Tom Cruise in “Top Gun: Maverick”: Film Review

The same inevitable pop culture totem from 1986 best weapon It turns out that Tony Scott’s testosterone blockbuster has the narrative complexity of an entire music video intersecting with a network of military recruits. It’s hard to think of many other iconic products of Reh-Rah patriotism from the Reagan years, with its strong salute to American exclusivity and triumph over the Cold War enemy that was deliberately obscured: hey, you don’t want to lock up a lucrative foreign. Market.

Whatever continued to be poisoned in the post-Trump era, patriotism became white supremacy. So depending on where you are on the political spectrum, your pleasure Top Gun: Maverick It may depend on how ready you are to close off the real world and give in to the magic of movie stars.

This masterpiece of Joseph Kosinski’s virtuoso technical prowess, driving rhythm and chair flight sequence has plenty. Every photo of Tom Cruise Maverick is here to remind him, admiring young men who are ready to avoid him, and the initially embarrassing respect for the military policeman who tries and fails to draw the line from the brazen individualist. “He’s the fastest man,” says one of the admirers in the control room. And that’s even before he made his signature “Cruise Run” robot.

“This is not an airplane, this is a pilot”, we hear over and over again. And Cruz leaves no doubt that he is a pilot, despite being hired by a professional team of tradesmen and a solid ensemble that has undergone extensive flight training. Even a relic of the F-14 Tomcat, the tactical fighter chosen by Maverick in the first film, is launched into the circle of fame, hailing older movie stars and older technologies in one. Cruz’s character is portrayed by Ehren Krueger, Eric Warren, and Christopher Macquarie as a selfless, rebellious saint. Turn this impressive egomania into a piece second only to the thrilling tone of Paramount’s press records.

Starting when Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” is joined by footage of a new generation of F-18 Hornets digging through the clouds and falling into a sea of ​​high-fives, raised fists and index fingers, the sequence follows the original beat-up beat, so much so that it’s comical. And yet, as far as the formula is concerned, we cannot deny that it gives nostalgia and reinvention. The main audience will be happy to be on the air, especially the countless parents who loved it. best weapon And we look forward to sharing this new adrenaline rush with your kids.

Pete “Maverick” Mitchell lives alone in a hangar in the Mojave Desert with a photographic sanctuary for his former radar officer and best friend Goose, who died in a training accident in the first film. (Anthony Edwards and Meg Ryan appear in a helpful review that turns out to be Pitt’s tortured memories.)

Maverick arrives daily at the naval base in his Kawasaki and continues to attack, like a daring test pilot, resisting the rise to the rank of captain that would have established him for this moment. But when his aerial shotgun angers Admiral Kane (Ed Harris) for feeding drones and elderly pilots, Maverick has his wings clipped.

Although the instructor only lasted two months, nearly 30 years ago he transferred to an elite weapons school, the same Top Gun Academy in San Diego, founded in 1969 to train one percent of its naval pilots. Neither Cain nor the Academy’s top officer, Cyclone (John Ham), wanted him for the job. But Maverick’s former rival and finalist Eisen (Val Kilmer), who became an admiral and commanded the US Pacific Fleet, convinced them that he was the only person who could train pilots for a secret mission.

A uranium enrichment plant is found in enemy territory, again, exactly which enemy is unknown, and two pairs of F-18s have to sneak in, bomb Bejusus from there, and then quickly leave, overcoming a near-impossible speed. Climb rocky peaks and then survive the inevitable blast of enemy missiles and aerial combat.

Candidates for this mission are the “best”, alumni of former stars, who almost repeat the 1986 group, as well as being culturally diverse. There is even – breathing! – Woman, Phoenix (Monica Barbaro). However, the two most important are adventurer Hengman (Glen Powell) and goose son Buck (Miles Teller), who still carry their father’s ghost and are hostile to Maverick’s career suspension, taking his name off the list. Naval Academy.

The Hangman-Rooster dynamic more or less mirrors the Iceman-Maverick friction. best weaponJust like an inappropriately homoerotic volleyball scene echoing here with a team playing soccer on the beach.

The only notable place where the writers flout the original model is Kelly McGillis, an astrophysicist and civilian Top Gun instructor, who refused to work Plum Washington to be with her men, but doesn’t even like to mention it here. Instead, Maverick starts an old affair with Penny (Jennifer Connelly), a single mother with fantastic reflexes. He runs a local bar, his name, The Hard Deck, acts as a tactical conspiracy point, which seems to put him on the income block of owning a fancy sail and driving a Porsche. (Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has never met an electric car he didn’t like.)

Maverick’s job is to check the limits of super-competitive candidates during training, reduce them from 12 to six, and choose a team leader. “It’s not who I am. This is WHO “I am,” he says in a rare moment of doubt about his aviation profession. “How do I teach this?” Anyone who can’t guess who will take the place of the team leader and who will be his wingman doesn’t pay attention.

The heated conflict between Maverick and Roster, who doesn’t see his resentment as he realizes the protective responsibility his father’s friend feels for him, provides an emotional core, even if the role places limited demands on Teller’s position. But this also applies to Connelly, Ham and all the other actors; They all do the work of the remaining teammates, who just shine around the glittering planet Planet Alpha, and finally have to admit that Maverick is a no-nonsense guy no matter what tricks he pulls.

The film’s most poignant element appears on screen in Kilmer’s Ice Man for a brief period of time, whose health issues mirror the actor in real life, leading to resounding pathos. There’s reciprocal warmth, even love, in the scene between Eisman and Maverick, confirming the characters’ hard-won connection, as well as the rivalry that preceded it, with smooth humor.

Kosinski (directed by Cruz Forget it), writers and editor Eddie Hamilton carefully note the balance between interpersonal drama and flight maneuvers; The crossover scenes between field practice and classroom discussions, in which Maverick points out fatal errors in a computer simulator, are particularly vivid. However, it’s the buildup of an entire mission during which dismal, seemingly insurmountable failures and miraculous survival keep the tension going.

This is truly a movie that enjoys the IMAX experience and the great sound that comes with it. The muscular score by Harold Faltermeier, Lady Gaga and Hans Zimmer also draws attention, with Gaga singing “Hold My Hand” taking the more romantic spot. Musical choices tend elsewhere in the retro atmosphere – Bowie, t. Rex, Fogat, The Who, while Teller manages to hit the piano keys with a hammer and Jerry Lee Lewis sings, who directly respects his on-screen father.

the most memorable part Top Gun: Maverick – and scenes that glorify the new generation with pride and good American heroism – are pilot battles and tactical maneuvers. How they should be. The best thing this film does is enhance the visceral analogue action due to the conventional dummy CG fake bombardment, the choice was reinforced by the actors’ presence in the landing cabins during filming.

The work of cinematographer Claudio Miranda has benefited from the technological advances of the last three decades, with camera devices that allow you to experience the truth. Cruz’s insistence on his own flight is certainly impressive, even if his helmet’s breathing apparatus interferes with the intensity of his trademark clenched jaw. No one will argue that he works hard on this film, justifying the labor of love. But no one will run away from him for his self-esteem.