'The Tomorrow War' - movie review.

Last week me and my friend found some time to watch together a new movie. We decided to watch a science fiction film called 'The Tomorrow War', a time travel war movie that had just been released on Amazon prime and was now available for us to see.

The reason that we decided to watch the film, that stars Chris Pratt, is that it seemed watchable. Based on its trailer and the reviews that it had gotten, there was a chance that it could be worth our time (80% fresh by the audience on Rottentomatoes.com).

Having now seen the film with my friend, I have to say that I have a somewhat mixed views about the movie. There were things that worked rather well, but there were also things that - especially story-wise - were not good at all and that weren't well thought out. 

So first, when it comes to those things that actually worked in 'The Tomorrow War', I have to say that the premise itself wasn't that awful. The idea that you have people from the future warn us about an upcoming war against alien monsters isn't that hopeless. 

Indeed, when it is also revealed in the first act that we need to almost immediately send troops to fight the future war through a wormhole, that creates a lot of opportunities for the story. There's a lot of potential in the premise that needs to be handled well.

Story-wise, the whole thing gets going when our protagonist, a military contractor played by Pratt leaves his family and takes part in the operation. He's prepared for the 'suicide mission' and after getting futuristic equipment attached to him, is transported to year 2051.

Not surprisingly, when we reach the dystopian future it doesn't take long before things get really heated and the action starts. The monsters that we're supposed to somehow beat are nasty, deadly and can rather easily defeat our brave volunteers. 

Entertainment-wise, the movie manages to be at its best when our troops - including 'Chloe' from '24' - go on a rescue mission to find some samples that would help to defeat the enemy. This is when the movie works rather well and is fairly entertaining and gripping.

Furthermore, when it is revealed roughly in the middle of the movie that Pratt's daughter happens to be his military commander in the future, the movie finds its heart too. We have an actual emotional stake to get things sorted out and to save the mankind.

Unfortunately, even though at this point the story seems to work (if you're able to overlook the logical flaws in the premise), this won't last. The writers start making some genuinely terrible decisions that will seriously hurt the film's overall quality.

By that I mean is that once the emotional arch is concluded at roughly 1h 45 min mark (Pratt & his daughter find the cure, the big boss is dead and the daughter dies), the movie doesn't stop. Instead we get another 30 minute fourth act that makes almost no sense at all.

Indeed, instead of doing its 'aftermath' conclusion in a closing credit montage, the writers decide that the story needs _more_ problems to be solved. They decide that the monsters were here already waiting for us and that their 'nest' needs to be found and destroyed. 

The problem with this - story-wise - is that once the main emotional arch in the movie is concluded - you shouldn't add new arcs to the movie anymore. You can't start over and think that the audience is going to be hungry for some secondary stuff anymore.

After all, once Pratt and his daughter managed to create the poison to kill the monsters, managed to kill the big boss and the daughter dies, that's more or less where the story should have ended. It shouldn't have gone more than 5 minutes after that point.

Not surprisingly, everything that happens in the extra act is just awful. Pratt's dad is back for a new 'arc', some kid figures out where the nest is (!), they have to go solo because the rest of the world won't help (!!) and the crucial poison becomes mostly redundant too.

In that sense, when me and my friend finally reached the end of the movie at 2 hour 15 min mark, it shouldn't come as a surprise that we weren't happy with what we had seen. This was not what we expected to see from the movie as a whole.

After all, when you think about the film, especially considering how - objectively speaking - incredibly stupid the last act was, it was just impossible not to feel disappointed. There were just too many problems that hurt the movie's quality. 

In that sense, in the end, I just wish that the writers would have ended the film when its main emotional arc ended. I wish they would have understood that this is where the heart of the movie was and not spoil it with some additional content that didn't make sense.

Unfortunately for us, that's exactly what they did with the fourth act of the movie. They added stuff that made no sense emotionally and where all logic flew out of the window, so it's no surprise that the film as a whole - as sad as it is - left a bad taste in our mouths.