LM23 Rating: Tom Cruise is still a superstar today no matter what his age is
Back in the day when print media was a thing (the premise of 13 Going On 30 is definitely obsolete these days), I used to subscribe or pick up all of the monthly and weekly movie magazines. Premiere. Us (before it became a tabloid). Entertainment Weekly. Heat. Empire. And so on. Those were the days when there were a handful of A-list superstars who could command $10-$20 million a picture and guarantee a huge opening. Those A-listers included Sandra Bullock, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, John Travolta, Will Smith, and of course, Tom Cruise.
Tom Cruise and the rest of these actors are what I consider the new old Hollywood. They’re professionals in that they have a perfect mix of mystery and accessibility that you disappear with them in their films. In the last several years, Tom Cruise has been getting some push back for insisting on doing action movies as he is going to be turning 60 this year. But Top Gun: Maverick, which has the theme of old school and new school and learning to let go, shows us that growing old doesn’t mean you’re suddenly abdicated of your responsibilities and you’re suddenly brainless and useless. Far from it.
The early memories I have of seeing Tom Cruise in a movie includes Far and Away, Interview with the Vampire, Mission: Impossible, and Jerry Maguire. The first Top Gun was a little bit before my time, so I didn’t quite understand the Tom Cruise of the 80’s which included Cocktail, Risky Business, and Rain Man. But anyone who watches a movie with Tom Cruise can feel the superstar energy emanating from the screen. It doesn’t matter if he’s 30, 40, 50, or now almost 60, he’s just Tom Cruise: Movie Star.
Top Gun: Maverick opens with Peter “Maverick” Mitchell taking a fast spin in an F-16 and proving that they can take it to Mach 10 before Rear Admiral Cain, played by Ed Harris, shuts down their funding. Ed Harris’ role is pretty much what you see in the commercial. He’s basically a cameo. But speaking of ageless, Ed Harris looks exactly the same as he did in Apollo 13 as he does in Enemy at the Gates, as he does in Gravity. You need a senior level military guy who’s seen it all and doesn’t give a crap and always has his arms folded with a look of consternation, then bring in Ed Harris.
But it seems like the new “Ed Harris” is now played by Jon Hamm. Rear Admiral Cain orders, not asks, Maverick to return to Top Gun to teach and select six to be part of a team to bomb a uranium facility. Maverick has no choice as his old flying buddy, Tom “Iceman” Kazansky requested his presence and it’s either Top Gun or nothing. But there’s a catch, one of the students he will be teaching is Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, the son of his now deceased team mate, Nick “Goose” Bradshaw. Rooster has been beefing with Maverick as for some unknown reason, Maverick intervened to pull Rooster’s application to the academy which set him back four years in his career. We later discover it’s because Rooster’s mom, had begged Maverick to never let him go up in the air because of what happened to his dad.
The next generation of fighter pilots include: Rooster (Miles Teller), Hangman (Glen Powell), Bob (Lewis Pullman), Phoenix (Monica Barbaro), Jay Ellis (Payback), and Fanboy (Danny Ramirez). First thing Maverick does when he steps into the classroom is dump the manuals for the F-16’s into the trash. Why? Because the enemy already knows what’s in them anyway and they all should know the manuals inside and out.
Of course, going to class with Maverick will be like stepping into a beyond advanced version of the class you signed up for. He’s going to push you beyond your current aptitude and he’s going to tighten the standards not to set you up to fail, but to set you up so you don’t fail when it’s show time. There’s a moment when Maverick scolds the pilots for all being “killed” by him during a training session. He questions why they did what they did which made them die or their team mates die. But he presses them to instead of coming up with an excuse for him, think of what they will say to the families.
The training sequences are more than just a few fly by’s and the students turn into the master, or in this case, Maverick. Most definitely not. The intent of the training is to make them understand what they’re up against and what will happen if they don’t connect. And there are no promises that they will ever pass the training tests Maverick is putting them through. Only Maverick at this point and time is able to successfully complete the training missions as laid out. But unlike most movies where rookies seemingly turn into experienced masters overnight, this crew does not and that’s what should be expected. Maverick has been training and flying for over 30 years. You can’t be Maverick in three weeks, which is what these pilots were given. And it doesn’t matter if they’re being trained by the best. You can’t be Maverick without putting in the time.
And that goes with anything. Everyone today is looking at young Hollywood, wondering who’s going to be the next Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts, but they can’t be. The OG’s are OG’s because they’ve built a legacy over time. Maverick says time is the enemy as they have less than a few minutes to hit their targets. But time is also an investment when you’re building yourself up to be a master in your field. They also talk about it being about the pilot and not the model of the plane and that’s right. The plane will forever be fixed in what it can do. But the pilot, can figure out loopholes and ways to manipulate the plane to do more than it can. But that’s only because of the years of training and experience. Same thing with actors. Tom Cruise wasn’t Tom Cruise when he started out of the block in the 80’s. He’s really been the Tom Cruise that we see today because of being in the industry for 40 years.
The story of Top Gun: Maverick is not what you think it is. You think it’s going to be another one of those, the old guard is here to teach the new guard and then the old guard dies in a blaze of glory. No. The only person who dies is Iceman and that’s because of his cancer. This movie is not as predictable as you think it is. You wonder, is Maverick going to go on this mission that he was only ordered to teach? Well, when Iceman dies, so does Maverick’s ticket to Top Gun. Vice Admiral Simpson (Jon Hamm), orders Maverick to stand down and leave as he will take over the remainder of the training session.
What is bizarre is that Admiral Simpson loosens the standards such that they’re beyond the scope of the actual mission. Or in other words, he makes it easier for the pilots to train which they all are concerned about. Instead of two and a half minutes, they’re now given four minutes to train. And instead of the minimum altitude of I think it was a few thousand feet, they’re now given a very generous 5,000 feet.
But you can’t knock Maverick down. He and even the Vice Admiral knows that this group of newbies is not up to the task. So Maverick has to demonstrate that he’s the one who can successfully complete the training mission. And so he does so by swiping a jet and showing them all that he’s still the top of the Top Gun class. This risky move proved to be the right one as Vice Admiral Simpson concedes that Maverick should be the team leader for the mission. That threw me off as I thought for sure either Rooster or Hangman, the cocky guy with the toothpick, was going to prove themselves to be team leader. Or, they happen to be the best of the bunch and by default, they get the crown.
We’re not told exactly what country and which military the team is fighting against. The air craft carrier is in the middle of some waters somewhere in the globe. And we see snowy, mountainous terrain where the uranium plant is. The four fighter jets with Maverick in the lead take off and then the clock starts when the tomahawk missiles are fired from the air craft carrier and headed towards the enemy base.
The fight scenes, if you can call them that, with the US jets versus the generic enemy jets is nothing I’ve seen in the movies. Because we saw the extensive training they all had earlier in the film, it’s easy to follow and understand what they’re doing in the air at supersonic speeds. There are moments when you think one of them is going to be hit and then one of them does. Of course, it’s Maverick who gets hit as he sacrifices himself by flying into the missile headed for Rooster who had run out of ammunition.
And this is where you think the movie ends like what happened to James Bond in No Time To Die. As master control orders the pilots to return and leave Maverick, you really do think and that’s how they end the Top Gun franchise with Tom Cruise. There were already hints at his not coming back. When Maverick is ready to take off, Hondo wishes him well in case he doesn’t return. But no, there’s more up Maverick’s sleeve. When the planes start to turn back to home base, we see Maverick is on the ground and in the snow and still alive. Even when an enemy helicopter shoots at him, it’s over yet. Rooster swoops in and saves him and he too is shot down and survives.
You start to think to yourself, and how are we going to get out of this mess if there’s no way an extraction is possible? Maverick stole one plane, and he’s going to steal another. This time, it’s an enemy’s F-14 jet. This jet is before Rooster’s time, so it’s a good thing Maverick knows what to do thanks to his experience. There comes a point when Maverick and Rooster seem like they made it out, but the more advanced enemy fighter craft appears on their “nose” and it seems like it’ll be an ending where both Rooster and Maverick will die together. But no, Hangman didn’t leave them hanging this time. He didn’t turn back and was able to kill the enemy target before it killed them.
The team on the ground on the air craft carrier quickly readies the landing for Hangman, Rooster, and Maverick. As the F-14 has lost its landing gear, a special type of gear is laid out which will trap the plane as it lands.
I have to say I loved seeing the scenes where the ground crews gets the runway and planes ready for take off. You really understand that it’s a huge team effort and it’s more than just about the fighter pilots. When Hondo and crew get the landing ready, you feel a sense of relief and calmness because you know this crew can be relied upon and trusted for the pilots to return home safely.
The romance between Penny (Jennifer Connelly) and Maverick is kind of neither here or there. It’s the only real non-work aspect that we get to see of Maverick. Penny and Maverick seem to be an on and off couple, and it just so happens that Penny runs the local bar that all of the navy folks go to on their time off. So when Maverick returns to Top Gun, he of course returns to the bar and to Penny. The romance doesn’t really add anything to the movie except that it’s another dimension of Maverick that’s not about his work.
I can definitely say that so far, Top Gun: Maverick is my favorite film of the year. I can see why everyone is raving and saying it’s the best movie ever because it is. And it’s all thanks to Tom Cruise and the old school movie magic that he brings. Yes, he may be getting long in the tooth, but he’s still relevant and still needed today. I have nothing against Miles Teller, but I wouldn’t bother seeing Top Gun 3 if he were the main star. Tom Cruise outshines and dominates everyone in the film. And bonus points for the interlude with OneRepublic’s “I Ain’t Worried”. I love OneRepublic! Run out and see Top Gun: Maverick at your nearest theatre, you won’t be disappointed!
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