TOP GUN: MAVERICK
****
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Screenwriters: Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, based on a story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks and characters created by Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr.
Principal cast:
Tom Cruise
Jennifer Connelly
Miles Teller
Val Kilmer
Lewis Pullman
Jon Hamm
Glen Powell
Ed Harris
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 131 mins.
Australian release date: 26 May 2022.
Some people never get over “the need for speed” and Tom Cruise, who turns 60 in July, certainly seems to be one of them. It’s been 36 years since the original Top Gun movie was released and now the sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, is finally here. Obviously Hollywood felt no such need for speed because, even allowing for the more recent COVID disruptions, that’s a hell of a long time between dogfights. Has the lustre gone off the Top Gun franchise in the intervening decades? Hell no, not if face-distorting, gut-wrenching G-forces are your thing as your F/A-18 Super Hornet jet climbs in a near vertical arc towards space or barrels flat-tack back to Earth! The flight scenes are a blast and they leave those from the 1986 film for dead; over 800 hours of footage was shot for the movie and it shows. The aerial footage that remained after the editing process is extraordinary.
When we get reacquainted with Captain Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell (Cruise), he’s a test pilot working on a hypersonic scramjet project called Darkstar, but the Navy decides to shut the secret program down and use the funds for drone technology instead. Maverick is then given a special assignment by his old friend Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky (Val Kilmer), who has now risen to the rank of Admiral and is the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Iceman wants him to train an elite group of pilots for a mission that will go behind enemy lines (in an unnamed country) and destroy a uranium enrichment plant. It’s highly dangerous because, not only is the target in hostile territory, it’s in a steep valley surrounded by mountains and it’s protected by radar, banks of surface-to-air missiles and a nearby military airport supporting the latest fighter jets. Only the very best pilots in the squadron will have a chance of completing the mission successfully and it’s up to Maverick to make the selection. Naturally, all the Top Gun aviators want in and that brings him into conflict with his superior officer, Vice Admiral Beau ‘Cyclone’ Simpson (Jon Hamm) and some members of the group, especially Lieutenant Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw (Lewis Teller), the son of Maverick's late best friend from Top Gun, Nick ‘Goose’ Bradshaw (played by Anthony Edwards, seen here only in brief archival footage from the first movie). On the bright side, though, it also brings him into contact with Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly), an admiral’s daughter who runs the local bar where the pilots hang out.
In some ways Top Gun: Maverick is nothing more than a recruitment vehicle for the Navy’s fighter pilot program and you can certainly see why the Navy was open to allowing the production access to their multimillion-dollar hardware - I predict their induction centres will be run off their feet when the movie opens in the US. The script is largely propaganda, though, all very gung-ho, testosterone-driven and not highly original but don’t let that deter you. This movie is all about what happens in the air and those scenes are so thrilling they’ll keep you buzzing for days. The accompanying sound effects add immeasurably to the excitement, too – they make your seat vibrate when the jets accelerate and you almost feel you’re in the Super Hornet with the pilot. It was shot using IMAX-certified 6K-screen cameras; director Kosinski explains, “We spent a year working with the Navy to get approvals to put six of these IMAX-quality cameras inside the cockpit. Four of them were facing toward the actors and two of them were facing forward, in addition to cameras mounted all over the exteriors of the aircraft.” He also had to train the actors how to use the cameras because once they were in the air they were on their own, except of course, for the Navy pilot. It’s all seamlessly done and you never for a moment think that the performers aren’t the ones doing the flying. In fact, you might think you’re the one in control - Top Gun: Maverick is a genuine rush!
Screenwriters: Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, based on a story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks and characters created by Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr.
Principal cast:
Tom Cruise
Jennifer Connelly
Miles Teller
Val Kilmer
Lewis Pullman
Jon Hamm
Glen Powell
Ed Harris
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 131 mins.
Australian release date: 26 May 2022.
Some people never get over “the need for speed” and Tom Cruise, who turns 60 in July, certainly seems to be one of them. It’s been 36 years since the original Top Gun movie was released and now the sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, is finally here. Obviously Hollywood felt no such need for speed because, even allowing for the more recent COVID disruptions, that’s a hell of a long time between dogfights. Has the lustre gone off the Top Gun franchise in the intervening decades? Hell no, not if face-distorting, gut-wrenching G-forces are your thing as your F/A-18 Super Hornet jet climbs in a near vertical arc towards space or barrels flat-tack back to Earth! The flight scenes are a blast and they leave those from the 1986 film for dead; over 800 hours of footage was shot for the movie and it shows. The aerial footage that remained after the editing process is extraordinary.
When we get reacquainted with Captain Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell (Cruise), he’s a test pilot working on a hypersonic scramjet project called Darkstar, but the Navy decides to shut the secret program down and use the funds for drone technology instead. Maverick is then given a special assignment by his old friend Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky (Val Kilmer), who has now risen to the rank of Admiral and is the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Iceman wants him to train an elite group of pilots for a mission that will go behind enemy lines (in an unnamed country) and destroy a uranium enrichment plant. It’s highly dangerous because, not only is the target in hostile territory, it’s in a steep valley surrounded by mountains and it’s protected by radar, banks of surface-to-air missiles and a nearby military airport supporting the latest fighter jets. Only the very best pilots in the squadron will have a chance of completing the mission successfully and it’s up to Maverick to make the selection. Naturally, all the Top Gun aviators want in and that brings him into conflict with his superior officer, Vice Admiral Beau ‘Cyclone’ Simpson (Jon Hamm) and some members of the group, especially Lieutenant Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw (Lewis Teller), the son of Maverick's late best friend from Top Gun, Nick ‘Goose’ Bradshaw (played by Anthony Edwards, seen here only in brief archival footage from the first movie). On the bright side, though, it also brings him into contact with Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly), an admiral’s daughter who runs the local bar where the pilots hang out.
In some ways Top Gun: Maverick is nothing more than a recruitment vehicle for the Navy’s fighter pilot program and you can certainly see why the Navy was open to allowing the production access to their multimillion-dollar hardware - I predict their induction centres will be run off their feet when the movie opens in the US. The script is largely propaganda, though, all very gung-ho, testosterone-driven and not highly original but don’t let that deter you. This movie is all about what happens in the air and those scenes are so thrilling they’ll keep you buzzing for days. The accompanying sound effects add immeasurably to the excitement, too – they make your seat vibrate when the jets accelerate and you almost feel you’re in the Super Hornet with the pilot. It was shot using IMAX-certified 6K-screen cameras; director Kosinski explains, “We spent a year working with the Navy to get approvals to put six of these IMAX-quality cameras inside the cockpit. Four of them were facing toward the actors and two of them were facing forward, in addition to cameras mounted all over the exteriors of the aircraft.” He also had to train the actors how to use the cameras because once they were in the air they were on their own, except of course, for the Navy pilot. It’s all seamlessly done and you never for a moment think that the performers aren’t the ones doing the flying. In fact, you might think you’re the one in control - Top Gun: Maverick is a genuine rush!