Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Picture Tom Cruise as a smug coward who can’t figure out the safety on his own weapon, and you’ve found the best joke in this whole movie. Cage dies, wakes up to Bill Paxton barking at him, and dies again, and Doug Liman cuts the deaths together so fast they play like punchlines. Emily Blunt rising out of a plank pose is the coolest entrance of the decade, and she resets him with a sidearm every time he messes up, which never stops being funny. The problem is the last act. The movie moves to a dark, flooded Paris, the jokes dry up, and the ending bends its own rules to give everyone a nicer morning. It made $381 million worldwide on a reported $178 million budget, which feels low for a movie this fun. An 8.2 because it’s the most rewatchable Tom Cruise movie that isn’t about planes. $699 says you hit retry on a video game tonight and feel weirdly heroic about it.

What works: Cruise playing a coward for once, Emily Blunt as the toughest soldier on the beach, and editing that turns repetition into comedy.

What doesn’t: The dark, murky finale in Paris drains the fun out, and the ending quietly breaks the rules the movie spent two acts setting up.

Who it’s for: People who love a video game structure in a movie, and anyone who says they don’t like Tom Cruise but still watches all his stuff.