I woke up this morning very excited to see the first footage from The Tomorrow War, the new Chris Pratt sci-fi action film directed by Chris McKay (The Lego Batman Movie). Everything we’d heard about it over the years made it sound like one of those mega-blockbusters we love to geek out about — Independence Day, Jurassic Park, Edge of Tomorrow, that kind of thing. And then I saw the first footage. And my thought was, “What the hell is this crap?”
“In The Tomorrow War, the world is stunned when a group of time travellers arrive from the year 2051 to deliver an urgent message,” reads the film’s official description. “Thirty years in the future mankind is losing a global war against a deadly alien species. The only hope for survival is for soldiers and civilians from the present to be transported to the future and join the fight. Among those recruited is high school teacher and family man Dan Forester (Chris Pratt). Determined to save the world for his young daughter, Dan teams up with a brilliant scientist (Yvonne Strahovski) and his estranged father (J.K. Simmons) in a desperate quest to rewrite the fate of the planet.”
That sounds so badass right? Time travelling warriors! Pratt! Simmons! Strahovski! You understand my excitement. But then here’s the footage and… yeah.
Oh sure, that footage mentions the time travel. And we get a glimpse of an alien. But beyond that, if you said this was an ad for Chris Pratt’s guest-starring role on a CBS military drama, I’d believe you. It’s just him with a gun, walking around. Borrrrring.
The Tomorrow War won’t be out for a few more months and, from those quick glimpses of cities on fire, we’re sure future marketing will be more epic. But a good first impression, this is not.
The Tomorrow War hits Amazon July 2.