The Tomorrow War

PG-13 Sep 03, 2021 Action · At 2h 18m, it feels padded with family drama between solid action beats.
Mixed reception disappointment
6.6/10
IMDb
51%
Rotten
45
45/100
Metacritic
2.74/5
Letterboxd
🎬
7.5/10
TMDB
Rewatch
one and done
Attention
half watch ok
Phone-check
medium

The brief

Chris Pratt brings his usual everyman charm to this time-traveling alien invasion flick that feels like a bigger-budget episode of a sci-fi TV series. The premise is genuinely clever and the creature design is solid, but at over two hours it drags through predictable family drama beats between decent action sequences. McKay stages some genuinely tense monster encounters, though the film never quite decides if it wants to be a thoughtful sci-fi drama or a popcorn blockbuster. Perfect for anyone who enjoyed Edge of Tomorrow but wished it had more Chris Pratt dad energy and less Emily Blunt badassery.

time-travel action alien invasion dad hero energy creature feature military sci-fi family stakes popcorn blockbuster

The verdict

If you're craving a sci-fi action flick with Chris Pratt's likable everyman energy and don't mind familiar beats, this delivers solid creature thrills and a clever time-travel premise. If you want tight pacing or something more ambitious than TV-level storytelling, the 138-minute runtime will test your patience with predictable family drama between monster encounters.

Watch with

  • 👥 Perfect for sci-fi action fans and Chris Pratt enthusiasts
  • ⚠️ May be too intense for younger kids

Heads up

  • Intense alien creature violence and gore (moderate)
  • Jump scares from monster attacks (moderate)
  • Characters in mortal peril throughout (frequent)
  • War violence and gunfights (moderate)

Credits

Director
Chris McKay
Cast
Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, J.K. Simmons, Betty Gilpin, Sam Richardson, Edwin Hodge, Jasmine Mathews
Official synopsis

'The world is stunned when a group of time travelers arrive from the year 2051 to deliver an urgent message:

The Double

Make a night of it
Poster for The Wandering Earth II

Pair this with The Wandering Earth II (2023)

Both feature humanity's desperate fight for survival against extinction threats.

Total runtime: 2h 18m + 2h 54m = 5h 12m

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