The Tomorrow War

Movie Review

A supposedly $200 million dollar sci-fi spectacle about contemporary people being conscripted into a future war that pits the human race against some very hungry aliens, “The Tomorrow War” sure is a mighty huge thing to watch at home on a (comparatively) small screen.

And yet, strange as it is that this summer’s biggest original blockbuster is skipping theaters altogether — a result of Paramount’s COVID-related decision to salvage its investment and sell the movie to Amazon — it can feel even stranger that something this anodyne and algorithmic wasn’t conceived by a streamer in the first place.

While the action only scales up and up and up as its world speeds towards its final battle, even the most IMAX-sized moments seem right at home on your TV, where “The Tomorrow War” is fated to be forever entombed on a little square that people will blithely scroll past as they search for Season 5 of “Bosch.”

Which isn’t to say that “The Tomorrow War” is bad — it boasts a clever premise, a killer supporting turn from Sam Richardson, and an uncommonly well-defined sense of place for such a murky CGI gloop-fest (credit to director Chris McKay, who knows his way around digital environments and has more than earned a taste of that sweet Bezos money after his brilliant work on “The LEGO Batman Movie”).