically speaking, one more won''t change much.
I find myself wishing they'd instead figured out a way to preserve the future timeline. It would have made a movie with a far more complicated ending, one darker, bleak—7 billion humans are doomed—and far more hopeful and interesting at the same time. A population of only 500,000 technologically advanced humans—ones capable of applying what we've learned from our current mistakes—sounds like a pretty nice recipe for planetary ecological recovery. Can you imagine the emotion a decent screenwriter could wring out of current humanity's heroic sacrifice with that premise?
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 11:11 AM on July 6, 2021 [3 favorites]
So where did Sam Richardson's character come from at the glacier's ending scene when he plops down beside the Foresters? They hopped on snowmobiles and ditched him back at the ship, didn't they?
And how was that 200 hundred foot plunge into a rooftop pool survived without shattering half the bones in their bodies against either the water itself or the bottom of the pool?
And why are aliens always effectively immune to bullets? It's a tired, old, utterly predictable trope.
You can only send people through the time gate that are already dead in the future. Wait, isn't everyone effectively dead in the future? It was made clear about 500,000 people were left. We've got over 7 billion so I don't understand the problem.
Surely Sam Richardson-the-scientist's peer network would have been able to quickly put him in contact with an actual volcanologist? Finally a way to make Twitter useful and they blew it, lol. But more importantly, why was there millennia-old volcanic ash under their claws if the ship melted out due to climate change?
You've figured out exactly where the infestation begins. Why not drop a nuke on the spot now and call it a day? Surely the survival of the human race—and given the alien's obvious appetite likely the planet—would merit a one-time authorization to use one? The planet survived hundreds of open air nuke tests over the course of decades. Pragmatically speaking, one more won''t change much.
I find myself wishing they'd instead figured out a way to preserve the future timeline. It would have made a movie with a far more complicated ending, one darker, bleak—7 billion humans are doomed—and far more hopeful and interesting at the same time. A population of only 500,000 technologically advanced humans—ones capable of applying what we've learned from our current mistakes—sounds like a pretty nice recipe for planetary ecological recovery. Can you imagine the emotion a decent screenwriter could wring out of current humanity's heroic sacrifice with that premise?
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 11:11 AM on July 6, 2021 [3 favorites]
And why are aliens always effectively immune to bullets? It's a tired, old, utterly predictable trope.
See also "dead or sedated creature isn't, revives, wreaks havoc."
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:43 AM on July 6, 2021 [2 favorites]
See also "dead or sedated creature isn't, revives, wreaks havoc."
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:43 AM on July 6, 2021 [2 favorites]
On the one hand yay for absolute garbage sci-fi vehicle for Pratt (see also Infinite for Wahlberg, TTW is ten times better than that one somehow.)
On the other, those two movies are probably going to set original high budget sci-fi films back to production company dustbins effectively wiping out all of Tom Cruise's gains with Edge of Tomorrow and Oblivion.
posted by M Edward at 11:45 AM on July 6, 2021 [2 favorites]
On the other, those two movies are probably going to set original high budget sci-fi films back to production company dustbins effectively wiping out all of Tom Cruise's gains with Edge of Tomorrow and Oblivion.
posted by M Edward at 11:45 AM on July 6, 2021 [2 favorites]
We also watched the movie because the Doughboys brainwashed my husband. I told him it was going to be stupid but he was hopeful, and I don’t mind stupid movies so I went along with it. When I saw in the trailer, though, that he had a little girl and that the commander in the future was a pretty lady, I thought to myself, “mmhmm. I know this movie.”
She acts like it's a big problem that he figures out who she is, but one minute earlier she totally summoned him to come see her. Argh.
posted by Orlop at 12:11 PM on July 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
She acts like it's a big problem that he figures out who she is, but one minute earlier she totally summoned him to come see her. Argh.
posted by Orlop at 12:11 PM on July 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
They even made a point of one traumatized veteran saying they make a horrifying clicking and then all click at the same time. I thought, that sounds really menacing and scary. Imagine hearing that in the dark! Then, when the aliens finally show up... peacock lion roar.
We get to hear one alien click, I think. That was all.
I used to teach writing, and I would tell my student that incoherency of this kind (they weren't writing fiction, but I mean things where a piece of writing just ignores its own setups and premises) meant they were not paying attention to their own writing.
posted by Orlop at 12:16 PM on July 6, 2021 [3 favorites]
We get to hear one alien click, I think. That was all.
I used to teach writing, and I would tell my student that incoherency of this kind (they weren't writing fiction, but I mean things where a piece of writing just ignores its own setups and premises) meant they were not paying attention to their own writing.
posted by Orlop at 12:16 PM on July 6, 2021 [3 favorites]
Wow, lot of harsh comments about what is essentially a dumb action movie. Can't people shut down their brains nowadays when watching movies ?
posted by Pendragon at 12:38 PM on July 6, 2021
posted by Pendragon at 12:38 PM on July 6, 2021
Why should we have to? This could so easily have been a good movie. Action movies don’t have to be dumb, and it’s frustrating that they usually are.
posted by something something at 12:59 PM on July 6, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by something something at 12:59 PM on July 6, 2021 [7 favorites]
Part of the fun of watching a dumb action movie is hashing out the dumbth later.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 1:03 PM on July 6, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 1:03 PM on July 6, 2021 [7 favorites]
Shut brain down, all of Marvel, but they at least have some internal comic book reasoning. This one just broke itself over and over in embarrassing ways. Well probably media executive 'notes' kinds of ways.
posted by sammyo at 1:33 PM on July 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by sammyo at 1:33 PM on July 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
And how was that 200 hundred foot plunge into a rooftop pool survived without shattering half the bones in their bodies against either the water itself or the bottom of the pool?
They had spent nearly a week in basic training. They'd be fine.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 2:01 PM on July 6, 2021 [4 favorites]
They had spent nearly a week in basic training. They'd be fine.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 2:01 PM on July 6, 2021 [4 favorites]
Why not drop a nuke on the spot now and call it a day?
It was in Russia (or China?) I think, and it seemed to be just the US involved in efforts to fight in the futur. There is a scene with the US Secretary of Defense where he declined to send in US forces so I guess nukes were right out.
We get to hear one alien click, I think. That was all.
We do, but the clicking sounded like clicking from another movie too.
posted by biffa at 2:16 PM on July 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
It was in Russia (or China?) I think, and it seemed to be just the US involved in efforts to fight in the futur. There is a scene with the US Secretary of Defense where he declined to send in US forces so I guess nukes were right out.
We get to hear one alien click, I think. That was all.
We do, but the clicking sounded like clicking from another movie too.
posted by biffa at 2:16 PM on July 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
I also thought there was a particularly depressing point where they got to the snow in the present and there's a shot where you can almost see the light go out in J.K.Simmons' eyes.
posted by biffa at 2:20 PM on July 6, 2021
posted by biffa at 2:20 PM on July 6, 2021
Sorry to do three comments in a row, but in my house we were trying to work out who was playing Brazil in the world cup final that was interrupted by visitors from the future. Dark blue tops, too dark for Italy, I think too dark for France? Was it supposed to be Scotland? Stretching credibility a bit.
posted by biffa at 2:24 PM on July 6, 2021
posted by biffa at 2:24 PM on July 6, 2021
Toronto Maple Leafs.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 2:37 PM on July 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 2:37 PM on July 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
Toronto Maple Leafs.
There is no way they would get all the way to a worldwide televised event final.
How do you know it's spring? 'Cause the Leafs are out.
posted by rozcakj at 5:15 PM on July 6, 2021 [3 favorites]
There is no way they would get all the way to a worldwide televised event final.
How do you know it's spring? 'Cause the Leafs are out.
posted by rozcakj at 5:15 PM on July 6, 2021 [3 favorites]
If you saw this and loved and wanted more of Sam Richardson, he plays the lead in the comedy-werewolf-whodunnit Werewolves Within.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:44 PM on July 6, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:44 PM on July 6, 2021 [6 favorites]
‘Tomorrow War’ Sequel Talks Underway With Chris Pratt, Director Chris McKay Returning
"We talked about the world of these creatures, where they came from, how they were created or raised, and how they were maybe being used," [McKay] said. "I think that a sequel could go in a lot of fun areas and the ethnographic study of the White Spikes in their world and where they came from, and what their purpose was, and all of that kind of thing. So yeah, I think that could be a lot of fun. And with this cast, too, we’re just getting started."posted by fairmettle at 3:37 AM on July 9, 2021
Although I do have to give Pratt props for doing "approaching middle aged dad" well without being extremely schlubby or excessively cut. An everyman kind of actor - to a big big demographic of white American dudes.
Are you talking about thus guy?
posted by chrchr at 2:41 PM on July 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
Are you talking about thus guy?
posted by chrchr at 2:41 PM on July 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
So I just read that in the original script, the toxin his daughter incurred invented was designed to be injected into the human recruits before they traveled into the future. Then they would be eaten by the aliens, poisoning them and winning the war.
It explains quite a lot, like why they don't bother giving them any training, but was obviously a bit too grim for the producers.
posted by knapah at 4:33 PM on July 9, 2021 [4 favorites]
It explains quite a lot, like why they don't bother giving them any training, but was obviously a bit too grim for the producers.
posted by knapah at 4:33 PM on July 9, 2021 [4 favorites]
Wow, lot of harsh comments about what is essentially a dumb action movie. Can't people shut down their brains nowadays when watching movies ?
OK for me the disappointment is that this was a really cool and interesting premise, and then the actual movie took that and was not cool and not interesting. I don't have expectations of something like Sharknado, but I was thinking over how great this could have been from the time they started marketing the trailer. And then it wasn't great, not at all.
posted by seasparrow at 11:07 PM on July 12, 2021
OK for me the disappointment is that this was a really cool and interesting premise, and then the actual movie took that and was not cool and not interesting. I don't have expectations of something like Sharknado, but I was thinking over how great this could have been from the time they started marketing the trailer. And then it wasn't great, not at all.
posted by seasparrow at 11:07 PM on July 12, 2021
“Turn off your brain” movies are fine if that’s your thing, but I’m not a big fan of keeping my brain off for the discussion afterwards.
posted by skewed at 5:21 AM on July 13, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by skewed at 5:21 AM on July 13, 2021 [2 favorites]
I want my dumb action movies to be made by people who are cleverer than the people who made this.
posted by biffa at 4:54 AM on July 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by biffa at 4:54 AM on July 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
Can the sequel be The Yesterday War? The time machine accidentally sent aliens back to the past and now Chris Pratt has to help medieval peasants fight them.
posted by starfishprime at 2:09 PM on August 6, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by starfishprime at 2:09 PM on August 6, 2021 [3 favorites]
Sounds good, I would definitely read the Fanfare thread for that movie.
posted by skewed at 2:35 PM on August 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by skewed at 2:35 PM on August 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
Streaming services keep pushing these "made for TV" quality films that end up so disappointing. Why bother? There must be a spreadsheet somewhere that says Big Name x Number of Films = Increase in Subscriptions.
posted by rebent at 6:18 AM on August 13, 2021
posted by rebent at 6:18 AM on August 13, 2021
MeFi: "That was stupid. I thoroughly enjoyed it."
- via
posted by fairmettle at 10:51 PM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
- via
posted by fairmettle at 10:51 PM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
I thought the frozen here concept was pretty original. Is that concept from some other movie?
X-Files: Fight the Future.
posted by gatorae at 7:58 PM on August 20, 2021
X-Files: Fight the Future.
posted by gatorae at 7:58 PM on August 20, 2021
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posted by gt2 at 9:34 PM on July 4, 2021