Chris Pratt took his popularity and personality from his popular roles in Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World and used them to make The Tomorrow War. The highly anticipated buddy-cop action movie directed by Chris Mckay is now streaming on Amazon Prime and gives the viewer some time travel,  a portion of family drama, and some perfect comedic timing to create this action-packed sci-fi thriller.

The plot features a ragtag group fighting an alien invasion. Father and war veteran Dan Forester (Chris Pratt) is working as a high school biology teacher but keeps on getting passed up by private-sector jobs. During the World Cup on television, human visitors from three decades in the future arrive on the field, to warn them about an alien invasion besieging the globe, and civilians must jump forward to help fight them–that’s how bad the state of the world and population is. 

Dan ends up being drafted into the military force ordered to jump into the future and fight the war. Dan receives the information as well as someone would. Even though the percent chance of him returning is 30%, he goes into the war with the mindset that he is meant to do something impactful with my life. Jumping in with him is Gator (Sam Richardson), a computer science major who doesn’t even know how to hold a gun or fix a wound. Dan’s third man is Dorian, a war veteran who sticks to his roots of a Navy Seal. He has jumped to the future three times prior to Dan’s time of jumping into the future.

 This is a very well composed movie. From the charismatic charm of Chris Pratt to the almost horror-like CGI and sounds of the white spike aliens, it was an action movie that lived up to the hype. While there are some below-average reviews about the CGI in this film out there, I LOVED it. The silver, bleached color of white spikes gave the invaders a ghastly presence. They had terrifying tentacles, with big sharp teeth to back them up. Their specialty however, was the eerie clicky but bassy noise that made them sound like they were from a horror movie. It was so memorable that the soldiers who returned couldn’t stop hearing the noise for the rest of their lives. 

The setting and cinematography of this film were also remarkable. The opening shot of this film really sets the viewer up to expect some beautiful shots. One scene in particular, a scene where the camera pans from the rooftop to the crumbling and collapsing Dominican Republic, we see a whole city being torn apart by these aliens. There is a stairway shot where the camera is looking up the stairs and we see a white spike glaring down onto our main protagonists. The lighting and composition of the shot gives the white spikes a source of power and dominance.

My one problem with this movie is Dan’s story itself. From the beginning, he is portrayed as a family man, a husband, and a father who would do anything to keep his family safe. However, to add the family drama story into the film, Dan learns a secret that causes him to become dissatisfied with his life and just leave his family. This plot point is a stretch to add to the main problem. It doesn’t make much sense for Dan to leave his family for anything, and this causes his character to be inconsistent and his motives rather shallow.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this movie to any action film enthusiasts, as it did live up to the hype. It has thrilling, action-packed scenes with funny comedic relief that splits up the tension. It has a good storyline overall with unexpected twists and turns in the film. This film was made for viewers who just need a quality buddy-cop action or are just fans of the legend Chris Pratt.