All You Need is Kill Review – Time Loop Anime Introduces Giant Space Flower for Groundhog Day with Robots | film

TThe second film adaptation of Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s 2004 novel of the same name, this new film is far inferior to Edge of Tomorrow from 2014, Tom Cruise’s Groundhog D1ay with robots. It’s not a matter of budget or aesthetics – it’s just a gaping hole of engaging characterization and an inner spark that makes this time loop a tedious chore, rather than a thrilling prison escape of eternal repetition.

To be fair, directors Kenshiro Akimoto and Yukinori Nakamura changed things up. Instead of the extraterrestrial “imitation” in the original story, they’ve concocted an entirely new big bad: a dormant alien flower, named Darul, which one day begins spitting out what looks like deadly nasturtiums. Heroes Swapped: The point of view in this version is Rita (voiced by Ai Mikami), a tough girl who works for the United Defense Forces surveying the massive factory. Exposure to quartz spores is what forces her to relive her less-than-perfect day over and over again.

After using her first rounds to put as much distance between herself and Darol as possible, attempting suicide, and then leveling up her fighting skills, she finally meets another redneck, the hapless nerd Keiji (Natsuki Hanae). The game-packed narrative essentially follows the same path as Edge of Tomorrow, with the pair slowly upgrading their skills and equipment until they reach the level of connecting Flower Power. But, in keeping with the pessimistic Rita like us, there’s a stronger emphasis on despair and futility along the lines of the existential quandary achieved by Bill Murray’s Phil Connors in Groundhog Day.

It might work if Rita were a more engaging heroine, able to wring gallows humor or personal tragedy from her predicament. Aside from the unconvincing backstory about parental abuse, it feels largely hollow, and this version lacks the subtle interplay between Cruise and Emily Blunt. Ultimately, it squanders Studio 4°C’s sharp images with its uniquely angular character models and the garish color cast of its greenhouse invaders. Exaggerated weirdness and philosophical posturing are areas where a reworking of Hollywood animation could have come out on top – but it’s a shame there’s so little of that on display here.