[7] In December 2022, biology teacher and former Green Beret Dan Forester fails to land a job at a prestigious research center.

While he watches the 2022 FIFA World Cup final, soldiers from the year 2051, through a time portal, arrive to warn that humanity is on the brink of extinction due to alien invaders: The Whitespikes.

Muri finally reveals to Dan that in the past, he became disillusioned after failing to get his research job, which led him to divorce his wife and abandon his family, much like James did to him as a child.

Dan leads a mission to Severnaya Zemlya in northern Russia to test his theory, and finds an alien ship in an ice sheet.

Dorian and Hart decide to sacrifice themselves by manually detonating the alien ship once they realize it is the only method of containment, but the female manages to escape.

[8] The film was described as a dark and emotional sci-fi action epic about a generation of people who get drafted to go 30 years in the future to fight a losing war against aliens.

The battle scenes depicting a future Miami were filmed in downtown Atlanta and Buckhead, Georgia, using both CGI and live pyrotechnics to create the postapocalyptic setting.

[36][37][38] Chris McKay revealed that he wanted the film to feel real rather than hyperstylized and to shoot on location and limit the amount of greenscreen used, which is the reason he chose Iceland for the scenes in Russia at the glacier Vatnajökull.

Chris Pratt revealed that while filming, they were told that a couple froze to death after falling through a fissure, but they still decided to take the risk hoping to impress the audience.

[60][61] The film continued to top the charts in subsequent weeks, logging 1.222 billion minutes of viewership from July 21–27 (equal to about 885,507 total watches) according to Nielsen ratings.

[66][67] Pratt celebrated the film's success, calling it a "home run win" and on Instagram, he published a new post where he commented: "We couldn't defeat the Whitespikes without our fellow soldiers.

The website's critics consensus reads, "Chris Pratt ably anchors this sci-fi adventure, even if The Tomorrow War may not linger in the memory much longer than today.

[71] Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two out of four stars and wrote, "The Tomorrow War is an earnest effort to bring something new to the time-travel action genre, but this movie is a 2021 vehicle made of parts from the 2010s and the 1990s and 1980s.

"[72] IndieWire's David Ehrlich gave the film a C grade, writing, "Which isn't to say that The Tomorrow War is bad — it boasts a clever premise, a killer supporting turn from Sam Richardson, and an uncommonly well-defined sense of place for such a murky CGI gloop-fest...

"[1] John Defore for the Hollywood Reporter wrote that "the pic may be missing that certain something that would have made it huge in theaters" but that it is entertaining on Amazon stream anyway and praised Pratt's acting.

[74] Leah Greenblatt from the Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B− grade and commented "Eventually the storyline dissolves into soft-focus sentiment and a final, snowy set piece whose execution is so patently ludicrous a 1970s Bond villain might file for intellectual property rights (though the climate-change message is sneakily on point).

"[75] Robert Daniels from the Los Angeles Times wrote in his review, "The Tomorrow War tries its hand at throwback '90s action glory, back when cinematic adventures could be everything for everybody.

Instead, this postapocalyptic combat flick lacks the intensity to reach the 1.21 gigawatts worth of power needed to emblazon our screens in escapist flair.

"[76] Wendy Ide from The Observer wrote in her review, "The creature design is first-rate – the aliens are ravenous, rapid, and equipped with a pair of death tentacles.

"[77] Roxana Hadadi from Polygon considered the film to be repetitive and compared it unfavorably with Edge of Tomorrow and Starship Troopers, for which she stated, "We get it!

"[78] Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com gave the film one and a half out of four, and stated, "The supposedly original script from writer Zach Dean offers very little that's innovative or inspired.

"[79] Barry Hertz from The Globe and Mail compared the film unfavorably with Independence Day and Starship Troopers, criticizing its unoriginality and wrote, "It is a fool's errand to imagine what someone like Verhoeven would have done with The Tomorrow War's material – this is a movie made for the express purposes of delivering some lazy woo-hoo summer fun, not any kind of sneaky subversiveness.

"[80] Peter Travers from ABC News' Good Morning America considered the film with a clichéd storytelling, gimmicky visual effects, and borrowed inspiration by commenting, "The Tomorrow War chases its own tail for a crushingly repetitive 140 minutes to reach an ending you could have seen coming from deep space.

"[81] Mick LaSalle from the San Francisco Chronicle praised the visuals, story, and action sequences, and stated, "Yet it would probably be a mistake to emphasize the relationship aspect of The Tomorrow War too much.

"[83] Randy Myers from The Mercury News gave three and a half out of four by commenting, "Given the scope and spectacle of the action sequences — all tautly choreographed and edited — it's a wonder that Paramount let this one get away.

"[84] Chris Agar from ScreenRant added in his review as a positive feedback, "The Tomorrow War boasts an interesting setup and solid performances by the cast, but it still comes across as unremarkable, if standard, genre fare.

"[86] On July 8, 2021, Skydance and Amazon reportedly were in discussions to produce a sequel, due to the film's success, with the hopes of creating a new movie franchise for the streaming service of Prime Video.