BEFORE: Bashir Salahuddin carries over again from "Cyrano" - because I was never going to get here via Tom Cruise, ya know? He appears in MAYBE one film every year, sometimes it's more like one new film every two years, so if I'm going to be less than a year behind on my movies, I have to get there through somebody else - yeah, I could have gotten here through Jon Hamm or Ed Harris, but then I'd miss the military tie-in for Memorial Day. (There were war scenes in "Cyrano", so really, it can't be that jarring to go from a 16th century romance to a modern aerial combat film. And hey, maybe there's some romance in this one, and we find some common ground between any random two movies...). I've already passed on TWO linking opportunities to watch this film this year, just to hold open the possibility of placing it right on the holiday.
Still, I kind of feel like maybe I'm the only person who would watch "A Simple Favor", "Cyrano" and this one all in a row. Maybe Bashir Salahuddin would? Not sure. Anyway, it's Memorial Day so something that celebrates our armed forces (in addition to the recent military-themed episodes of "Chopped") is called for. And I'm halfway through Movie Year 15 as of today, plus it's the unofficial start of summer, and the start of grilling/BBQ season. Which also brings me back to "Top Gun", in a round-about way, because I worked a booth at San Diego Comic-Con for about 15 years, made a trip out there every July, and I'd always have dinner one night at the Kansas City BBQ restaurant (yeah, I know, but the name referred to the style of BBQ, not the actual location) and that joint was known as the filming location for the "sleazy bar" scenes in the original 1986 film. The restaurant's owners decided to lean into it at one point, and put a bunch of "Top Gun" photos on the wall, sold "Top Gun" t-shirts and such.
One year there was a bad grease fire, and their whole "Wall of Fame" got wiped out, doing literally tens of dollars of damage to the memorabilia collection - so one year I couldn't eat there, but they rebuilt the place and got new photos and started selling t-shirts again. It's still there, or so Yelp tells me, so if you're in the area for Comic-Con or another convention, it's worth walking a few extra blocks away from the Gaslamp district to get a "Works Plate" with three meats and two sides, or ask for my Comic-Con special, aka "Whatever You've Got Left in the Kitchen". Just tell 'em Honky sent you, and also he's sorry for flirting with the owner's daughter. Or was I sorry for not flirting with the owner's daughter? I forget.
Anyway, the original "Top Gun" also has footage from around San Diego, motorcycle riding and beach volleyball scenes in addition to all the aerial combat, so can we just call it a great summer movie? Let's see how the sequel holds up,
THE PLOT: After thirty years, Maverick is still pushing the envelope as a top naval aviator, but must confront ghosts of his past when he leads TOP GUN's elite graduates on a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those chosen to fly it.
AFTER: Wow, I just checked the release date on this one - May 27, 2022, that means I (accidentally) watched it almost EXACTLY one year after theatrical release. I was just trying to find a good Memorial Day film, but remember this was also the film that "saved" theaters in 2022, by bringing people back outside after the pandemic and making almost $1.5 billion worldwide. Even with a budget of $170 million, it still took in almost nine times that amount as a gross. It's a winner, no matter how you look at it, and Hollywood didn't need "saving" again until "Avatar 2" came out six months later. I think we've bailed out Hollywood more times than the government has bailed out the banks.
Wow, it's been 36 years since the first "Top Gun" movie came out - is this a world record for longest time between the first two films in a franchise? Well, one source on the internet says yes, because this was longer than the 35-year gap between "Blade Runner" and "Blade Runner 2049", and longer than the 33-year gap between "Coming to America" and "Coming 2 America", but then another source says that if you count animated films, the record-holder is the 64-year gap between "Bambi" and "Bambi II". "Fantasia" also had a 59-year wait before "Fantasia 2" was released - maybe the "Top Gun" franchise has the record for longest wait for a live-action sequel? Not sure, I guess it all depends on who's doing the counting.
There's a 32-year gap in the "Star Wars" francise between "Episode VI" and "Episode VII", but I don't think that one should count because of the PRE-quels. They should really only count the gaps between installments, no matter where they occur in the timeline. I'm going to mention "Star Wars" here because I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the flight mission seen in "Top Gun: Maverick" and the rebel assault on the first Death Star. Sure, the fighter planes have to fly through a long, winding canyon to get to their target, but then it just reminds me of flying through Beggars Canyon to get to the Death Star trench, which means they just copied the mission from two Star Wars storylines, not just one. Well, hey, I guess if you're going to steal you might as well steal from the best. OK, maybe not steal, but at least let's say "borrow"?
The mission seems impossible, but then when the mission is impossible, you get Tom Cruise, right? Sorry, I know he's Pete "Maverick" Mitchell here, but the concept is the same. Maverick is called upon to train 12 pilots who all were the best in their classes at the Navy's "Top Gun" flight school, which each year trained only the elite pilots, the top 1%, so these 12 candidates are all "The best of the best", which sure, seems possible but it also seems like a contradiction - they can't ALL be "The best of the best", surely only one or two of them can be that. (Hint: the best pilot's call-sign rhymes with "Schmaverick"). Here the 12 "BotB" have to be trimmed down to the six that are going to go on the mission - which presents Maverick with a conundrum, he has to pix the six best pilots and train them, when quite honestly he wants to just jump in an F-18 and do the damn mission himself.
This really should be humbling for anybody who's successful in any career - sports, business, acting, whatever - you can be your class valedictorian, you can win an Oscar, you can be named the MVP in the World Championship of whatever, but no matter what you do, there's somebody who's also at the top of their game who's just one year younger or one year older. There's a new valedictorian in every school every year, there's a new SuperBowl MVP each year, and you're probably not going to win an Oscar twice in a row (though it has happened...). The next man or woman to come along is just as likely to be as successful as you, or more successful, but also have an advantage over you by being younger, having more energy, a higher jump shot, or whatever. So whatever you succeed at, enjoy it but realize that any victory is short-lived.
There's another conundrum for Maverick, one of the 12 elite pilots is "Rooster" Bradshaw, son of "Goose" Bradshaw, who was a character in the first "Top Gun" movie. (No spoilers here, but really, you should have seen this film at some point...). At some point in the past, Maverick denied Rooster's application to the Top Gun program, as per the request of Rooster's mother - but Rooster eventually made it into the program, it just took him a few more years, so he's holding a grudge against Maverick for sure. But now, how can Maverick choose him for this incredibly dangerous mission, putting his life in danger, when he promised to help keep him safe? Also, how can he NOT pick him for the mission, especially if he is the great pilot he seems to be, because that would be yet another setback in his career caused by Maverick. It sure seems like there's no way around this problem, yet of course the movie ultimately has to find one. Really, though, this decision is only a problem if Maverick MAKES it one, but of course that's exactly what he does.
Maverick is certainly a more well-rounded character here, except for the fact that he's failed to succeed or get promoted for the last thirty years. He's probably been stationed all over, he had a girl in every port, as they say, probably thirty failed relationships to match the number of years that he's failed to be promoted. When he comes back to North Island in San Diego, he tries to pick up where he left off with local bar owner Penny Benjamin. NITPICK POINT: I realize it's been thirty years, but come on, there's not even a mention of what happened between him and Charlie? Or do we have to fill in that gap ourselves?
Also, whenever Maverick acted carelessly, or disobeyed orders, or bent or broke the rules, there was always "Iceman" to bail him out, or to get him reassigned somewhere, or to just put in a good word at the next assignment. This is how you fail upwards for three decades, I guess, you've got to have friends in high places. At this point, 30 years after the events of the first film, Thomas "Iceman" Kazansky" is an admiral, overseeing the whole Pacific fleet or something. Must be nice.
Anyway, it's not long before Maverick is once again defying authority at his new post - Adm. Solomon Bates seems to be in his corner, but Adm. Beau "Cyclone" Simpson sure isn't. He doesn't believe for a second that Maverick's impromptu game of football is a team-building exercise, even if that's exactly what it is. And then when the weeks of training have done nothing but prove that the mission parameters are impossible to meet, naturally Maverick flies an unauthorized simulation of the course to prove that the mission is indeed possible, even if he's the only one who can do it without blacking out. Come on, his NAME is "Maverick", what the hell did you expect him to do, follow the rules?
No spoilers beyond this point, but the whole last act is edge-of-your-seat stuff, so God damn it, I think this might actually be a great movie? Well, it did save Hollywood after all, so I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. If I've got any more NITPICK POINTS, it's just that they never mention the name of the country where the target is - which seems like an odd choice, you'd think that would come up in conversation (it's Russia, right?) - and sure, I don't know very much about military planes, but I didn't quite understand why some F-18s had one pilot in them and others had two pilots. But I guess those things aren't really that important? Did they explain that and I just missed it somehow? There were six pilots and four jets, did the people in the back seats just operate the laser sight devices, was that it?
Also, wouldn't that scene with Maverick flashing back to the past, after seeing Rooster playing the piano in the bar, have been much more powerful if the film crew had gone back to the real, original sleazy bar from the first film? I mean, come on, even I know EXACTLY where it is...
Also starring Tom Cruise (last seen in "Val"), Miles Teller (last seen in "The Spectacular Now"), Jennifer Connelly (last seen in "Reservation Road"), Jon Hamm (last seen in "No Sudden Move"), Glen Powell (last seen in "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society"), Lewis Pullman (last seen in "Aftermath"), Ed Harris (last seen in "The Lost Daughter"), Val Kilmer (also last seen in "Val"), Monica Barbaro, Charles Parnell (last seen in "A Million Little Pieces"), Jay Ellis (last seen in "Movie 43"), Danny Ramirez, Greg Tarzan Davis, Manny Jacinto (last seen in "Bad Times at the El Royale"), Raymond Lee (last seen in "The Lost City"), Jake Picking (last seen in "Horse Girl"), Jack Schumacher, Kara Wang, Lyliana Wray, Jean Louisa Kelly (last seen in "The Call of the Wild"), James Handy (last seen in "Suburbicon"), Chelsea Harris, Tommy Kijas with archive footage of Anthony Edwards (also last seen in "Val"), Meg Ryan (last seen in "Prelude to a Kiss"), Kelly McGillis (last seen in "Val")
RATING: 8 out of 10 pairs of aviator sunglasses
No comments:
Post a Comment