I saw the movie Top Gun Maverick today. My review
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fast forward to 1:05 and turn up the volume
one day years ago (1977) I was at SUNY Stony Brook picking up my brother from college and saw basically the same thing in the sky far above us. It was there and.....it was .......GONE........
This is a must see movie. I was so inspired by this long-overdue movie. If you are on the fence, see it. Mostly spoiler free review below.
I am a notoriously hard movie critic and there's only a couple hundred movies I like. I think 99% of films are absolute garbage. Almost no films worth watching since probably the turn of the century IMO. The best film era was 1970s-1990s, pre-CGI, when story, plot, and acting had to carry a film.
I put off seeing Maverick until last night, so what, like 6+ months since release. Yeah, I heard how great it was. I no longer believe reviews, being very skeptical. Psychologically, I know I put it off because I have grown tired of all my Hollywood heroes and films being trashed by modern hidden agendas combined with atrocious characters, acting, and CGI. (Indiana Jones, Predator, Alien, Star Wars, Blade Runner, Mad Max, the Thing...). Top Gun was a childhood favorite. I had the famous Cruise/McGillus poster in my room as a kid. I was guarding myself from watching yet another disaster.
Having said that, I watched with a friend last night on her highest recommendations. We watch a lot of movies together. She bought me the DVD. I loved it. I absolutely loved it. I felt so happy and inspired. It was a taste of my youth, and captured the exact right tone, message, and spirit of films from the bold, courageous, invincible pre-9/11 days of my youth. When we took for granted all of the USA kick-* films. Nothing like this has been made, to my knowledge, since pre-9/11 that captures this spirit this well.
I really liked and deeply admire and respect the classy treatment of Kilmer's character and giving him a great send-off legacy in this movie. He's one of my favorite actors from several films, and I appreciated seeing him get in this film and his service memorialized like this. I appreciated the repeated scenes and throwbacks, pictures, etc. This film really hit me in the feelz. (Something Mad Max 4 could have and should have capitalized on, in that film, was actual earlier events that caused PTS and remorse, and bad guys he killed, rather than terrible newly manufactured CGI non-people. I digress.)
Casting/Acting. Excellent. Cruise just continues to put me in awe. He's living his best life and I applaud that. That guy is simply amazing. I'm no Cruise fan boy but I was reviewing all his films, and realized how much I really like him as an actor, in at least 10-15 movies I really like such as "A Few Good Men - which I hold as instrumental to my military/legal career. Also, Outsiders was a childhood favorite and holds up well. Plus Collateral, Risky Business, Mission Impossible, Far and Away, and many more.
I was initially concerned about some woke-agenda with the pilots being cast, because they frankly are not representative of elite fighter pilots. I'll leave it at that. But I thought it was done very very well and did not perceive any hidden woke SJW agendas. I thought the rest of the cast, including Jon Hamm, delivered perfect performances.
Plot. Going into the film, it's not what I expected but it makes perfect sense, and I couldn't have thought of or written a better plot. I sincerely liked the character development of Maverick as a Naval officer with ups and downs, at times his own worst enemy but truly living up to the name Maverick. I thought it was well developed, logical, and explained succinctly thru comments and actions.
Action. While simply over-the-top at times, and probably not possible (I'm not an aerial expert), I never felt an eye-roll moment or that it was forced or contrived. Any CGI was so well done as to not be discernable. It flowed logically, and very well, albeit some times the action and story were predictable to a degree. But I was delightfully surprised a few times as well. It was the best and most well done of any action film I've seen in a very very long time.
I woke up today just totally in a great mood inspired by it and told several people that truthfully it's the best new film I've seen in decades. I also think it holds a place in the "best sequel" along with Star Wars IV/V, Mad Max 1/2, Aliens 1/2, and Terminator 1/2. It is truly that good.
If you haven't seen it, you simply must.
I think that is a very fair observation and I, too, noticed that immediately. I've seen Star Wars dozens of times, (including just last month) and I instantly commented a few times about the Death Star attack. Right down to the cartoonlike demonstration of dropping the missiles into the target. All so remarkably close to Star Wars I was left wondering if there was some tongue-in-cheek homage or permission granted by Lucas and crew? If it's not plagiarism otherwise, it's incredibly close to it.
Funny, I don't recall when or why but I also made a similar statement even about being frozen in carbonite ... I cannot recall what scene or what prompted it but it also jumped in my mind.
That "boring" character building is important character development to round out Maverick's character, and deliver the payoff at the end. Goose's son bluntly tells Maverick "You don't have a wife or kids." That stings and hits Maverick.
Without character development with his reunited with "the Admirals daughter" we'd either have a Maverick ride off alone (depressing ending without any hope for Maverick) or a woman come out of nowhere with no story line (that would be contrived). Having Maverick "get the girl" in the end, after being a hero and his Navy career over, reunited with a long lost love, was absolutely fantastic. I did think her character was a bit over-done with all her sailboat but I can overlook that. I loved the old Porshe at the end. Being the daughter of an Admiral and bar owner somewhat explains her wealth, they aren't necessarily poor...
That "boring character building" reintroduces us to a interesting very attractive woman who was a long-lost love of Tom's hinted at in the first film and mentioned in this film during their coy conversations.
It also is there to pace the story and to keep female audience members interested in a sub-plot. If it was all just business action it would have been a lot less rewarding, less interesting and go at an exhausting pace. The romantic sub-plot was necessary for many reasons and I found it to be perfectly done and the entire film excellent. I agree with your 95% rating. I cannot find any fault in the film beyond minor realism or plot device criticisms which I can overlook for the sake of a great film that kept me engaged and left me very inspired.
I agree, naming a specific enemy is not needed for the plot so leave it out.
I once saw a review (done back during our fight in Afghanistan OEF) of one of the Rambo movies where he is working with the Mujahadeen Taliban to kill Russians. The reviewer was like, "that didn't age well."
Some people have such an aversion to him but I truly don't know why. Dude is one of the hardest working actors in Hollywood, top shelf charisma, does a lot of his own stunts, super charitable, and here's a list of his stellar or very entertaining movies that everyone should see, and a incredibly impressive resume:
A Few Good Men, Risky Business, Collateral, Outsiders, Far and Away, Rainman, Knight and Day, Mission Impossible, Jerry McGuire, The Firm, and of course Top Gun 1 & 2
I'm puzzled at the loathing of him. I'm no fan boy but what's the beef with him that people have?
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If he hadn't been born pretty, he'd be nobody. Also, I saw a video of him where a media person asked him a straight up question. Cruise just lost it on him, screaming at the top of his lungs. I can't recall who the person was. Don't dare question Tom Cruise. Or Madonna. Or others of that elite ilk. Feel free to see his movies. It's my choice not to. And you can dress me down because I don't like Cruise, but at the end of the day, I'd rather have a new package of Charmin than see a Tom Cruise movie. The hell with him.
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It went off the rails with the whole Scientology thing and when he was surfing or whatever on Oprah’s chair.
Ok the first part is definitely not true. He is immensely talented.
The second part I’m sure you’re referring to a couple years ago he absolutely lost it on someone behind the camera at a movie shoot and the audio leaked out. Basically the person he was screaming at had repeatedly shown disinterest in wearing a mask on set and he thought that person was jeopardizing everyone’s livelihood. Mentioned how they had worked so hard to get filming going again following all the necessary protocols and this guy was going to blow it for everybody. IMO he was in the right.
The opposite is true, in fact. I remember for many years, in the 80s, people in aw that such an "unattractive short man with a crooked smile" could get so popular. He's average male height, and far shorter than the typical male action hero. He is quite frankly not the guy you'd pick out of a lineup to be the standard hero in a movie. The reality is that Cruise worked + talent overcame his average looks and below-average action hero height, to become arguably one of the best action heroes and actors of all time. Sheer number of excellent action films puts him pretty much at the top of the very short A-list with Ford, Arnold, Gibson, Damon, and a handful of others. And he has a unique range from action, drama, romantic, and comedy probably rivaled by nobody else.
Not a fan-boy but those are the facts. He didn't get selected for his pretty looks.
I'm not trying to defend him, but are you saying you've NEVER yelled at someone, lost your cool, been very frustrated with a situation under immense pressure? Movie sets cost hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars daily, so I'm sure it can be stressful if someone is slacking. Now imagine if you're constantly surrounded by cameras or people recording. Like the hit pieces on many famous people, such as Mel Gibson and his notorious comments. If you've had millions of hours of tape and audio of your life, I'm sure there'd be some embarrassing moments too, right?
Not my job to make excuses. I also rarely let a actors personal life interfere in whether I enjoy his work. Lots of famous people I enjoy their work but dislike them as a person.
Keep in mind, Cruise is SIXTY years old. Maybe the hardest working legacy actor in the business. Does a lot of his own stunts, his own flying of airplanes, etc.
Like or hate him, dude commands respect.
Like or hate him, dude commands respect.
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Don't think so. Your diatribe didn't sway me. Maybe if you wrote a few more pages.
His buddy (the former Marine) is Spencer Gwartney, who is currently an assistant DA in Lane County (Eugene), Oregon. On that YouTube channel he only calls him by his first name and says he's "a felony prosecutor in the Pacific Northwest". Has a pretty extensive list of achievements. Apparently served in combat as a JTAC even after he went to Georgetown Law and served as a JAG.
Biography | Profile
casprofile.uoregon.edu
Spencer Gwartney is an Assistant District Attorney for Lane County. He is a felony prosecutor and was formerly the misdemeanor team leader. He has served as a special prosecutor in Marion and Douglas Counties and as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California. Spencer served in the U.S. Marine Corps on active duty and in the reserves, finishing as a captain and team leader with 6th ANGLICO. He completed a combat deployment to Iraq in 2017 as a joint terminal attack controller with Task Force Lion in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. Spencer received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Oregon.
Saw this photo. Not sure what's up with the US Army Special Forces patch. Maybe it was left by a Army friend.
I suspect that is exactly what happened. Ranger friend present at the funeral. Ranger tab left in the same manner as the SEAL pin.Saw this photo. Not sure what's up with the US Army Special Forces patch. Maybe it was left by a Army friend.
Yep.
Im not a fan of his but I do like the fact he does most of the stunts and not a body double.
She drives a 1973 911 S.. i owned a 1972. Its a great car, she is an amazing woman.
