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Tom Cruise has been known to fight aliens before, but while his latest effort mimics the best of the genre (Aliens, The Matrix ) while adding aspects of history (the Normandy from Saving Private Ryan) and glimpses of comedy (Groundhog Day), this movie ultimately feels pretty damn fresh.

Time loop films can easily get repetitive, but director Doug Liman is too smart to give us the same scenes over and over. They all serve a purpose, move the plot, add humor or turn out to be frustrating dead ends for the protagonists.

Once you accept the admittedly random reason behind the premise, there is no way not to enjoy this fun ride. This is all too cleverly crafted, breaking the chain of formulaic repetition with a pretty smart script, genuinely thrilling action sequences and impressive special effects.

Following the kind of flawed heroes you enjoy growing invested in really helps, of course. Cruise-haters can instead take joy in seeing him getting killed over and over again.

But make no mistake: We haven't had a grand-scale alien invasion thriller that worked so well in years, while knocking the audience's socks off.

8 out of 10 Final Fantasy swords