A teaser trailer for Amazon’s military sci-fi thriller “The Tomorrow War” is here, with actor Chris Pratt taking center stage as a time-traveling draftee of a futuristic war.
The “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Jurassic World” star plays high school teacher Dan Forester, who goes from teaching class to futuristic 2051 war fighting in an effort to fend off an alien invasion that threatens the extinction of humanity. What the recruiters promised Forester to get him to dive into such an endeavor must have been impressive.
Along the way, Pratt links up with ultra-shredded co-star grandpa J.K. Simmons, who plays the lead’s estranged father. The film also stars Yvonne Strahovski (“The Handmaid’s Tale”), Sam Richardson (“Veep,” “Detroiters”) and Betty Gilpin (“The Hunt”).
“We are fighting a war 30 years in the future,” the narrator says in the teaser, which is coincidentally a thing someone could have nearly declared back when we entered the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Except, “Our enemy is not human,” she continues.
The film marks the live action debut for director Chris McKay, whose previous work encompasses an animation-dominated portfolio (”The Lego Batman Movie”). Writing duties were handled by Zach Dean (”Deadfall”).
“The Tomorrow War” is slated for a July 2 release, just two days before the anniversary of the July 4 speech by President Thomas J. Whitmore, in which he famously thundered, “Perhaps its fate that today is the 4th of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom, not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution — but from annihilation.”
(Aliens need to lay off July for once.)
Rallying a ragtag squadron of fighter pilots, including, somehow, drunk Randy Quaid, Whitmore (Bill Pullman) continued, “We’re fighting for our right to live, to exist. And should we win the day, the 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day when the world declared in one voice: We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!”
Errah!
Watch the teaser for “The Tomorrow War” below.
Jon Simkins is the executive editor for Military Times and Defense News, and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War.