History Film / TheTomorrowWar

* ApocalypseHow: [[spoiler:The BadFuture undergoes a Class 3 with the Whitespikes utterly decimating humanity, overrunning their last safe haven, and possibly exterminating the survivors. The movie ultimately ends on a Class 1 as while the Whitespikes are destroyed, the news of communications with the future being lost led to NATO being disbanded and caused massive riots around the world.]]

* RasputinianDeath: [[spoiler:Due to her insane durability, the final surviving Whitespike is, in order, [[MoreDakka shot to hell]], [[AnArmAndALeg has her arm cut off]] (''of her own volition'' to [[AmputationStopsSpread avoid being poisoned]]), [[EyeScream stabbed through both eyes]], [[DeathOfAThousandCuts hacked up several times with both a knife and another Whitespike's severed claw]], before finally having the last remaining poison shoved down her throat, after which she falls quite a distance and is ''vaporized'' by the final impact]].

** [[spoiler:In the final battle, Dan and co. discover the hibernating aliens -- possibly created as bioweapons -- being carried in a crashed ship with a dead pilot in a cold, wintery environment. [[Film/{{Alien}} Sound familiar?]]]]

* MilitariesAreUseless: The head of the Department of Defense refuses to do anything when [[spoiler:Dan and mpany try to explain to him that they know a way they could prevent the BadFuture]], citing that he doesn't want to waste money and time on something they're not sure about, forcing them to do it themselves. At the end, [[spoiler:in a news interview, [[BlatantLies he claims credit]] for the team's success, saying that he gave it the go immediately, and he would do it again if he had to.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: To the similarly titled 2014 sci-fi military action film ''Film/EdgeOfTomorrow'', which features a NewMeat protagonist and his comrades being sent into the meat-grinder of a [[HopelessWar losing war]] of humanity versus a HordeOfAlienLocusts species of extraterrestrial invaders sporting CombatTentacles and a HiveMind and bent on the extermination of life on Earth. The initial battle also involves [[ItsRainingMen getting dropped into combat]] into a beach setting from a great height (though in a controlled manner rather than teleportation above the ground) before the protagonist [[TookALevelInBadass gradually develops their combat skills]] at the hands of a female military authority figure, [[spoiler:who bonds with the lead protagonist, and then dies in battle before the protagonist is able to destroy a critical target that ends the invasion in its tracks]].

* ApocalypseHow: [[spoiler:The BadFuture undergoes a Class 3 with the Whitespikes utterly decimating humanity, overrunning their last safe haven, and possibly exterminating the survivors. The movie ultimately ends on a Class 1 as while the Whitespikes are destroyed, the news of communications with the future being lost leads to NATO being disbanded and causes massive riots around the world.

* MildlyMilitary: Because the future war is such a meat grinder, draftees are given only the most rudimentary training and limited equipment. Those who manage to survive seven days get to come home.

* PapaWolf: What Dan becomes once it is revealed that his daughter is fighting in the Future war, and a large part of the second half of the film revolves around him trying to prevent the war from taking place so that Muri will not have to experience the war in the first place. With parents travelling forward and children travelling back, many other time travelers are likely to meet their families in the other timeline.

** Emmy Forester runs a support group for veterans of the future war suffering from PTSD, which notably includes many who lost limbs after being attacked by Whitespikes. One of them can barely talk about the experience without breaking down.

* StealthPun: Who is the one sent into the past to win the hearts and minds of the people of 2022? Lieutenant '''Hart'''

* MauveShirt: Some of the other civilians in the first mission are this, getting killed by the end of it.

** Dan's father abandoned his family after returning from Vietnam because he feared that they would suffer from the instability caused by his PTSD, which foreshadows [[spoiler: the future Dan has with Colonel Forester - in her timeline, Dan left the family and got killed in a car accident.]]

''The Tomorrow War'' is a 2021 sci-fi film directed by [[Creator/ChrisMcKay Chris [=McKay=]]]. The film stars Creator/ChrisPratt, Creator/YvonneStrahovski, Creator/JKSimmons and Sam Richardson.

The film's surprise success has led to Amazon greenlighting a sequel with plans for the original cast to return.

-->'''Charlie:''' How do you know how to do all of this stuff, man? How are you so calm?
-->'''Dan:''' Long story.
-->'''Charlie:''' What, are you, like, ex-military?
-->'''Dan:''' (sheepishly) Yeah. Yeah. Kind of a short story, I guess.

* Leitmotif: The appearance of Whitespikes is usually marked by some low and threatening notes.

* FailedFutureForecast: The beginning of the movie depicts Scotland competing against Brazil in the final match of the 2022 World Cup Qatar. However, Scotland did not qualify to compete in the World Cup that year, as it lost 3-1 to Ukraine. Neither did Brazil, which lost 4-2 to Ukraine. Instead, the final match was between Argentina and France.

* FailedFutureForecast: The beginning of the movie depicts Scotland competing against Brazil in the final match of the 2022 World Cup Qatar. However, Scotland did not qualify to compete in the World Cup that year, as it lost 3-1 to Ukraine.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The Whitespikes are white, and one of their (several) notable traits is their ability to shoot spikes. {{Justified}}, as whilst it's implied that the aliens have some kind of actual name for their species, they don't communicate in human language, and humanity has no interesting in finding out something so trivial about such a hostile threat, so they just used a catch-all term [[LineOfSightName based on how they look]].