Movie · 2021 · Action, Science Fiction, Adventure · 2h 18m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 1.1/10 (463.1K ratings)
The fight for tomorrow begins today.
Overview
The world is stunned when a group of time travelers arrive from the year 2051 to deliver an urgent message: 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. Determined to save the world for his young daughter, Dan teams up with a brilliant scientist and his estranged father in a desperate quest to rewrite the fate of the planet.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.1/10
IMDb: 6.6/10
Letterboxd: 2.73/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 51%
Metacritic: 45
TMDB: 7.5/10
Director
Chris McKay
Production
Skydance Media, Phantom Four, Lit Entertainment Group
Cast
Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, J.K. Simmons, Betty Gilpin, Sam Richardson, Edwin Hodge, Jasmine Mathews, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Keith Powers, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Mike Mitchell, Jared Shaw, Alexis Louder, Rose Bianco, Seychelle Gabriel, Alan Trong, Chibuikem Uche, Dave Maldonado, Kasandra Bandfield, Gregory Weeks
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A noisy, overstuffed sci-fi action movie with a strong high-concept hook, some solid creature design, and a few effective set pieces, but it’s also repetitive, tonally generic, and often feels like a streaming-era blockbuster built from familiar parts. If you want big dumb spectacle and can ignore the logic gaps, it can be entertaining; if you need sharp writing or real emotional payoff, it will likely frustrate you.
Best for
viewers who like glossy alien-invasion action
fans of high-concept time-travel premises
people in the mood for a breezy, undemanding blockbuster
audiences who can enjoy spectacle despite plot holes
Skip if
you want tight sci-fi worldbuilding
you’re sensitive to formulaic military-movie beats
you need memorable characters over concept
you dislike loud, repetitive action movies
Overview
The Tomorrow War is built on a great premise: ordinary people from the present are drafted into a future war they didn’t choose, and the movie knows that idea is inherently alarming. It has enough scale to sell the apocalypse, and the creature design and some action beats give it a pulpy, watchable energy.
Worth noting
But the film keeps sanding down its own best ideas. It leans hard on familiar blockbuster rhythms, rushes through emotional beats, and often feels like it’s explaining the mechanics of a cooler movie than the one actually on screen. The result is less a fresh sci-fi vision than a serviceable, occasionally fun mashup of invasion thriller, family drama, and military adventure.
Bottom line
If you’re in the right mood, it plays like disposable summer entertainment with a few flashes of imagination. If you’re hoping for something smarter or stranger than the premise suggests, it’s more likely to feel like a missed opportunity than a hidden gem.
Top Letterboxd reviews
demi adejuyigbe · 1894 likes
this movie is about climate change. or at least the root of it is, i think it just became “miscellaneous sci-fi war” somewhere in the process
great alien design!! sam richardson should've been in way way way way more of this movie but him repeatedly yelling "shit" on the stairwell got me. nothing about this movie makes even a lick of sense and that's fine. i built a shelf while watching it!
edit: everywhere i go people stop me on the street. "where's the shelf" "show me the shelf" "did you kill jfk" "can i see the shelf." well here it is.
•lily• (2★) · 1326 likes
Hollywood can you please stop trying to make us like chris pratt
David Sims (3★) · 1044 likes
Amazon Presents “The Tomorrow War” starring Chris Pratt Holding a Gun sounds like the most generic bullshit ever but this is actually a very enjoyable loopy dumb sci-fi actioner, based on nothing, with very crisp set pieces, I wish we got three of these a year!!!
davidehrlich (2.5★) · 764 likes
A supposedly $200 million dollar sci-fi spectacle about contemporary people being conscripted into a future war that pits the human race against some very hungry aliens, “The Tomorrow War” sure is a mighty huge thing to watch at home on a (comparatively) small screen. And yet, strange as it is that this summer’s biggest original blockbuster is skipping theaters altogether — a result of Paramount’s COVID-related decision to salvage its investment and sell the movie to Amazon — it can… more A supposedly $200 million dollar sci-fi spectacle about contemporary people being conscripted into a future war that pits the human race against some very hungry aliens, “The Tomorrow War” sure is a mighty huge thing to watch at home on a (comparatively) small screen. And yet, strange as it is that this summer’s biggest original blockbuster is skipping theaters altogether — a result of Paramount’s COVID-related decision to salvage its investment and sell the movie to Amazon — it can… more
Will Menaker (2★) · 672 likes
Takes a legitimately horrifying concept--what if multiplayer, battle royale fps games were made real and civilians with no training were conscripted into doing suicide wave attacks where they're sent to the time travel lobby, dropped into a map and then slaughtered by unbeatable NPCs--and covers it up with a heavy coat of "I freakin' love science." Also Chris Pratt's eyes are are half-closed most of the time, too unexpressive to be a movie star, get this guy out of here.… more Takes a legitimately horrifying concept--what if multiplayer, battle royale fps games were made real and civilians with no training were conscripted into doing suicide wave attacks where they're sent to the time travel lobby, dropped into a map and then slaughtered by unbeatable NPCs--and covers it up with a heavy coat of "I freakin' love science." Also Chris Pratt's eyes are are half-closed most of the time, too unexpressive to be a movie star, get this guy out of here.… more