With the first anniversary of The Tomorrow War soon approaching, it's important to consider the film's strongest element: the aliens who invade Earth's future. These monsters were grotesque and horrifying, which put the movie on the map as a solid creature feature film created for general audiences. The Tomorrow War still had plenty of action that showcased the large budget and summer blockbuster tone of the film even though it was initially released to streaming on Prime Video. It was one of the most expensive movies ever made that debuted on a streaming platform, but it still captures that "must-see" element for horror fans.
The original plot for The Tomorrow War is rather generic with a futuristic twist. The lead, Dan Forester (Chris Pratt), is drafted to a seven-day deployment into the future to fight an enemy they're given very little information about. Luckily for Dan's group, he's a veteran who can use his experience to guide them through their simple mission. The lack of logic in the entire drafting, training and transporting process didn't make much sense and could have arguably been a frustrating element of the film since it laid the foundation for the story.
The lack of clarification caused many innocent lives to be lost by military hands. Before interacting with the enemy, civilians were recklessly and mercilessly killed for the sake of just eliminating the threat as quickly as possible. The human race was endangering themselves by using this method of attack, which seemed like weak storytelling. This isn't uncommon for blockbuster hit movies, as many will center around a thinly produced plot that's saved by excellent special effects. A great example of this would be the 2009 film Avatar (sequel releasing late 2022), which had amazing visual effects that created a "must-see" element to the film, but the storyline involving the evil government trope just didn't elevate or help the film in any way.
What made Avatar extraordinary was the people from Pandora, and what made The Tomorrow War worth watching was the aliens they needed to destroy. Although free-falling into a war zone and landing in a pool at the top of a high-rise apartment by chance was an incredibly thrilling way to introduce the future to the audience, that entrance was reckless and unnecessary from a military standpoint. The line between protecting citizens versus directing endangering them seemed pretty thin, but the movie had a change for the better when Dan and his team finally got a look at the future threat, and the image was far worse than anyone could have imagined.
The aliens from The Tomorrow War are monstrous and absolutely terrifying. They weren't shown in the trailers leading up to the debut of the film, and that was an excellent decision for the marketing campaign, as creature feature horror fans got their chance to be shocked and thrilled by the initial introduction. The aliens were threatening and seemed indestructible. Soldiers were given machine guns for protection against the aliens, but they didn't exactly work, which added to the frustrating lack of logic from the military's perspective.
Once the aliens were introduced to the film, those logical loopholes fell to the wayside as the threat became the main focus and saving grace of The Tomorrow War. Tensions rose in moments of terror when the team had to bypass hundreds of aliens, rivaling the fear factor of many action-adventure games like The Last of Us that thrived on fear of dismemberment by a strong creature. By making these aliens hard to kill and more terrifying than anything previously seen on Earth, The Tomorrow War was able to create a memorable and pleasurable experience for action and horror fans alike. Without this added element, the movie might not have been as interesting or had that "must-see" factor it definitely earned.