WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for The Tomorrow War, now available on Amazon Prime.
In The Tomorrow War, it takes some time for Chris Pratt's Dan to figure out how and why the aliens known as White Spikes arrived on Earth and decimated the planet's future in 2051. It turns out, the beasts were unleashed as a result of climate change, coming to the surface from a Russian glacier in 2048 and then running rampant. This forced humanity to recruit soldiers from Dan's time in 2022/23, but unfortunately, the big metaphor ends up falling totally flat by skirting around the real issue.
Dan studies one of the alien's claws when he gets back to his time and deduces that their mothership crashed before 946 AD. It was stuck in the ice with volcanic ash from Asia then got embedded in the vessel. It turns out, as Dan's a biology expert and whatnot, he realizes that as the planet warms, the ice caps melt and this thaws the creatures out of their hibernation.
Dan's arc with climate change begins at the start of the movie when he's in class lecturing students on the military draft and the impact on the global population. On the screens in the back, there are digital posters talking about climate change, the harmful effects on nature and how it affects all inhabitants, especially animals. It's a bit subtle as they're in the background, but for a keen eye, they frame into context what's to come.
Still, when Dan realizes what'll happen in 25 years, allowing the White Spikes to rise up, he never mentions how the actual cause for the meltdown is human. Instead, his plan's to take a toxin he brought from the future and go poison the aliens. The backup plan is to rig the vessel up and blow the ship apart. So in essence, it's all guns blazing, but this gung-ho strategy misses the dilemma completely and doesn't hold anyone accountable.
The aliens get unfrozen by changing temperatures because of mankind, so one would think the U.S. military or the global coalition that exists would act now to fix a problem they create decades later. Yet, no one acknowledges that they need to change their ways for the future. It's as if to say, once Dan's posse kills the aliens in 2023, they can still continue business as usual, not really caring for how pollution and industrialization will keep harming the world. It's a super weird viewpoint, made even worse when the U.S. government literally tells Dan they're not sanctioning the mission. His crew has to go incognito, so it's individuals who have to take up the responsibility. Sadly, none of the other governments or global organizations are even offered as avenues to help, which is odd as these guys failing means the aliens will soon become everyone's problem.
Thus, as The Tomorrow War creatively washes its hands of this meaningful point to give Dan and the makeshift soldiers a cool mission, it feels like the corporate parts of the world attain a free pass. There's no blame, just absolution, when statistics have shown that big companies offer mere platitudes on the topic, with their words speaking louder than, you know, deeds. This movement requires them to take a stand, sacrifice, get their hands dirty and do their part, but clearly, The Tomorrow War doesn't believe in transparency, action and unity for a greater cause by the collective.
None of that is translated over, and the movie even rubs salt in the wounds when America takes credit for Dan's assault and his unit blowing up the ship. It's as if to say when people do the grunt work, the big fish will swoop in and steal credit. It might be real but it undercuts the altruistic message of the film, which has a united coalition working for a better tomorrow in theory. Ultimately, it doesn't connect as they're sending troops to the future to fight for the present, yet they won't help out and heal the environment in the now. It's conflicting and defeats the philanthropy and overall philosophy of the story, where mankind, on an international level, ought to be each other's keeper.
Starring Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, Sam Richardson, Betty Gilpin, J.K. Simmons and Edwin Hodge, The Tomorrow War is now available on Amazon Prime.