"Top Gun: Maverick": a detailed review of the film with Tom Cruise

On August 23, another action film with Tom Cruise was released on digital platforms. "Top Gun: Maverick" is a sequel to the 1986 film, which was translated as "Top Gun" in the USSR and Russia.

The novelty has already managed to make noise at the global box office. In the US, the tape overtook the legendary "Titanicby James Cameron and Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War crossover. She has earned more than $1.4 billion worldwide - this is the 13th place in history.

On the aggregator site Rotten TomatoesTop Gun: Maverick/Rotten Tomatoes Top Gun: Maverick has 96% positive reviews from critics and 99% from viewers. Score on IMDbTop Gun: Maverick / IMDb — 8,5. Although the first part has only 6.9. Everyone is already talking about this film as the main event in the blockbuster world for 2022.

So, is it really such a cool movie? Yes and no. The film directed by Joseph Kosinski is simply amazing with the staging of flights. But at the same time, they did not seem to have tried to think through the dramatic basis of the script. But even this could be missed if it weren't for some ideas that came straight from 1986 and now look very unpleasant.

Top Gun: Maverick features some of the best flying scenes in movie history

Pete Mitchell, nicknamed Maverick (Tom Cruise), graduated from the elite Top Gun flight school over 30 years ago. He worked as an instructor for a while, but then he turned to other things. By the beginning of the sequel, Maverick is testing an aircraft with a hypersonic engine.

But he is invited back to Top Gun, this time as mentor. Maverick will prepare young pilots for an impossible combat mission. There are only two problems: firstly, the hero wants to fly on a mission himself, and secondly, he has to train Lieutenant Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of a deceased partner.

In this review, as usual in others, the film is considered in different planes. But the main point in the next paragraph is that it explains why Top Gun: Maverick is a must-see.

Top Gun: Maverick is a revolution in action cinema. This is a new starting point for the blockbuster world. And the reason for this, of course, Tom Cruise. Yes, the director of the picture is an excellent visionary Joseph Kosinski (he previously worked with the actor in Oblivion and shot the beautiful Tron: Legacy). But Top Gun: Maverick - like all the latest installments of the Mission: Impossible franchise - can simply be called a "Tom Cruise movie." The fact is that for the filming of this picture, the actor opened a special flight school, where he trained with his colleagues. And then Tom Cruise, Miles Teller and other stars were put in real fighter jets, hung in front of them with expensive IMAX cameras and sent into flight.

In fact airplanes not actors, but professionals, let's not demand the impossible. But when you see how the character turns his head in the cockpit, you know that he really is in a fighter and is experiencing g-forces.

That is, Tom Cruise once again proves that for him an action movie is something more than just a script and special effects. This is life itself.

But this is not complexity for the sake of complexity. No one really filmed such cool flights. And the film needs to be watched in the best quality on the biggest screen (although there is a chance that it will get a little sick, but it's worth it). This is a complete immersion in the action: the planes perform unimaginable pirouettes, their speed and massiveness are literally felt physically.

Such experiences are worth a lot, especially in the era of computer graphics. Here, too, of course. But special effects do not replace reality, but only complement it.

But the script for Top Gun: Maverick is terrible.

Immediately after watching, ask yourself the main question: who did the main characters fight at all? Although you can not strain, the answer is still not in the film. The management at the very beginning explains to Maverick that they must destroy a certain enrichment plant uranium, which is located in a bunker at the end of some valley between some mountains and poses a danger to some allies in some region.

No name, no specifics. Abstract "fifth generation fighters" guard the place. For the entire film, the faces of these very enemies will never be shown: a couple of people will flash on the runway and several pilots in tightly closed helmets and masks - even the eyes are not visible.

That is, theoretically, the heroes could fight the Russians, Chinese, French, aliens or Walter White and Jesse Pinkman who changed their profile. Even Marvel at least invented non-existent countries like Latveria and Sokovia, where conflicts unfolded. In the tape "Top Gun: Meerick" only general words.

Surely this is not the laziness of the writers, but the desire not to offend anyone. And at the same time, proof that the audience should not care - after all, the film is about something else.

Let it be. But the script fails in 90% of the dialogues. The scene with the first appearance of the young heroes in the bar is completely reminiscent of some porn. The conversations here consist exclusively of rude jokes on each other and phrases in the style of "I'm good."

Perhaps the dialogues here are generally unimportant, yet remember that the plot is based on preparing pilots for a dangerous mission. But even here it is impossible not to notice the strangeness. For example, according to the authors of Top Gun: Maverick, it turns out that hijacking planes, even from your own base, even from the enemy, is the easiest thing in life.

The protagonist here constantly breaks the rules and contradicts himself. And the most revealing moment awaits you in the middle of the film. Maverick is suspended from training, but he tries to return, stating leader: "They must believe that the mission can be accomplished." To which he reasonably replies: "But you convinced them otherwise." Here one can only guess: the screenwriters are not alien to self-irony or the dialogues and motivation have not been improved so much.

"Top Gun: Maverick" plunges into nostalgia

Surprisingly, Top Gun: Maverick cannot be accused of parasitizing the popularity of 80s cinema. If only because the film began to be developed more than 10 years ago, when the topic was not so relevant. Alas, the creators had many difficulties, and in 2012 the director of the first part, Tony Scott, committed suicide, and the process dragged on.

Top Gun: Maverick is a prime example of an absolutely nostalgic movie. And this applies to both the visual presentation and some plot details. The picture begins with exactly the same scene as the first part: the preparation of aircraft and the work of technicians on an aircraft carrier. The same font on the credits, the same music. And after returning to the school of pilots, Tom Cruise will drive a motorcycle in parallel with a fighter taking off. And these are far from the only references that came from 80s.

In addition, Miles Teller is an incredible success in casting. He does not seem to be too similar to Anthony Edwards, who played his father in the first part. But it's very easy to believe that the hero of the new tape could be his son: Teller's image was perfectly worked out, and he played the best here. And he, too, will sit down at the piano to play old rock and roll.

And the most touching moment is the return of Val Kilmer. In the first part, he was the same star of the picture as Tom Cruise. Then the actor's career began to decline, largely due to his difficult nature. And in the mid-2010s, due to laryngeal cancer, Kilmer almost lost the ability to speak. In Top Gun: Maverick, his character is mentioned several times, and then he appears in person, passing off perhaps the most emotional scene in the film. And the last phrase that he types on the computer does not look like a replica of the hero, but a confession of the actor himself. At this point, anyone who is even superficially familiar with his history is unlikely to restrain tears.

But the propaganda of militarism and sexism is disappointing

The 1986 film was essentially a propaganda piece showing how cool it is to serve as a military pilot. The life of the heroes looked like a kind of fervent competition with colleagues, interspersed with love adventures.

This is not surprising: during the filming, the authors were in full contact with the US Air Force, which not only supplied aircraft and equipment, but also strongly recommended how to change the script so that everything was presented more positively and attractive.

In addition, the old "Top Gun" is also absolutely sexist movie. Suffice it to recall Maverick's acquaintance with Charlotte, played by Kelly McGillis. The hero just broke into the women's toilet for the girl he liked. And it doesn’t matter that she came with a guy and simply refused her boyfriend.

Of course, one can say that it is not worth evaluating the 1986 tape from the point of view of modern morality. This is true. But the sequel to 2022 is possible and necessary. And the problem is that it is exactly the same, and somewhere even worse.

In the first part, Charlotte was at least shown as an important independent character, a scientist (which did not save her from vulgar jokes). Now, the new girlfriend of the hero, played by Jennifer Connelly, does not matter at all. She is needed only so that Maverick can seduce her, at the same time show emotions that he cannot afford on an airplane, and in the finale, beautifully take her into the sunset on motorcycle.

It seems that the creators are trying to curtsy new times: now there are girls among the pilots. But they were still pushed somewhere into the background: it is unlikely that anyone will remember the names or even the call signs of these characters. Top Gun: Maverick is still a movie about tough guys even hugging their fists (not a joke, pay attention to the ending) and half-naked playing American football on the beach.

Perhaps it's not so scary. Everything described above exists in reality. After all, more than 90% of American military pilots really menMilitary Pilot Demographics and Statistics In The US / Zippia. But the trouble is that Top Gun: Maverick is the same agitation and glorification of militarism as the first part was. The military here brings peace and prosperity by dropping missiles on someone who is dangerous to their allies. None of the heroes can die, and their whole life is a fun competition. The most unpleasant thing about it is that in case of a loss, you will have to do 200 push-ups.

Finally, a little about the personal. I watched this film and immediately shared a brief review with colleagues. Almost all of them answered that I was a bore and you should not find fault with the plot of a movie that was made only for the sake of action.

Probably so. But my dissatisfaction with the picture "Top Gun: Maverick" is more of an insult because of missed opportunities. If the authors had written a normal script, good dialogues (not necessarily complex, just well thought out) and given the characters more sensible motivation, it would have been an ideal blockbuster.

Imagine a film with such a quality of filming, and even not stupid. It could be fantasy, but it just came out beautiful fighter. It is still worth seeing for the incredible feeling of flying. Although I would like not to roll my eyes during the next awkward conversation.