The Tomorrow War

Chris McKay’s film came from Zach Dean’s script Ghost Draft, which in McKay’s words had zero levity on the page; he likened it to Children of Men. It was lightened on purpose to get financed and draw a wide audience; McKay says he urged the producers to hire Sam Richardson for this part even if they passed on him, since Richardson would supply the levity. That is the tonal seam. A scene handed to a comic performer seconds after a mass casualty beat is no accident; it is the balance that was ordered. The creatures are called White Spikes, and designer Ken Barthelmey says the spike shooting tentacles were his own idea, pitched as a sketch. The glacier sections were shot on Vatnajökull in Iceland because McKay wanted the film to feel real rather than hyperstylised. Paramount had booked it into cinemas for 25 December 2020. McKay says the theatrical version was finished when Skydance and Paramount grew nervous about the theatrical marketplace; it opened on Prime Video with no cinema run. A good fit if you can take jokes arriving seconds after mass casualties as a design decision rather than a flaw. Not for anyone who wants the future war’s weight held to the end; the third act swaps it for a glacier and a father and son reckoning.