'The Tomorrow War': How the sci-fi film parallels our current crisis

Watch: The Tomorrow War cast discuss prominence of young people

Greta Thunberg might find some things to enjoy in The Tomorrow War, at least when it comes to the idea that young people can solve the problems of the generation above them.

In the new Amazon Prime blockbuster, present-day humans are sent forward in time in order to help the future population of Earth survive a war with a murderous, horrifying army of extra-terrestrials.

Read more: Roland Emmerich wants Hollywood to tell more climate change stories

The leaders of the human resistance are predominantly younger characters, such as Jasmine Matthews' Lieutenant Hart and Major Greenwood, played by Keith Powers.

"The older you get, the more used to reality you are and the more rigid you become with change," Matthews tells Yahoo Entertainment UK.

She adds: "It's gonna take the young people to come with these new and fresh ideas to break everybody out of their own sort of matrix and shift the world."

Another of the human leaders fighting back against the aliens is Yvonne Strahovski's character — a scientist who bonds with Chris Pratt's science teacher turned fighter Dan Forester.

Read more: Chris Pratt hypes upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder role

Strahovski says it's "definitely" the case that the movie deliberately evokes the idea that it's the young who will solve the world's problems.

"There's clear messaging here," she says. "It's also interesting because we filmed it pre-pandemic and I think what it brings up for people just having been through, and still in a pandemic, and also just facing things like climate change and everything that we're faced with as a people right now.

"I just think the parallel right there is really interesting."

The Tomorrow War is one of Amazon Prime Video's flagship movies of 2021, with the streamer securing the distribution rights from Paramount Pictures earlier this year.

Big viewership numbers will be a necessity for the streamer, which shelled out a reported figure in the region of $200m (£142m) in order to acquire the movie.

Read more: The Tomorrow War and the streaming battle of 2021

The cast of the film also includes Betty Gilpin, Sam Richardson and JK Simmons in a fun role as the grizzled, estranged father of Pratt's character.

The Tomorrow War will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video from 2 July.

Watch: Trailer for The Tomorrow War