The Edge of Tomorrow (2014) is a science-fiction film which depicts an alien invasion that almost overwhelms the earth. Decadent and soft press officer Tom Cruise is kicked to the frontlines by an irate general who is offended by Cruise’s weakness—he must now storm the beaches of Normandy in a replay of WWII (along with a typical squad of rough diamonds who give the newbie a hard time). Cruise lands on the beach and is killed—except, as it happens, an alien he kills spews a strange gel all over him. Cruise wakes up back where his morning began. This happens again and again; eventually, he finds the war’s main hero, a woman, who became a hero because the same happened to her (until she had a blood transfusion and lost the ability).
This sets up a Nietzschean premise for a film where Cruise lives an eternal return—literally—and as he dies and returns he improves and improves (since when he “resets” he has continuity of character). Hence Cruise effectively becomes the overman: under the female hero’s direction (typical feminist mentor-pupil reversal) Cruise moves from a soft brat to hardened super soldier—along the way, obviously, he falls in lurv with his mentor; and, in a clever twist, when Cruise finally slays the big bad boss alien the day resets to a mysterious victory day—all the aliens have died for “no reason”—and, of course, Cruise’s gf no longer remembers him (although he knows everything about her).
Wow, quite a clever film for a science-fiction blockbuster. Quite an evil film: the aliens are known as “Mimics” and they come in two varieties, the Alphas and Omegas—and, as established, they can manipulate time at will. The Alpha and the Omega—God. So in this film Cruise, the overman, kills God—the unseen All that is apparent through the symbolic (mimic) clothes He wears. “God is dead, and we have killed him.”—or, put another way, Hollywood wants to kill God.