‘The Tomorrow War’ Review: Great Setup, Poor Payoff

Lead by a sturdy performance from Chris Pratt, The Tomorrow War has several great potential stories and a great cast. Unfortunately, the last act of the film is rushed and the tone of the film is all over the place.

Pratt does what he can with a pretty rote character. Dan Forester begins the film as a former soldier and current science teacher. One of Pratt’s great strengths is his comedic wit, which is almost entirely absent in the film.

Betty Gilpin has a couple of interesting moments later in the film but is waisted as a typical worried wife. J.K. Simmons as Dan’s father is excellent casting. For most of the film, the only source of humor is Charlie played by Sam Richardson. He’s essentially a joke dispenser.

Yvonne Strahovski is good as well. These scenes in the future represent some of the few opportunities for Pratt to showcase another one of his strengths: warmth.

The time-traveling rules take a big bite out of the film’s 2nd act. When the film heads to the future, the lack of long-lasting stakes makes the events seem like a lot of noise. The alien creatures called “Whitespikes” look pretty cool as do the overall special effects. Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything special with the action scenes in the future. A lot of shooting and running away. The present-day action scenes in the film’s climax are a lot better. There are a couple of creepy images early on that are reminiscent of Aliens.

The last act of the film is a rushed mess. The first half of the film is quite serious with only Charlie lightening up the proceedings. When the team returns to the present, the tone is just goofy and feels like a different movie.

There’s half of a good film here, but the last hour or so is just a slog to get through. The performances by Pratt, Strahovski and Simmons help make this palatable. Even with their characters, you feel like there was so much more that could have been done.

With the overview out of the way, let’s dive deeper into the future of The Tomorrow War. Please note there will be some minor spoilers. The Tomorrow War is available to stream on Amazon Prime.

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Precursor to The Tomorrow War

Everything that happens before the “Jump Link” to the future is great. Dan Forester wants to be something more than a science teacher and ex-soldier for his wife and daughter. Dan and his daughter Muri are watching a soccer game when the humans from the future arrive through a portal. Thirty years from now, they are in a war and are losing.

After the announcement, the film jumps forward a year. Jump facilities are placed around the world and a draft is initiated. Anybody selected must serve a tour of duty. For The Tomorrow War, the length of a tour is seven days.

When Dan is selected, he’s outfitted with an arm gauntlet. Dan’s wife urges him to run, which leads Dan to visit his Dad. There’s some great acting in this scene between Pratt and Simmons. However, there’s really no point to it. Dan visits his Dad. They argue. His Dad agrees to remove the gauntlet, but Dan walks out in a huff.

Dan says goodbye to his family. Once at the base, he meets his team which includes Charlie and Dorian played by Edwin Hodge among others. Dorian has served in multiple tours during The Tomorrow War. The rest of the team can barely hold a gun.

All of this setup and world-building is the best part of the film.

Finding Forester

The “Jump Link” portal sends Dan and fellow troops to Miami 30 years into the future. The shot of human beings raining down from the portal is McKay’s best shot in the film. Dan is immediately thrust into a leadership role. He’s tasked with retrieving some vials that could bring down these creatures. These early scenes featuring a small squad vs the Whitespikes are quite harrowing.

Back at the base, Dan meets his grown-up daughter. These scenes are well done. Although, I find it hard to believe the Dan we see in the present/past would leave his family. From this point on, the rest of the action isn’t basically a continuous rain of bullets and aliens. Not terrible, not great, just something to watch.

There are some pretty emotional scenes in the future. Unfortunately, these scenes don’t have as much weight due to the time travels rules. If Dan returns to his time and uses this chemical agent, he can prevent the war from ever happening. From this point, the movie really goes downhill.

Back to Where I Started From

A conversation with his wife helps Dan realize where the aliens came from. It’s the best scene between Gilpin and Pratt, but feels different tonally from their other conversations.

He connects with Dorian and Charlie. They talk to one of Dan’s students. He helps them figure out the location. They take the information to the head of the DOD, so they can put a team together. He ludicrously denies the request citing the cost. Pretty sure it would cost less to send a team than to completely rebuild the “Jump Link” facilities. They need a pilot and turn to Dan’s father for help.

The climactic fight featuring Dan, his father and the female Whitespike is great. However, the last 45 minutes to an hour of the film are just bad. It’s poorly paced, the tone is lighter when it should be darker and even J.J. Abrams would probably think Dan is a little too lucky.

The Tomorrow War Final Thoughts

The Tomorrow War is enjoyable enough. However, the last 45 minutes are so awful you will forget about it by tomorrow.

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