Review | All You Need Is Kill movie review: Japanese novel behind Edge of Tomorrow gets animated
A young recruit is stuck in a time loop amid an alien invasion in All You Need Is Kill, an animated sci-fi thriller based on a light novel
3.5/5 stars
Marking the feature directing debut of Kenichiro Akimoto, All You Need Is Kill unfolds in the wake of an alien invasion. It follows a plucky heroine who must hone her combat skills and study the otherworldly aggressors after a fatal encounter traps her in an endless time loop.
In a noted departure from the source material, protagonist Rita Vrataski (voiced by Ai Mikami) is not a seasoned combat warrior, but an inexperienced young recruit taking part in research and reconnaissance missions for the United Defence Force (UDF).
A colossal extraterrestrial plant, known as Darol, has crash-landed on Earth and towers over the city like a blue tree. On the first anniversary of its arrival, Rita is part of a team tasked with retrieving samples from its long, tendril-like roots.
Previously dormant, Darol suddenly emits a blinding light, spewing thousands of vicious alien creatures from the ground below. Rita is attacked and violently killed, only to wake up back in her bed on the same morning.