Top Gun: Maverick

Finally got about to seeing it and TBH, while decently watchable and more than holds the interest, I came away entertained but somewhat disappointed TBH. Perhaps expectation had been built up to such a degree that it was never going to hold up in such light.

I mean, while I had all the exposure that someone growing up in the 80s should do with the likes of the original, I never held it up as a 'great' film. More of a, what would become, standard Cruise vehicle which while certainly defining its part of the 80s movie scene, it never went beyond that. Certainly a recent rewatch shows it up for what it is, with its awful dialogue, some cringeworthy performances and ridiculously implausible story elements. But thats neither here nor there. Its iconic Maverick character was the heartbeat and by far the biggest success with the sequel overall.

Not many actors could pick up the same character with so many years in between, but Cruise is never anything other than invested in his characters, which while not always a massive stretch from each other across his various vehicles, they at least give their all up on screen. Here is no different, with Cruise effectively and believably showing us a Maverick that you could understand had just continued on with his career and now we're picking up again.

Yes, the camera work and practical expertise is fine, even if the very nature of the final mission dilutes it somewhat unfortunately which is a real shame. A more grounded and realistic approach might have preferable TBH, but at least it's never boring, and even though it asks the audience to take some leaps with whats on screen it just about pulls itself back from being completely OTT. Helps that you're invested in the Maverick character who is thankfully front and centre, and not just marginalised into the background.

Less successful is the Penny angle which, while no slight on Jennifer Connelly, is superfluous and very poorly mapped into the plot. By far the biggest danger of clock watching is whenever herself and Maverick are floundering trying to sell us this past 'relationship' TBH. Didn't work at all.

Other characters in the film are just about what you expect. Standard stuff lifted from the template that makes so many films, including the original. You won't remember their names, or care, because you're not watching it for them. They perform their function getting bounced around by Tom so nothing wrong there. Nice little scene with Val Kilmer is welcome, and even though it veers a little to close to the nostalgia bone at times throughout its runtime with a few too many lines lifted from the original, its hardly the first sequel to fall foul.

All negatives aside, its a film that at least treats its main draw as it should as opposed to one doing its best to knock him down and beat us all over the head with some new interpretation or something. Overall a decent night's entertainment, but I feel one that's benefitted from its timing and delay into something more than it probably is. Worth a watch on the big screen, but I wish my expectation had been tempered a little.

Watched it again tonight, several months on from seeing it in the cinema.

It's as awesome the second time, though the bigger the screen the better (I knew I should have gone for the 65" 😂)

As for how it holds up vs the original (which I rewatch every year anyway) .. I would say it definitely ticks the nostalgia/references boxes but still manages to move it forward and in some places probably does some things better.

If you haven't seen it yet, get on it. Even if you weren't a massive fan of the original (shocking as that is 😂), it's a fantastic old school action movie in its own right.

Maverick was always going to be huge commercial success. You may have your own views on the film, and that's fine. But many many people were waiting in massive anticipation for this film once it was announced that a sequel was going to be made. That doesn't apply to many movies.

It has nothing to do with quality of other movies in the cinema. People were always going to go to see Maverick anyway.

Will this be released on HBO Max?? it hasn't appeared from me yet. I have a Spanish account.

more likely Paramount plus.. there's no date yet for it.. it might appear on some regional variations of hbo max. I'm surprised Paramount plus didnt go early early with it to push subscriptions..at least match the digital purchase date.

Surpassed Titanic in UK

I watched this today for the first time. It’s OK, and I get some of the choices made by the writers e.g. to not specify “the enemy” means it’s less likely to seem dated. Another criticism is the use of F/A-18s, but it’s understandable: it’s a carrier attack mission, and the F-35C was barely operational on one carrier at time of filming. Plus, the F-35C might not be much better, since stealth might be of limited value on that kind of daylight mission.

One annoying factual error: the Tomahawk cruise missile is subsonic, just like the F/A-18: they could never have gone streaking past the planes from way behind, the way they showed it on screen. That’s the kind of blooper that takes me out of the action, really.

You probably saw this post as a means to illustrate how much you know about planes and bombs. But for the normal movie-watchers among us, we don't know our F-35Cs from our 38DDS. Those of us who aren't obsessed with finding some technical faults in films will just see a flying bomb missing and passing out a plane, and think "that was a close shave". End of thought. And then move on to the next part of the film.

If she looked like Jennifer Connelly I probably would too.

I've seen a few ex Navy Pilots say that that's a real thing that happens in Navy bars, you break the rules you buy a round for the whole bar!

There’s very good reasons for it. There’s no two seater F35. So you’re loosing the Wizzo. There’s also no actors being filmed in the air. And even if you insisted on the F35 and went CGI, those great in cockpit shots from the hornets would now just look shite as you’d be looking back at dramatic vista of the lightnings bulkhead.

Different character in Top Gun, played by Kelly McGillis.

Jennifer Connolly's character was briefly mentioned as an Admirals daughter in Top Gun, but never appeared as far as I'm aware.

Tony Scott is a hard act to follow

National Board of Review Best Film

Some critic not even thinking the film is worthy of a top 10 of the year catching a bit of heat

They seem to rush to get a release to disc.

It's Maverick still in the cinema anywhere? Last I checked it seemed to be gone.

Cheers, I might have to hope its somewhere else later.

Is the dark IQ to do with HDR?