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“Top Gun: Maverick,” A Movie Review
No major spoilers below.
Just saw “Top Gun: Maverick.” In 2D.
No spoilers. Well, maybe a tiny one. And one big unanswered question.
Five stars. A must-see. A clear candidate for the Oscars.
Tom Cruise has traded his F-14 Tomcat from the first movie some 36 years ago for an F/A-18 Hornet. But an F-14 makes an implausible if timely reappearance toward the end. Again, no spoilers.
The storyline is terrific, even somewhat realistic, and all the actors were excellent. Good scripting. Multiple climactic scenes, all good. Well paced. There’s nothing to dislike. Those concerned about diversity and inclusion should be satisfied (although they never are, really), at least on racial and gender grounds. They shield who the “bad guys” are – not very identifiable, but the “mission” is kind of a dead giveaway. It doesn’t matter here. Lots of allegoric references to the first movie, from the plotline to many of the lines and scenes.
In the opening previews, the Air Force has a commercial. Smart! We have both military and passenger aircraft pilot shortages. The first movie inspired careers. I hope this one does as well. And dare I say it, it inspires more investment to keep up with the “bad guys” and take out their newest “toys.” My friends at Boeing, Lockheed, and Raytheon will like that. It also takes a few swipes at those in the military who think real pilots and human engagement are a dying breed, in favor of “pilotless” aircraft (think drones) and artificial intelligence. I sense a channeling of Captain Kirk and Star Trek.
I do have two questions. The F/A-18 used in the movie was a two-person crew, a pilot, a weapons expert as well a second pair of eyes (not unlike Apache helicopters). And do the bad guys really have “fifth-generation” fighters? I really don’t think so, although they are clearly closing in.
I want to know what happens to a couple of second-seat crew members towards the end of the movie. If you’ve seen it, you should know what I’m talking about.
My spouse, a Kenny Loggins groupie, was happy that Kenny Loggins’ title song from the first movie (Danger Zone) was reprised. But she was Not Happy that he didn’t make the credits until the Very End. Lady Gaga sings the closing song. It is forgettable. And that’s all I have to say about that. Go see it. I’ll see it again in IMax, 4X, or whatever they call it. But 2D works very well. There’s a good reason it will probably gross $150 million this weekend, if not more.
We older guys like this a lot. I’ll end it there.
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Which peninsula?
Same goes for Oregon minus Portland.
The town that had werewolves or something in that movie I didn’t watch. Olympia, rain forest, beach with lots of rocks, and big trees. We now order our coffee from Fidalgo. We did visit Mt. Ranier NP. Don’t you guys believe in guardrails. Never been anywhere before that had volcano evacuation signs. Seriously, it was pretty.
Ah yes. That’s the Olympic Peninsula. The town is Forks. Did you go up to Hurricane Ridge? It’s gorgeous on a clear day.
No, we hiked up a stream and saw salmon jumping. Yes, Forks, cool little town. We stayed in an airB&B. Visited some beaches. Hiked in a rain forest. It was neat.
Finally saw the movie. It really is great.
Tom Cruise does a nice brief intro talking about how the team worked hard to make a great movie for the audience. They succeeded, but its interesting to hear that this was an express goal for him and I don’t imagine that serving the audience is very much on the mind of most other filmmakers these days.
Taking this beyond filmmaking, we can see that competent (or maybe in this case hyper competent) people can do a great job if they want to do so, and if they’re allowed to do so. Meanwhile all around us we see that many in highest positions are incompetent, unmotivated to do their jobs well, or perhaps some are impeded by others from doing so. Contrast the management of the cities of San Francisco or LA, the management of the pandemic, the design and execution of US foreign policy, or the design and effectiveness of math instruction in California public schools. Or too many other such things.
We could use a lot more Tom Cruises.