Top Gun Maverick

[thatguy]

Hey Mr. Cruise, George Lucas wants his Adventures of Luke Starkiller script back. The main plot point is this:





I managed to miss the moment when they mentioned who the adversary was...Russia? China? A rogue group? They never rementioned it later in the movie. Just that these folks had "fifth gen fighters" so our superiority was minimized. Tom is brought in to train the best of the best youngins for the above, including Goose's son (I never saw the original, but apparently that was important). Lots of hitting the nostalgia button. It was nice to see Mr Kilmer reprise his Iceman role. After watching the Val doc, I thought his film career was over. They never have a successful practice, but go ahead with the mission anyway (!?). 



Among the never explained things: why does the one woman hot shot pilot need a man along where the other hot shot pilots fly solo?


So much motorcycle riding, yet Tom never wears a helmet.


--tg

[Drunk Monk]

If I looked like Tom Cruise, I would never wear a helmet either. And I would never have separated from Nicole Kidman. That Tom. He's wasting his life.

Wait now, where did you stream this?

[thatguy]

If I looked like Tom Cruise, I would never wear a helmet either. And I would never have separated from Nicole Kidman. That Tom. He's wasting his life.

Wait now, where did you stream this?

rented it on the Apple TV. Testing out the subwoofer. Meh...
--tg

[Drunk Monk]

Seen. Enjoyed it. It’s solid reboot of the franchise and a good performance by Tom. Very nostalgic, especially the music.

They were tactful not to label an enemy country and let our imaginations just fill that gap (Stacy thought it was the Middle East until the snowy mountains). 

Tom, man, he looks good at sixty. Nothing like Scientology and steroids to keep fit. He pulls off some decent dramatic scenes showing he can indeed act. They matured the character of Maverick just enough. He’s not the dude who tried to bang Kelly McGillis in the women’s restroom only a few minutes after meeting her, but he’s still gunning for top gun only know he has more demons than his MIA dad. 

A lot of critics are putting this in their top 10 for 2022 list but that says more about what came out this year than anything else. I found it consistently entertaining and generally well done in that homage way but not top 10 quality (although I’m not planning to put together such a list so maybe I’d run out and be forced to include this). It was good to get an old fashioned feel good flick (and be old fashioned, I mean the 80s … almost 40 years ago).  

Ultimately it’s about the dogfights and those do deliver. I hear your Star Wars ref, tg, but remember that Lucas poached the dogfights from WWI movies - this just takes it back, and with real jets. 

Also it’s not just the female pilot has a RIO (radar intercept officer), it’s something almost jets had back in the 80s. Here both bombers have them and the two solo jet fighters are escorts. Goose (Rooster’s dad) was Maverick’s RIO - and Rooster’s mom was Meg Ryan).

I’ll D00M recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the original. 

Streamed on Paramount+

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Top Gun (1986)

I watched the original again because I couldn’t remember who Penny (Jennifer Connelly) was. Turns out she’s a character that’s referenced repeatedly but never appears. She was an early crush of Maverick’s, an admiral’s daughter, who Maverick does an unauthorized fly by, a prior that’s mentioned a few times.

I remember the original fairly well. I think I might’ve still been working part time at MQ6 then because I remember seeing bits of it a lot. 

I didn’t realize how structurally similar the reboot is to the original - Same opening statement then aircraft carrier shots, similar timing on the bar and beach scenes, same end credits with cast photos. There’s some decent Easter eggs.

The original does not hold up well. The film has a grainy quality, and every shot is like in San Diego’s golden hour. The soundtrack is annoying - incessant Loggin’s Danger Zone and Berlin’s Take My Breathe Away (Berlin remains one of my fav act at the boardwalk http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...3#pid17523 DAMN! That was nearly a decade ago. Man, I miss those boardwalk concerts…) But back to TG (not to be confused with tg) it’s sweaty. Like everyone is sweating constantly. And the romance between Tom and Kelly is dumb. It’s more of an exercise in cinematic style than a cohesive story, but I guess that’s what the 80s were about. It was much better in my memory than with the rewatch.

The dogfights are good for the time but pale in comparison to TGM’s update. The enemy is Russians flying MiGs. Remember the Cold War? Still going in the 80s. Like TGM, the enemy pilots are faceless under their helmets, like stormtroopers, only here they have red stars over their black helmets. Unlike the top gunner who are always taking off their air masks to talk, the enemy pilots are always masked.

And the original definitely has its moments. The supporting cast is solid and the characters were based on real people (although it doesn’t feel that way).

Not D00M recommended. It’ll tarnish fond memories and the flashbacks to the original in the reboot will fill in the gaps well enough. 

Also streamed on paramount+. P+ has an inordinate amount of Tom Cruise films.

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rented it on the Apple TV. 

Hold the phone… shouldn’t this be in the AppleTV subforum. I was bummed because I forgot you reviewed it and was looking forward to it being my last post int the Paramount+ forum until whenever we resubscribe…

[Drunk Monk]

One more thought - the ‘letting go’ theme of TGM echoes Mav not letting go of Goose after his fatal accident as the two float in the ocean after ejecting. It’s not a major point in TG, but it was amplified into one in TGM, and I respect the writing behind that because it worked on many levels. It’s similar to the ‘don’t think’ theme but that’s more overt in the original.

The key element in any reboot is the homage factor and TGM nails that, if nothing else.

[Greg]

Hey guess what is on Amazon Prime? Yep. This

I noticed the lack of helmets as well. And Tom does look great at 60

I think it was a conscious effort not to name a bad guy which is why one is never referred to.

I thought the whole thing was a little stiff and awkward and sadly lacking in any sense of humor. There were funny bits but everyone takes themselves way to seriously. And yet, Jon Hamm is one of my favorite things about this movie.

The whole film is about doing bits of things while waiting around for the fighter jet scenes. And I'm sure the Fighter Jet scenes looked awesome on the big screen. But is there a more effective way to find your enemy combatant that looking frantically around the cockpit? Don't these planes have radar yet?

Finally, I felt like I was just watching the first film again. Same sort of scenes. Same character arcs.