 |
| Joseph Kosinski: Top Gun: Maverick (US 2022) starring Tom Cruise as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. "The last remaining global star who still only makes movies for movie theaters. He hasn’t ventured into streaming. He hasn’t signed up for a limited series." (Nicole Sperling: "Hollywood’s Last Real Movie Star", in The New York Times, 20 May 2022). |
Top Gun: Maverick / Top Gun: Maverick.
US © 2022 Paramount Pictures. PC: Skydance Media and Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films. P: Jerry Bruckheimer, Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison.
D: Joseph Kosinski. SC: Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie. Story by: Peter Craig, Justin Marks. Based on: characters by Jim Cash, Jack Epps, Jr.
Cin: Claudio Miranda. Colour. IMAX 1.90:1. Other: 2.39:1. Shot on 6K IMAX. Source format: X-OCN ST 6K. Master format: 4K. Camera: Sony CineAlta Venice IMAX. Release formats: 4K DCP, also 3D.
PD: Jeremy Hindle. AD: Clint Wallace. Cost: Marlene Stewart. Makeup: Elena Arroy. Hair: Jules Holdren. VFX: Method Studios, MPC, Lola VFX, Lux Machina. M: Lorne Balfe, Harold Faltermeyer, Lady Gaga, Hans Zimmer. "Hold My Hand" (Lady Gaga). "Great Balls of Fire" (Otis Blackwell, Jack Hammer) in singalong. S: James Mather, Al Nelson, Bjorn Ole Schroeder. ED: Eddie Hamilton..
C: Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer, Monica Barbaro (in more detail beyond the jump break).
Filming dates: 3 Sep 2018 – July 2019.
131 min
Festival premiere: 18 May 2022 Cannes.
Finnish premiere: 26 May 2022 released by Finnkino with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Marko Hartama / Janne Staffans. Rated 12.
Viewed at Finnkino Strand, Iso Kristiina, Lappeenranta, 26 May 2022
AA: The anticipation is high already in the lobby and the queues to ticket counters. A Kawasaki motorcycle is on display, photo opportunities are eagerly utilized. It's a party before the screening has even started. Already in the lobby I know that this movie will be a success.
In Finland, the months from Easter till Midsummer are typically a "Death Valley" for cinema releases. Our short summer is about to start, and people prefer to enjoy sunny afternoons and evenings outdoors. It takes a special film to change this behaviour.
I have enormous respect for film-makers with a strong instinct for what is popular in the cinema. It is wizardry. The risks are enormous. The makers of Top Gun: Maverick know what they are doing. This is not my kind of cinema, but I watch it with admiration.
Performance-wise, this is more one-sidedly a Tom Cruise vehicle than the original Top Gun which had a more evenly balanced star cast. Story-wise, what I like in this film most is the theme of team spirit. My favourite is the beach ball scene where the admiral asks what the hell is going on when urgent rehearsals should be happening. Maverick tells him that the play is about building the team and its dynamics.
The cast is up to date in terms of diversity and gender, The female characters are subjects, they have agency. Admiral Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (Val Kilmer) is handicapped with a speech disability and expresses himself best via sms. Like in the original, there is a potent gay current in the movie. The women are no token women, but male bonding is fundamental.
The plot is a thrilling adventure story. The circumstances and the vehicles seem to be of documentary accuracy.
I am a fan of aviation movies and its masters including William A. Wellman (Island in the Sky) and Howard Hawks (Air Force). The original Top Gun belonged to the 1980s turbocharged action wave, whose true creators in my opinion were producers like Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun) and Joel Silver/Lawrence Gordon. They represented an architectural school or an approach of the industrial/military complex. The appetite for speed and destruction was interesting to speculate from a Paul Virilio approach. They were relevant for post-modernism, simultaneously glorifications and dystopias of a culture of consumption and instant gratification. Films of emptiness and about emptiness.
The opening test pilot sequence still belongs to Paul Virilio territory. It is about meeting the Mach 10 speed objective and pushing further into high-hypersonic speed. It's also a Kantian sequence: the destiny of human understanding is to set itself tasks that transcend its own limitations.
Tony Scott, to whom this movie is dedicated, was a director able to sustain a profile of his own in the turbocharged school. Jerry Bruckheimer is till producing, and Tom Cruise has selected the director Joseph Kosinski.
This is a star-driven film, and Tom Cruise is ageing well and carrying the challenges of responsibility and maturity in a new way. It's no longer about showing who is best but bringing the team to the dangerous mission and back alive.
In a parallel to the James Bond series, Maverick faces the fact that he is a man of the past. In James Bond's world, espionage has turned to cyberspace. In Maverick's world, the emphasis in increasingly in unmanned aircraft like drones. The era of the dogfights is being consigned to history. The virtual is replacing the real. Robots are substituting humans.
Pete Mitchell remains true to his "Maverick" nickname, but the pressure and the adversities keep growing. The pain and the suffering are getting harder to take. All this is written on the map of Tom Cruise's face. The past is always present. We keep seeing those forever young.
Tom Cruise is a solid audience draw, and this film is guaranteed to revive it once again. Tom Cruise treats his audience with respect, and this, in return, commands respect.
PLOT FROM WIKIPEDIA:
" Over three decades after the events of the first film, Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is currently serving as a U.S. Navy test pilot and has purposely dodged promotion in order to continue flying after 33 years of service. After Rear Admiral Chester "Hammer" Cain plans to shut down the hypersonic "Darkstar" scramjet program and redirect the funds to drone programs, Maverick decides to take the prototype to its Mach 10 speed objective before Cain can arrive. Maverick reaches Mach 10 but decides to push further into high-hypersonic speed, resulting in the prototype's destruction. Although Cain wants to ground Maverick, he instead transfers him to NAS North Island to train an elite group of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission at the orders of Maverick's friend and former rival, Admiral Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Among them is Lieutenant Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, the son of Maverick's late best friend and RIO Nick "Goose" Bradshaw. "
" The elite group of F/A-18E/F Super Hornet pilots are assembled for a special mission by Vice Admiral Beau "Cyclone" Simpson and Rear Admiral Solomon "Warlock" Bates to destroy a uranium enrichment facility of a rogue nation (unnamed in the film). The facility is located within a steep depression at the end of a mountainous canyon and highly defended by surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries and an airbase with Su-57 fifth-generation fighters; this requires a risky high-speed nap-of-earth approach in the canyon beneath hostile radar coverage to reach the facility and pushing the F/A-18E/F beyond its NATOPS limits. With the new F-35C not yet ready, Maverick recommends a strike package of four F/A-18E/Fs in two pairs to first destroy the facility's entrance and then the facility itself. Maverick is initially rebuffed by the pilots, particularly by the highly self-confident Lieutenant Jake "Hangman" Seresin as well as Rooster who resents Maverick for allegedly pulling his application to the Naval Academy and setting back his career. "
" The training prepares the pilots in all mission aspects, including basic fighter maneuvers, precision-guided munitions employment, nap-of-earth flying, as well as the importance of teamwork. As the training progresses, the pilots also become aware of the history between Rooster's father and Maverick, leading to animosity between Hangman and Rooster due to the former's cavalier attitude towards supporting his wingmen and the latter's cautious flying approach that Hangman attributes to his father's death. As the pilots observe Maverick's skill and airmanship talent, the pilots begin to reassess their skepticism about him and their team cohesion improves. "
" During the course of the training, Maverick reunites with Penny, who provides him guidance and support particularly with his protective attitude towards Rooster. Maverick also meets with Iceman, who has been plagued by throat cancer and has to type his words out on a computer. Despite having immense difficulty speaking, Iceman verbally states the gravity and importance of the mission. Iceman passes away before the mission is set to launch; Maverick and the pilots attend his funeral, where he is honored with a missing man formation. "
" Cyclone strongly opposes Maverick's risky methods and tactics, but once Maverick demonstrates that the mission plan can be executed, Cyclone appoints him to lead the strike team. Maverick then chooses the mission pilots and is paired with Phoenix and her WSO Bob, while Rooster is paired with Payback and his WSO Fanboy, and the remaining pilots on standby alert. The mission is launched from the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, while a salvo of Tomahawk cruise missiles from the cruiser Leyte Gulf is launched to destroy the facility's nearby airbase to preempt the scrambling of enemy fighters. The nap-of-earth approach works and the four F/A-18E/Fs are able to reach the facility and destroy it. However, its destruction and the steep climb required to escape out of the depression alerts hostile SAMs as well as a pair of patrolling Su-57 Felons. As more SAMs are launched and the pilots run out of countermeasures, Maverick sacrifices his own jet to prevent Rooster from being shot down and ejects in hostile territory. As the remaining aircraft egress back to the carrier, Rooster turns back and saves Maverick from an Mi-24 Hind gunship pursuing him, but is also shot down in the process and ejects nearby. The two reunite and then scout the area for an escape path. "
" Maverick and Rooster make it to the destroyed airbase, where they steal an F-14A Tomcat that had survived the Tomahawk bombardment while enemy personnel were distracted by the fires. As they try to return to the carrier, the two Su-57s form up with them. While the enemy pilots are attempting to identify them, Maverick and Rooster decide to engage, surprising the two Su-57s and shooting them down. When Maverick and Rooster again try to return to the carrier, a third Su-57 intercepts them. Out of weapons and countermeasures and without functional ejection seats, they are saved just in time by Hangman, who launched from the carrier after Maverick and Rooster did not return with the strike group. They form up in the air and head back to the carrier, where the pilots and crew celebrate their return upon arrival. Post-mission, Maverick and Rooster reconcile and work together on his P-51 Mustang at Maverick's hangar with Penny reconcile Maverick with her Daughter. The film ends where Maverick and Penny flies to ride canyons with P-51 Mustang Plane while Rooster embrace his Father Nick "Goose" and Maverick Old Memories in Maverick's Photo Board. "
Cast from Wikipedia
Tom Cruise as Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a test pilot and flight instructor, training a group of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission. He flies an F/A-18E for the mission.
Miles Teller as Lieutenant Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, an F/A-18E pilot in the mission training group, and the son of Maverick's late RIO and best friend, Nick "Goose" Bradshaw.
Jennifer Connelly as Penelope "Penny" Benjamin, Maverick's new love interest, who is a single mother, a bar owner, and the daughter of a former admiral.
Jon Hamm as Vice Admiral Beau "Cyclone" Simpson, the commander of Naval Air Forces
Glen Powell as Lieutenant Jake "Hangman" Seresin, an F/A-18E pilot and mission candidate
Lewis Pullman as Lieutenant Robert "Bob" Floyd, Phoenix's F/A-18F WSO and mission candidate
Ed Harris as Rear Admiral Chester "Hammer" Cain, Maverick's superior and head of the Darkstar program.
Val Kilmer as four-star Admiral Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, former rival, and a close friend of Maverick's. Iceman has been instrumental in helping to keep Maverick in the Navy over the years.
Monica Barbaro as Lieutenant Natasha "Phoenix" Trace, an F/A-18F pilot and mission candidate
Charles Parnell as Rear Admiral Solomon "Warlock" Bates, a friend of Maverick's and the commander of Naval Education and Training Command.
Jay Ellis as Lieutenant Reuben "Payback" Fitch, an F/A-18F pilot and mission candidate
Danny Ramirez as Lieutenant Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia, Payback's F/A-18F WSO and mission candidate
Greg Tarzan Davis as Lieutenant Javy "Coyote" Machado, an F/A-18E pilot and mission candidate
Manny Jacinto as Fritz
Jack Schumacher as Omaha
Bashir Salahuddin as Chief Warrant Officer 4 Bernie "Hondo" Coleman
Jake Picking as Lieutenant Brigham "Harvard" Lennox
Raymond Lee as Lieutenant Logan "Yale" Lee
Lyliana Wray as Amelia Benjamin, Penny's daughter
Jean Louisa Kelly as Sarah Kazansky, Iceman's wife
Chelsea Harris as Flag Aide Angela Burke
Anthony Edwards as LTJG Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (archived footage)
Meg Ryan as Carole Bradshaw (archived footage)
No comments:
Post a Comment