Chris Pratt’s ‘The Tomorrow War’ Panned as ‘Garbage Pizza’ and ‘Starship Troopers for Dummies’ by Critics
Chris Pratt’s latest ode to his inner “action star,” Amazon Prime’s “The Tomorrow War,” is fighting its own battle with critics, who decry it as everything from “the garbage pizza of science-fiction films” to a “mediocre straight white savior fantasy in which the protagonist is…f—ing stupid.”
“The Tomorrow War” made its debut on Amazon Prime on Friday and is currently sitting at a lukewarm 53% among critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with the audience review topping off at a more positive 80%. The Globe and Mail’s Barry Hertz calls it “Starship Troopers for dummies,” adding, “If I had a time machine, I’d punt myself to the past just before ‘The Tomorrow War’ went into production, and save everyone the trouble,” while Brian Lowry of CNN admits the picture has a “certain appeal,” “but strands its star in a pretty uninspired time and place.”
Despite the fragmented reception, “The Tomorrow War” has audiences watching it in droves, all for their own subjective reasons, which led to some clever, funny and constructive reactions.
The time-travel movie, which Amazon reportedly shelled out around $200M to stream, the film follows Pratt’s Dan Forester as he fights to save humanity after soldiers from the future appear with the urgent message that Earth’s population is being destroyed by an alien invasion in 2051.
For those left stumped by the film’s techie plot, Twitter user Dean Sorenmann offered up a simple summation that may drive more people to watch the movie.
Let me summarize the Tomorrow War. Aliens have the munchies while humans are busy with divorce.— Dean Sorenmann, last juggernaut available, oh my! (@DeanSorenmann) July 3, 2021
Meanwhile, James Rossiter scolds the picture for not even correctly pronouncing it’s scientific jargon.
Watched The Tomorrow War and the woman with the PhD “in biotechnology with a focus on genomics” would be more credible if she had pronounced “genomics” correctly. It’s pronounced “gen-oh-mics”, not “gen-ah-mics”p.s., Hollywood, I’m available for hire #TomorrowWar #science pic.twitter.com/XCVGIeQ5jL— James Rossiter (@evolvingmagic) July 3, 2021
User t1gerlilly was similarly not impressed, criticizing “The Tomorrow War” for being another brainless “mediocre straight white male savior fantasy.”
The Tomorrow War is (yet another) mediocre straight white male savior fantasy in which the protagonist is so f*cking stupid that in the finale he lets the only evidence of alien life & their technology be blown up so he can play hero Bc he wants to feel special. Ugh #TomorrowWar— t1gerlilly (@t1gerlilly54321) July 3, 2021
Toby was so gobsmacked by the movie that he could only express himself with that old communicative social media standby, the gif.
The Tomorrow War was…um… pic.twitter.com/q1V6UBHbRf— Toby (@tobes444) July 3, 2021
Naturally, in an alien invasion film, the intergalactic beasts typically take center stage, but the complex CGI effects didn’t impress Kat Rosenfield this time around.
~THE TOMORROW WAR~soldiers: why haven’t you showed us what the aliens look likefuture soldier: you’d never have come if you knewsoldiers: future soldier: nah just kidding it’s because they look *ridiculous*— Kat Rosenfield (@katrosenfield) July 3, 2021
Poster Critical Nostalgia had to resort to a comic panel to express his complicated feelings on the matter.
Me looking at THE TOMORROW WAR online: pic.twitter.com/rqJF5zNXdT— Critical Nostalgia (@highway_62) July 3, 2021
Movie? What movie? Drunk in a Graveyard was entranced by the bulging muscles of popular character actor J.K. Simmons — the man is 66 years-old.
Ripped J.K. Simmons from The Tomorrow War is our new god. We don’t make the rules. pic.twitter.com/xoaoW83jTN— Drunk in a Graveyard (@DrunkGraveyard) July 3, 2021
Brendan Hodges expressed disappointment in the film’s lack of big-screen quality, despite its hefty price tag.
I watched THE TOMORROW WAR and why does yet another 200 million dollar blockbuster look like a pricey pilot for ABC pic.twitter.com/M6HhWJXToN— Brendan Hodges (@metaplexmovies) July 2, 2021
According to Ryan Bordow, there are Three Stages to Watching “The Tomorrow War,” and they’re not pleasant.
Stages of watching THE TOMORROW WAR:1st act: oh no.2nd act: this isn’t bad, actually!3rd act: oh.https://t.co/YTJHLtM5Yr??? Ryan Bordow (@rybo62) July 1, 2021
And finally, let it be known that if you watched and enjoyed “The Tomorrow War,” TheUnknownCritic won’t be afraid to judge you. And he will judge you hard.
The Tomorrow War is a Cinema Taste Litmus Test.If you earnestly gushed about it & thought it was a good film, I believe it is very likely that you think Golden Corral buffets are height of culinary excellence.It doesn’t make you a bad person, it means you aren’t trustworthy. pic.twitter.com/qEgoYFumrF— TheUnknownCritic (@A_Nonny_Maus) July 3, 2021
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