WARNING! SPOILERS!
Jesus spoke in parables. He used imagery and symbols that the common person could understand. Film makers are doing the same. There are many stories on the silver screen that scream salvation. One of those stories is the Edge of Tomorrow. Science Fiction seems to be were the prophets and preachers now set up their pulpit. It is as if Gene Roddenberry, Steven Spielberg, and many others have found in their imagination the very blue print for what is about to happen and a method in which to help us understand what has already happened. The technology alone in many science fiction stories is now becoming available. The device in Star Trek to heal the injured is now available. Pre-crime, the ability to predict future crime like in Spielberg's Minority Report now exists.
When the Sci-Fi tellers are not giving us a glimpse into the future, they remind us of the story that continues to rivet us and transform us. J.R.R. Tolkien once said, "there is only one story, and believer and unbeliever alike are retelling it." Tolkien is speaking of Genesis to Revelation. God's great masterpiece of mankind and his journey.
You may be asking what does this have to do with Tom Cruise and his latest science fiction epic. Honestly, it is the axis upon which The Edge of Tomorrow revolves. At first glance this futuristic action thriller appears to be a hodgepodge of previous space stories: Aliens, Halo, War of the Worlds, and Starship Troopers. I indeed thought that Edge of Tomorrow was merely another man versus alien cliché wrapped in familiar packaging. To my delight I was wrong.
Edge of Tomorrow follows Officer Cage (Tom Cruise) as he transforms from a recruiter and solicitor of war into a real soldier. Cage on the battlefield faces his enemy, an alien life form that looks like a squid and lion combined with features that look cybernetic. Cage is killed on the field, but suddenly awakes again at the base he started at. Cage learns after perishing numerous times on the beach of battle, that he can reset and relive the same day over and over. I know what your thinking, Ground Hog day with aliens and combat soldiers. Well its not that simple. Emily Blunt comes into play as the heroic warrior named Rita when Cage finds her on the battlefield. We learn that Rita once could reset and that the power comes from a special Mimick known as an Alpha. Cage and Blunt end up working together using the power of Alpha to destroy the brain and king alien Omega and thus end the war. Through the process of training and fighting Cage changes from the cowardly man who cared only for his own hide, to a courageous chevalier who will risk his life an infinite amount of times to save his comrades and all of mankind.
At the climax, Cage confronts Omega after overwhelming odds and defeats the hive mind. However, in the process Cage is mortally wounded and the Omega fluid goes into his body and he wakes up prior to being on the base to ship out to the beach battle. He learns that the war is over; that the aliens have ceased hostilities. The audience is left believing that now Cage is Omega, that he has control over all the aliens and he can set things right.
Now for the allegories. The battlefield on the beach is an analogy for the spiritual war we are waging against principalities, powers, and demons who can do more than just carve chunks out of your flesh if you let them. The aliens are those angelic beings who have fallen and now fight against us in a war we seem to be unable to win. Cage represents the unbeliever who exploits his fellow man and risks other people's lives to make a profit. Cage transforms into a man who sees life as precious and in his selfless acts saves those he can. Cage is a Christ-like character, who after fighting against the unbeatable forces of darkness, is filled with the Omega (God), Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, and becomes God in flesh and thus can defeat the alien enemy.
Edge of Tomorrow is poignant image of what we as Christians are called to do. The core point is that we must become servants. Cage becomes a servant of Rita, and then ultimately as servant of all mankind in his quest to end the war and free man from fear and annihilation. Jesus said, "the greatest in the kingdom will be the servant of all." (Matthew 23:11, Mark 9:35). Cage lives out these words by ceasing to serve himself and his own ambitions and becoming concerned about serving others to the point of death. Jesus said, "no love is greater than a man who would lay down his life for a friend." (John 15:13). Cage lays down his life for others on so many occasions, that I lost count.
Ultimately, I believe Omega, the Hive Mind Alien represents God in this film and that he is testing the people to see if they will stop serving themselves and start serving others and loving others. It is only when Cage lets go of everything, even his potential romantic relationship to stop the war that he succeeds and Omega transfers to him and become incarnate. Some may take offense at me saying God would test you in this way, but lets think about it like this, what if life is boot camp? What if our lives are like Cage and God wants us to win against our enemy the Devil by serving & loving God, serving & loving one another and resisting the sin that tries to stop us from doing both. What if our life is many resets? What if God has plan A-Z, and each letter of his plan represents when God resets our lives so that we can serve him and our fellow human beings? What if God is allowing our enemy, the fallen angels/aliens to fight us so that we will become strong in our Faith and ready for the great day of Judgment?
Throughout the movie Master Sergeant Farell (Bill Paxton) keeps saying two things during Cage's resets, "The Lord only cares if we win," and "Its Judgment Day." The first of those two lines is exactly true. Jesus wants us to win as St. Paul did! He wants us to "fight the good fight, win the race, and keep the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7). We are indeed racing towards Judgment Day and in the end we will either come before the Alpha and Omega as a coward who cared only for ourselves and thus perish and fall into flame; or we will come as a courageous Christian who will be part of the Last Judgment and end the last war.
We are on the Edge of Tomorrow. Judgment Day is coming. We like Cage must carry our cross to the very end and meet the Alpha and Omega with our last breath. Then in a blink of an eye, the heavens and earth will be created anew, paradise shall be "reset" and we shall be with the rest of the saints.
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