The Tomorrow War (2021) Review

RATING: 2/10

CHRIS PRATT continues to solidify himself as a Hollywood A-Lister, and just like any big name actor, they must endure a few slumps before reaching their next big hit. Pratt has just arrived at his slump by starring in Amazon Prime's unoriginal, mundane sci-fi action movie, The Tomorrow War.

Dan Forester (Chris Pratt) is your average family man; all he wants is to provide for his family. However, after a group of soldiers from the future broadcast a message conveying that the human race will be destroyed in 30 years, civilians begin to be drafted and sent into the future to stop the invading alien forces. Dan is inevitably drafted where he discovers his commanding officer in the future is his daughter Colonel Muri Forester (Yvonne Strahovski), who was only 8-years old before time travelling. Now Dan must attempt to save the future while also confronting his past in a film that feels all too derivative for anyone that has seen any sci-fi action movie.

Whether it be characters only introduced to die off, overused time travel elements, or supposedly-innovative alien designs, The Tomorrow War feels like a monster-mash of every other sci-fi film before it, with the script itself joking about its unoriginal setting, comparing the situation to the 25-year-old Independence Day (or if we're going off the film, 57-year-old).

One of the biggest problems with the film is its inconsistent tone. Chris Pratt is introduced as a happy family man, continually joking with his wife and daughter, but when the global invasion begins, his personality immediately becomes cold sober; a perfectly normal response to an incredibly dangerous situation. However, during and after his enlistment as a time-travelling trooper, he suddenly begins making snappy one-liners to his family and friends, all of which feel forced rather than an emotional tool to mask his true emotions. Even his family start cracking jokes when his life is on the line, going back and forth between unfunny banter and deadpan melodrama.

Pratt does as good a job as he can with the lacklustre script, coming off as a disposable extra rather than a super solider. His natural charisma was enough to provide some light chuckles early on, but ironically, The Tomorrow War completely falls off the wagon when it jumps into the future. For some reason, writer Zach Dean felt it absolutely necessary to have Dan form barren relationships with several side characters, with the most egregious being Charlie (Sam Richardson). Much like Pratt, Richardson is a talented comedian in his own right, but his character here was an annoying sideman portrayed as an idiotic child who the audience is supposed to root for emotionally, but his constant whining and disingenuous humour made the movie downright unbearable.

Predictable, dull, emotionless; there are so many words to describe how Amazon Prime's latest original feature fails on every level. From its messy plot and characters to its overly-drawn out and predictable conclusion, The Tomorrow War is without question the worst film I've seen in 2021, and I rue the day that I witness a movie this year that can somehow be worse than this disastrous time travel feature that feels completely ripped out of the past.