97% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 365 reviews)
Runtime: 130 minutes
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Familiar faces like Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer (well, the latter for only a few minutes) along with new ones like Miles Teller
From: Paramount/Skydance Media/Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!
In the past I've talked about Top Gun; to be brief, it is a product of its time in an amazing way and the (un?)intended homoeroticism is the most infamous aspect. Yet it is easy to understand why this slick piece of entertainment was such a huge hit. While the original film I more like than love, I was still interested in the sequel. Hearing that most of the flying footage was legit instead of a CG creation was nice, and there was also myself feeling bad that this was filmed way back in 2018 and 2019 yet mainly because of the pandemic we're just getting this now. I certainly don't approve of everything in the personal life of Tom Cruise but what an F'ing movie star he is, one that is sadly part of a rather rare breed now. Then again, there have been rumors concerning Miles Teller and whether or not he's vaccinated-he says he is-and I am ignoring real life problematic moments when I note that Cruise and Teller arguably deliver the two best performances in the movie... although the cast as a whole did a pretty nice job.
From the trailers that have been around forever, people should know by now that Pete Mitchell-afraid of career advancement and not wanting to give up being a pilot serving his country-has to teach a gang of recruits at Top Gun for an extremely difficult mission... and Goose's son being part of that program is a complication for a few different reasons. It is not the most complex plot by any means but thank heavens it is not pretentious nor “subverting expectations.” At least there is an explanation for all the nostalgia: Mitchell not only can't let go of his 80's successes, but he can't move on from what happened with Goose-that has haunted him for over three decades. That also helped make this sequel at least seem necessary, which is not always the case for these 80's or 90's nostalgia cash-grabs.
This at times felt modern in a way I don't always love (to me, it's the worst scourge in modern Hollywood to shoehorn in one-liners out of nowhere in a scene that doesn't really need them. That was one of the MANY problems that befell those last two Star Wars movies, IMO; well, that's present here a few times) but this pet peeve wasn't enough to ruin the experience. Cruise and all the main actors that played pilots went through hell to train for their roles-like I said, much of the flying footage was legit. That authenticity definitely was an asset. So was a story that kept me engrossed through even the most far-fetched moments. This started off exactly how I wanted it to and to state this in an non-ironic fashion, I was happy to hear the DAD ROCK in the opening act.
Personally, it was a relief that this movie is a success, a modern blockbuster which is rated highly by the critics, us dorks on Letterboxd AND the general public. A shame that it was not directed by Tony Scott-however, at least the movie noted him at the end and the original movie allowed for this well-realized continuation of the story, where once again our hero isn't infallible-despite his mastery in the air he has various struggles that affect him whether or not he's in a jet. It was also nice to see Val Kilmer for a few minutes; sure, he did ruin his own career way back when due to his actions but due to all the health struggles he's had it does not seem right to kick someone while he's down. By the way, what an opening credit I saw when “Music by Harold Faltermeyer, Lady Gaga, and Hanz Zimmer” appeared on the screen.
Overall, I am relieved I was not left disappointed by the experience of watching this new film-which spent too long in a holding pattern-on a gigantic Dolby Cinema at AMC screen, with a large crowd that was into this extravaganza.
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