Action All You Need Is Kill

Review: ‘All You Need Is Kill’ is a Visually Enthralling Sci-Fi Adventure and a Worthwhile Companion Piece to ‘Edge of Tomorrow’

January 15, 2026Ben MK


   
One of the most visually thrilling and action-packed movies in Tom Cruise's already action-packed filmography, Edge of Tomorrow answered a question moviegoers didn't even know they needed answered — what if you crossed the déjà vu aspect of the comedy classic Groundhog Day with the alien invasion storyline of the sci-fi blockbuster Independence Day? Now, over a decade later, director Ken'ichirô Akimoto is taking another go at bringing Hiroshi Sakurazaka's 2004 novel, All You Need Is Kill, to the big screen. And this time, it's anime fans who are the target audience, in this colorful and stylish retelling of a tale all too familiar to avid science fiction and fantasy viewers.

Set in the not-too-distant future, the story follows Rita (Mikami Ai), a teenage girl with a traumatic childhood, who's trying her best to be a productive member of society. It's been exactly one year since a massive, tree-like alien creature called the Darol made its presence known on Earth, causing a huge crater in the planet and spreading its roots all across the globe; and as part of the ongoing government effort to restore some semblance of normalcy, Rita has been donning her robotic exoskeleton daily and venturing out onto the impact site, joining her fellow citizens and military personnel in the effort to clean up the collateral damage. On this particular day, however, humanity's strange coexistence with this mysterious extraterrestrial visitor is about to take a turn for the more disturbing. For while the past 365 days have seen the Darol merely acting as a silent, towering observer, it's about to reveal its true intentions, launching vehicle-sized pods into the surrounding area, each one bearing a vicious monster ready to attack anyone and anything unfortunate enough to cross its path.

Resembling a giant mechanical spider with the head of a Venus fly trap, each of these monsters moves quickly across the landscape, staining the ground with the blood of its terrified victims. But when Rita finds herself mortally wounded by one of these creatures, she's met with a fantastical surprise — rather than succumbing to her injuries, she wakes up in her bed on the same morning when everything started going wrong. It's a pattern that Rita soon comes to realize she's doomed to repeat, as she relives the same day ad nauseam, each time meeting an untimely end and awakening again the morning of. Little can Rita fathom, however, that she's not the only one fated to endure this seemingly infinite time loop. And when she meets a young man named Keiji (Hanae Natsuki), she'll discover that, together, they might just possess the unique set of skills necessary for defeating the Darol. The only question is — will they both survive their plan to turn the Darol's own space-time-bending powers against it? Or will one of them have to make the ultimate sacrifice, in order for the other one to live?

With a screenplay by Yûichirô Kido, the result plays like a rainbow-hued, psychedelic journey through familiar sci-fi territory. Yet, while the narrative foundation of All You Need Is Kill may not be anything particularly special to write home about, it's the visual execution of this stylish adaptation that truly makes this an engaging adventure worth going on. Whether it's the distinctive character animation style, which evokes the aesthetic of MTV's Aeon Flux, the design of the film's hybrid plant-machine alien creatures, or the mechanical workings of its futuristic robots and drones, there's no shortage of eye candy to keep viewers entertained. For fans of Edge of Tomorrow, though, what stands out the most is how this version doesn't step on the toes of its live-action counterpart, feeling more like a companion piece and less like an animated remake.

It all adds up to a thrilling and relatively faithful adaptation that's sure to captivate both anime and sci-fi fans alike. That being said, however, if you're looking for a movie that portrays its alien antagonists as anything more than one-dimensional monsters, you might want to temper your expectations. Make no mistake, All You Need Is Kill accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do, making it a worthy addition to the sub-genre of time-loop cinema. And for fans of such films, that's definitely a sentiment that bears repeating.

All You Need Is Kill releases January 16th, 2026 from GKIDS Films. The film has an MPAA rating of R for some violence/bloody images. Its runtime is 1 hr. 22 min.







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