WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for The Tomorrow War, now available on Amazon Prime.
In The Tomorrow War, the aliens known as the White Spikes have truly left mankind blindsided. After coming to the surface in 2048, they've decimated humanity, causing the survivors to request soldiers be sent to 2051 to win a war that's sadly left the present population dwindled to less than 500,000 people. Luckily, Chris Pratt's Dan helps find a secret weapon in the future, but as the finale shows, this was never needed.
Dan and the older version of his daughter, Muri, are able to trap a Queen in 2051 and use her genetics to come up with a toxin that'll eradicate the species. However, while Muri dies as her base gets ravaged, Dan comes back to 2023 to mass produce the serum. Sadly, the teleporting tech's blown so he can't jump forward again, but his crew figures out where the aliens are asleep.
They analyze one of the monster's claws to deduce the aliens crashed thousands of years ago and have been stuck in a Russian glacier. But when they get there and inject the toxin into stasis cells, the beasts' death cries awaken the others, which leads to a massive firefight. Dan's soldiers eventually blow up the ship, with some like Dorian and Hart sacrificing themselves.
The problem with this, however, is that they could have just rigged the ship and blown it to bits without the serum. They just needed to be stealthy, and since Dan's weapons expert dad, James, is there, they would have had enough firepower. The toxin is merely a forced angle to build an emotional connection between Dan and future Muri by giving them a mission and purpose.
It's also weird that Muri's science team never dissected a claw in their timeline. Analysis would have provided them insight into when the aliens arrived and where they're hiding -- information that could have been sent back to 2023. They wouldn't have needed to send soldiers back or accept soldiers from the past.
With that intel, the global military would then have had a simple task of finding the ship in the Russian ice and destroying it. It'd have been a quick job, remixing Independence Day with the mothership right here in Earth's backyard.
Ultimately, by stretching out the toxin arc, the Queen goes free in the present, allowing Dan to hunt and fight it. This creates a shot at revenge as the female did cause Muri's death at the base just as Dan jumped back to 2023 with the toxin.
Starring Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, Sam Richardson, Betty Gilpin, J.K. Simmons and Edwin Hodge, The Tomorrow War is now available on Amazon Prime.