Top Gun, it’s been over 30 years since the first movie and it’s hard to imagine that it was that long ago. I still remember a classmate in my grade school talking about how cool it was. I still remember the crazy dark music video of ‘Take My Breath Away’ on MTV wondering what the movie was really about. We had to wait a lot longer for movies to come to tv in those days.
Seeing this movie after all the waiting was truly awesome, it really was. It had a lot going against it. How do you come up with a good idea for the movie this much later? Will they be able to get some of the original cast together?
The addition of Ed Harris as Rear Admiral. Chester ‘Hammer’ Cain? Not Stinger played by James Tolkan in the first Top Gun? That’s strange, since they’re basically the same character. In fact, they’re so similar I thought James Tolkan had passed and Harris was playing his character. He might as well be. There’s a lot of oddball casting decisions this movie makes such as also not bringing back some other fellow airmen such as Merlin played by Tim Robbins in the original.
Besides these missed opportunities the story is still solid, a return to form and more. When I heard that Tom was really flying the jet plane, part of me wasn’t surprised because of his helicopter flying in Rogue Nation but some of the signature moves done in this movie are top notch. The inverted scenes are great and a specific scene where the jets are spinning around each other while descending is a real top notch spectacle.
The drama of Maverick still hanging on to the guilt of Goose is realistic even with the number of years gone by. He holds Roster back from school which is a lame move but recommended by Rooster’s mom.
Rooster is denied from his ‘call to adventure’ from his mom and Maverick obliges it out of guilt. It’s also surprising that Meg Ryan (who played the mother) isn’t in this. Again the director has said he doesn’t want to stay in the past too much and probably give the new characters screen time.
The new pilots are about as cheesy as the ones in the first but aren’t played as well I think. They seem even more 2-D but I guess that’s par for the course in Top Gun.
It’s great to see people win again against the odds.
This movie transcends its genre, although the subplot with Pennies daughter I thought was unnecessary but that’s a minor thing. It would’ve worked fine if she was single. Why so much under-representation of an older single women without a kid? Is that so bad? What’s the beef with single people?
I know this all sounds like I’m condoning the movie but I’m really not, I’m just pointing out some things
I missed in my video and podcast review.
Overall it’s a 9 out of 10 movie for sure. The only reason it’s missing a point is because of the above points.
Go see Top Gun Maverick, it enhances the first one and it’s good solid storytelling.
Check out my video review here:
The Ham Palace: Top Gun Maverick - Movie Review - Spoilers
Check out my podcast review here:
