The Tomorrow War was released on Amazon Prime Video as an Amazon Original at the start of July and I only sat down to watch it this past weekend. It was originally going to be released in cinemas by Paramount, but the pandemic led to Amazon snapping up the rights. There’s an interesting post there somewhere in looking at how the release of new movies has changed over the past couple of years and if it’s going to continue once we are finally out the other side of the horrible period in our civilisation.
The film star Chris Pratt, probably best known for his work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as a former soldier who finds himself drafted to fight a war in twenty-odd years in the future along with lots of others from the ‘present’.
I enjoyed this.
It’s a big-budget sci-fi action romp which I’m sure would have looked terrific on the big screen but also looked pretty good in 4K HDR in my living room.
The concept was an interesting one that put me in mind of Tom Crusie’s Edge of Tomorrow. Soldiers from the future arrive in the present to tell us they are losing a war against aliens and need more fighters. Pratt’s character is one of those drafted and sent into the future to fight the war. He just happens to be a former soldier himself, which is a bonus and more than a lot of the others drafted are.
Without giving anything away (or trying not to) the identity of Pratt’s Commanding Officer in the future was pretty obvious before it was revealed and the “secret mission” that she couldn’t tell him about was also pretty obvious.
But those gripes aside, this was well worth a watch—especially given that it’s included as part of a subscription I already had.
According to Wikipedia, this was Amazon’s most-watched “Original” movie ever and the 3rd most-watched Video-on-Demand title during its release week, so it’s done well, but I’m not sure it’s something I’d go out and buy a new subscription just to watch. (That’s an interesting point though, because Prime Video is a Prime member benefit, and personally I have Prime as much for the free next day delivery as I do Prime Music or Video.)
Would I recommend this? Well, I’ve told my 15-year-old son to watch it if he gets a chance, so yes, I would. So if you already have Prime and you’ve not watched The Tomorrow War yet, then turn off the lights, turn on the TV and give it a go.
