There are few film actors who have been as successful in their trade as Tom Cruise. Although in of box office Top Gun: Maverick, it's ranked on both Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb as one of his best movies.
Based on the Japanese light novel All You Need Is Kill by author Hiroshi Sakurazaka, Edge of Tomorrow (a.k.a. Live Die Repeat) makes use of the time loop trope in a familiar yet highly entertaining way. The best movies like Edge of Tomorrow make up some of the most thrilling action epics and most thought-provoking sci-fi mind-benders of recent years. Fans of the movie have no shortage of options available to them across the major streaming platforms if they're looking for more time loop shenanigans and mech-driven action.
The Tomorrow War (2021)
● Available to stream on Prime Video
Chris Pratt leads this sci-fi action movie playing a family man who is drafted into a war against invading aliens happening decades in the future. Like in Edge of Tomorrow, humanity is facing seemingly impossible odds against the monstrous invaders, with Pratt and the motley crew of fighters that he meets having to find a way to turn it all around.
From the unusual time loop aspect of the plot that propels the story to the up-close intensity of the alien battles, The Tomorrow War is a very similar film to Edge of Tomorrow in a number of ways. Like Edge of Tomorrow, the movie really emphasizes the urgency and tense desperation of its doomsday scenario while still ing to keep the jokes and emotional through line flowing.
Aliens (1986)
● Available to stream on Starz
Action movies about heavily armed futuristic commandos battling terrifying aliens come no finer than James Cameron's seminal sequel to Ridley Scott's Aliens' Colonial Marines in the soldiers of Edge of Tomorrow.
The film's explosive horror-fueled plot sees Ripley, the sole survivor of the first movie, return to the planet that her crew found a deadly extraterrestrial on, only to get trapped in a race against time to escape an empty terraforming facility that's become infested by the fearsome "Xenomorphs" and their queen. Sci-fi movies like Edge of Tomorrow owe a lot to Aliens and have no hesitance in showing it.
Terminator Salvation (2009)
● Available for purchase on Prime Video
The Terminator franchise defined the very idea of using time travel in action movies with its first two films. Following that, the movies began a period of reinvention, with each sequel using different casts and approaches to the characters of the original films. The one that should be of most interest to a fan of Edge of Tomorrow is the fourth movie in the franchise, Terminator Salvation.
Salvation's unique take on the material makes it the only Terminator movie to date to set its story entirely after "Judgment Day", the date in the franchise's timeline when the villainous AI "Skynet" uses nuclear weapons to try and wipe out humanity. Many of the other films in the franchise revolve around preventing this event but the post-apocalyptic war zone setting adds an element of constant danger that fans of Edge of Tomorrow's twistier and more unexpected side will appreciate.
Independence Day (1996)
● Available for purchase on Prime Video
Despite a tone and style that irrevocably tie it to the 90s, Smith's best movies by fans on Letterboxd and IMDb.
Fans of Edge of Tomorrow's sweeping military offenses will not be disappointed by Independence Day's wide-scale levels of destruction, and they'll certainly never be left wanting for explosions. The thing that really makes it one of the best movies like Edge of Tomorrow, however, is how the film continually laces distinctly camp comedy into its constant sense of foreboding about an impending alien apocalypse.
Avatar (2009)
● Available on Disney+
After the success of movies like Aliens, James Cameron only kept getting more and more ambitious with his projects, breaking box office records time and time again. He would eventually produce what is still the highest-grossing blockbuster of all time with Avatar, a gigantic space saga involving a human mining operation on a far-flung alien world.
It's the humans who are the aggressive invaders this time around, with the central concept revolving around technology that places a human's consciousness into an alien body. The movie has its own strong romantic thread running throughout also but if that and the huge battle sequences aren't enough for an Edge of Tomorrow fan then Cameron's expansion on his mech suit action in Aliens is sure to hit the right spot.
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
● Available to stream on Hulu
A long-gestating project from writer and producer James Cameron, Alita: Battle Angel, like Edge of Tomorrow, has Japanese origins and a Hollywood sensibility that not only doesn't hurt it but gives it a befittingly huge scale and a thrillingly quick pace. Based on Yukito Kishiro's manga series Gunnm, the story follows a young cyborg who awakens in a dystopian society with and new body and no memory.
Fans of the robot action in Edge of Tomorrow will certainly not be left wanting by this colorful but violent adventure story that sees the titular fighter take on an array of other deadly cyborgs. Like Edge of Tomorrow, there's also a strong romantic core to the movie, with co-writer and producer James Cameron delivering the level of quality that audiences have come to expect from his sci-fi movies.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
● Available to stream on Paramount+
When looking at Fallout, continued the franchise's quest to constantly keep upping the ante with each new entry.
There's not much of a sci-fi aspect to the plot, as the story revolves around a fan-favorite setup of super-spies hunting rogue nuclear weapons. However, the action in the movie is second to none and will impress anyone who enjoyed the outstanding choreography in Edge of Tomorrow.
District 9 (2009)
● Available to stream on HBO Max
Alien invasion movies are a dime a dozen, and as all exceptional ones do, District 9 sets itself apart from the rest by being strikingly contemporary. Fans of Edge of Tomorrow are sure to love the weapon and armor designs during the movie's more action-heavy moments.
The story, however, also provides in-depth social commentary about various kinds of refugee situations around the world. In the world of District 9, an alien spaceship has come to Earth. But instead of the typical invasion action, the aliens are depicted as stranded travelers who are oppressed by humans and the fight is mostly against the evil of humanity.
War Of The Worlds (2005)
● Available to stream on Paramount+
Steven Spielberg's adaptation of author H.G. Wells' Minority Report, Spielberg also introduced the actor as a lead in an alien action movie.
Cruise plays a father of two trying to protect his children during a deadly attack by extraterrestrials. He may never be the action hero that he is in either Oblivion or Edge of Tomorrow, but Spielberg's sense of scale is second to none and the movie has plenty of spectacle to marvel at.
Oblivion (2013)
● Available to stream on Netflix
Tom Cruise starred in another high-concept sci-fi action movie with very similar concepts to Edge of Tomorrow the year before its release. dystopian futures like the ones in Wall-E, Moon, and Silent Running to heroic duty in all-out alien warfare like Edge of Tomorrow.
The movie follows Cruise's drone technician on a ruined Earth as he begins to question his entire life after a mysterious woman from his dreams suddenly appears in his life, causing his whole notion of reality to unravel. The movie may sound mostly cerebral and contemplative, but it's a slick action-adventure deep down and keeps the action fast-paced throughout.
