Tom Cruise's best film is 10 years old - and broke new ground for sci-fi

Now, achieving the honour of topping Cruise’s decades-spanning filmography is no mean feat, nor is bestowing that honour an easy decision.

After all, in the past few years alone, the Hollywood icon has released several of the big screen’s most exhilarating blockbusters, with Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible – Fallout chief among them.

Cruise has also shown his dramatic chops with Oscar-nominated turns in the likes of Magnolia and Born on the Fourth of July since his screen debut in 1981, and delivered one of cinema’s most iconic lines when he told Rod Tidwell to show him the money in Jerry Maguire.

But for all of these highlights, it is Doug Liman’s 2014 movie Edge of Tomorrow - a bit of a sleeper hit that underwhelmed at the box office but has since attracted a mass viewership on streamers - that sits at the summit of his big-screen achievements.

On the surface, the blockbuster feels like it could offer a fun couple of hours, a brainless form of escapism that passes the time while you eat some popcorn and slurp down an Ice Blast.

It feels akin to a Fast & Furious or later-stage Marvel movie at first glance, an enjoyable but forgettable adventure that likely won’t trouble many people’s Four Favourites on Letterboxd.

But what Liman and co deliver is so much more than that - a uniquely thrilling sci-fi adventure that breaks new ground in the genre.

Firstly, there’s the premise. The time loop has been done to death in cinema, of course - in comedies both old and new, for the most part, from Groundhog Day to Palm Springs, but also in horrors like Totally Killer and dramas like the Oscar-winning Two Distant Strangers.

Yet to see it done - and done well - in a hard sci-fi setting is inspired, with the basis of Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s All You Need Is Kill providing a core principle around which screenwriters Christopher McQuarrie and Jez and John-Henry Butterworth craft both a gripping narrative and gripping action.

In terms of the latter, from the very first battle scene, the viewer is thrown into a chaotic futuristic setting, becoming immersed in a battlefield like no other.

By closely following Cruise’s Cage as he works his way through the warzone, as discombobulated as us viewers, Liman keeps the camera close to our hero in every breath, showing every emotion as he witnesses bloodshed and fallen brethren.

And as if that’s not enough, the director drops us into that action again, and again, and again, making the torturous time loop as stressful for the audience at home as it is for Cage on the scene.

But what makes Edge of Tomorrow so effective overall is that just when that repetition could, in fact, become boring, the film takes its cue and mixes things up, bringing Cage and Emily Blunt’s Rita together - with full awareness of each other and their situation - to evolve the narrative.

What starts as a mystery for Cruise’s character - one based around figuring out how to get to Rita, who appears to be the key to ending the war - develops into something closer to a buddy movie, with this odd couple working to find broader answers to just what’s going on - with twists and turns that elevate the film beyond what could have easily become a gimmicky tale of 'Groundhog Day with guns'.

And on the topic of elevating the film, what makes Edge of Tomorrow so special, such a high point in its genre, is that it launches Tom Cruise into the action of hard science fiction - a rarity throughout his career.

Sure, the likes of Minority Report and War of the Worlds tick the sci-fi category box on IMDb, but ultimately the former is more a dystopian thriller and the latter more a 'family-friendly' horror.

Here, though, Cruise gets the chance to go full sci-fi for near enough the only time outside of Oblivion, which was forgettable at best, and outright painful to watch at worst.

The result is certainly impressive. From scene one, Cruise brings weight to what could easily have been a silly concept, giving as much on the dramatic front as if he was back in an introspective Paul Thomas Anderson movie.

Ultimately, it can be tough to sell the stakes of events that feel so far-fetched, so far from our reality, but Cruise uses his decades of experience to do exactly that - making this bizarre world seem so real, the struggles so serious, that you can’t help but root for our heroes to succeed.

Yet it’s not just the drama where Cruise shines - he gets to lean into his comedic side, too.

There are glimpses of his wit in many Cruise movies, but McQuarrie and co really lean into it here, using the trials and tribulations of the time loop to full effect - and having him team up with Blunt’s no-nonsense Rita leads to some memorable moments of amusement.

And finally, the notoriously full-blooded action performer goes all-in on the futuristic battles.

Getting the chance to essentially see Ethan Hunt kitted out in a Titanfall-esque mech suit, blasting away tentacled aliens, is a sight to behold. Fallout may have leg-breaking rooftop jumps, and Rogue Nation may have him hanging off the side of a plane, but for die-hard sci-fan fanatics, nothing beats that.

The aforementioned box office disappointment may have put a stop to an Edge of Tomorrow sequel (Edge of the Day After Tomorrow?), and his turn as Cage may not have led to an Academy Award nod, but when Cruise decided to take over the genre 10 years ago, it was an inspired choice - one that led to his finest ever film.

Edge of Tomorrow is available to watch on Netflix.

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