Top Gun: Maverick

[Jared]

The reviews have been overwhelmingly, shockingly positive. I saw it at the early screenings Tuesday night.. And...it's true, all of it.

This is what every other legacy-sequel wishes it could be. (With all due respect to Mad Max Fury Road, which is more of a standalone sharing a premise with older flicks). It manages to improve on almost every aspect of the original without resorting to making fun the original. Dont get me wrong here's, i know there's plenty to make fun of about Top Gun, but cheap meta jokes would kill the atmosphere.

The aerial scenes are the best ever filmed. The final act of this movie, when we get to thr mission it's all been building toward, blows away every other fighter action sequence. I might even include spacecraft, too.

The emotional througline of the movie is a missle ruthlessly engineered intended for one purpose: to make grown men cry.

The whole cast is wonderful, and Cruise actually delivers a heartfelt, moving performance. If Magnolia and Born on the 4th of July are hso career best performances, this could move comfortably into the 3 slot, and it's a popcorn flick no less!

The romance with Jennifer Connely feels more believable it ever did with Kelly McGillis. However, it gets much less focus than thr love story did in the first one. Their scenes are good, but almost superfluous to the main story here, which could dissapoint some.

The music industry is changed a lot from '86, so we don't get a full soundtrackalbum with 9 or 10 orignal songs anymore. But there's an effective use of classics and a couple new ones. Lady Gaga's power ballad is tailor made for at least an Oscar nomination.

The movie should very well during awards season for editing, cinematography, sound, VFX, maybe directing and possibly even lead actor. (I think Cruise's cult baggage could be his biggest detriment there)

I suspect this would be quite enjoyable even to someone who has never seen the first, and likely to many people who saw it but never liked it.

I'm amazed the filmmakers actually pulled this off. I recommend seeing this in the biggest, loudest theater possible. You want your insides to vibrate with the afterburners.

[AnakinFlair]

I'm going to go see this tomorrow night. I thought about doing it in IMAX, but the closest to me is in a dead mall (literally. The only things left in the mall are the theater, a V-Stock, a Cheesecake Factory, Macys, some art galleries, some testing sites, and an arcade/vintage toy store) and I hate going there now.

Say what you want about Tom Cruise personally, but I admire the effort he puts into his roles. He gives everything he's got in every role he takes on.

[Jared]

I'm going to go see this tomorrow night. I thought about doing it in IMAX, but the closest to me is in a dead mall (literally. The only things left in the mall are the theater, a V-Stock, a Cheesecake Factory, Macys, some art galleries, some testing sites, and an arcade/vintage toy store) and I hate going there now.

Say what you want about Tom Cruise personally, but I admire the effort he puts into his roles. He gives everything he's got in every role he takes on.

If he could, it seems like he would want real bullets and missiles shooting at him. The man wants to die on film.

[Hiromi]

This might have been the best Summer movie I've seen since Infinity War, it certainly has the best footage and cinematography of any military fighter movie since... well probably the first Top Gun, albeit this time with over three decades of technological and technique improvement. Great acting by everyone involved, really moved by Val Kilmer's scene perfect balance of callbacks without it being overwhelming, just a fantastic movie and one I plan on seeing again, also one absolutely worth seeing in Imax or any other special kind of theater with enhanced screen and/or sound(I saw it in one of AMC's Dolby Cinema theaters, and I want to see it in traditionally Imax now too). This really is the kind of movie only Tom Cruise can make now and God bless him for it. Finally the Top Gun anthem and Danger Zone are now firmly stuck in my head again and I don't mind one bit.

this video shocases how crazy the making of the movie was

[Wildling]

I loved it and thought it might edge The Batman for my favorite blockbuster of the year so far (The Northman being more future cult classic, and not having watched yet Everything Everywhere All at Once, if it counts being A24's biggest movie).

The final act of this movie, when we get to thr mission it's all been building toward, blows away every other fighter action sequence. I might even include spacecraft, too.

The gist of the final mission did remind me of the first Star Wars.

[Somecrazyaussie]

It was an example of a belated sequel actually delivering the goods. It honours what came before, but also feels fresh at the same time. It wasn't entirely perfect, but it did enough to eclipse the original. Which every sequel aspires to, yet seldom pulls off.

[Stick Figure]

Love love comic book movies but I’m glad to see buzz about something not super hero related. Genuinely refreshing.

[AnakinFlair]

If he could, it seems like he would want real bullets and missiles shooting at him. The man wants to die on film.

I just rewatched the first Mission: Impossible, and I couldn't help but think if they made that movie today, for the sequence on the train- both before and during the tunnel- Cruise would have found a way to do it all practically, instead of on a blue screen.

The gist of the final mission did remind me of the first Star Wars.

Oh, absolutely. How could you not think of the trench run?

Saw it, loved it, and plan to go see it again next weekend in IMAX. One thing that bugged me- Jennifer Connelly's Penny is supposed to be a different character than Kelly McGillis's Charlie, right? But wasn't Penny living in the same house that Charlie lived at in the first movie?

[Jared]

I don't think it's the same house. It's just a similar looking neoghborhood near a base. It's not even the same base, the first Top Gun was at Miramar and this one is at North Island.

The real Top Gun is currently in Nevada.

[DennisTheMenace]

Act 3 reminded me too much of Star Wars. During the scene where the logistics of the mission were outlined including the small target, I half expected Cruise to stand up and announce how he used to bulls eye womp rats back home.

[Frobisher]

Nothing about their mission made any sense, but it was like they were having so much fun planning it that nobody thought to stop them.

[AnakinFlair]

Nothing about their mission made any sense, but it was like they were having so much fun planning it that nobody thought to stop them.

Not sure what didn't make sense. They had to fly through the canyon instead of over it to avoid the SAMs. They had to use older fighters instead of the newer models due to GPS jamming (which really seems to be a pretty big weakness for our next generation fighters, to be honest. Are you telling me the F-35 can't fly without GPS?) They had to hit the target precisely twice, then escape using a steep climb. They then had to avoid SAMs and make it back to the barn before the enemy fighters arrived, because they would be outclassed against 5th Gen fighters in their F-18 Super Hornets.

Even though I rolled my eyes a bit at the fact that Cruise just had to get 2 more confirmed kills to leave this series as an Ace, I could buy at least one of those kills due to taking them by surprise (but does that first kill even count? Sure, he damaged the plane. But it was the other enemy fighter's missile that took it out), but the fact that he got the two in an F-14 Tomcat- when they spent most of the movie saying that the squad had to avoid going against 5th Gen Fighters in F-18's because they would be outclassed- was a bit much.

And yes, I also couldn't help but think of the trench run during the briefings. I was expecting them to say the target was a small thermal exhaust port underneath the main port.

Something that occurred to me in my second viewing- Cruise is 60 years old. I can't think of another action movie staring an aging star where they took their shirt off (without CGI- I'm looking at you, Arnold), or had a sexy (but tame) love scene. And he still looks pretty damn good. I wish I looked that good at 41.

[Frobisher]

Not sure what didn't make sense. They had to fly through the canyon instead of over it to avoid the SAMs. They had to use older fighters instead of the newer models due to GPS jamming (which really seems to be a pretty big weakness for our next generation fighters, to be honest. Are you telling me the F-35 can't fly without GPS?) They had to hit the target precisely twice, then escape using a steep climb. They then had to avoid SAMs and make it back to the barn before the enemy fighters arrived, because they would be outclassed against 5th Gen fighters in their F-18 Super Hornets.

Well yeah, the whole thing is so weirdly specifically designed to be a suicide mission for Tiny Tom’s team that you’d just get special forces to deal with it, right? But even then, there’s the whole having to go fast to escape in time element, plus the extreme g-force to get over the mountain bit, and both of those are circumvented by sending a couple of Predator drones and accepting that they won’t come back. Or maybe use the swarm of 50 tomahawk missiles ($1.87m each, social programme fans) to hit the target, or at least take out the majority of the SAM sites. Or maybe this sort of thing could just be dealt with by a stealth bomber.

Probably though they should just use economic sanctions against the country for building a highly fortified terror lab at what is likely crippling expense.

[AnakinFlair]

Well yeah, the whole thing is so weirdly specifically designed to be a suicide mission for Tiny Tom’s team that you’d just get special forces to deal with it, right? But even then, there’s the whole having to go fast to escape in time element, plus the extreme g-force to get over the mountain bit, and both of those are circumvented by sending a couple of Predator drones and accepting that they won’t come back. Or maybe use the swarm of 50 tomahawk missiles ($1.87m each, social programme fans) to hit the target, or at least take out the majority of the SAM sites. Or maybe this sort of thing could just be dealt with by a stealth bomber.

Probably though they should just use economic sanctions against the country for building a highly fortified terror lab at what is likely crippling expense.

Good points. Though I can excuse the lack of drones being used due to the GPS jamming. Then again, they could have snuck a SEAL team in and had them paint the target with a laser while an F-35 dropped the bombs from a higher altitude, or said laser could guide in the missile strike from the ship.

[Jared]

You can't just teleport SEAL teams into enemy bases inside hostile countries.
This a a major military installation, not a house in Pakistan guarded by guys with AKs.

More plausibly, they should have simply planned a much larger air strike with more planes. Send a whole wing of fighters, not just 4. Take out the SAM sites and then bomb the plant. Sweep the handful of Su-57s from the sky if they even try to engage a superior force.