Watched it tonight and really enjoyed it. The flying is incredible and the action is extremely well done. It also packed a punch with nostalgia and some surprisingly moving moments. It's great.
Film Top Gun: Maverick
- Thread starter pauldyson1uk
- Start date
Also watched this tonight. Perfect, no other word for it, just absolute cinema perfection. Loved every minute.
CGI just can’t compete with the experience that provided.
@Pogue Mahone booooooooooo to you.
CGI just can’t compete with the experience that provided.
@Pogue Mahone booooooooooo to you.
Come on dude, the bar scene? The beach scene? The lack of jeopardy for all the pilots? The fact the mission was basically a complete rip off of Star Wars? The massive weird photo of Iceman on a flag over his coffin?!
I get that people will enjoy the movie. And I imagine this is most true for people of a certain age, where nostalgia plays a large part in the enjoyment. But a “perfect movie”? Come on now. The more I think about it the more I reckon the first movie was better. It managed to both take itself less seriously and pack more of an emotional punch.
Fun movie. Fantastic action scenes. Did not buy the love interest bit at all.
Overall much better than the original, although it’s missing some of its charming cringiness and homoeroticism.
Overall much better than the original, although it’s missing some of its charming cringiness and homoeroticism.
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Yeah, that was some of the best bits about the first one. This new one is far too po-faced. Nothing to compare to lines like “…you'll be flying a cargo plane full of rubber dog shit outta Hong Kong"
Yes! The coffee spill scene was the next thing I was going to mention! The whole movie was all so camp and silly. That was a large part of its charm. You don’t mind all the Stars and Stripes bombast so long as it doesn’t take itself verrrrrry seriously, like the new one.
I have no idea how this film is getting the rave reviews it's getting - only explanation I can find is that the past season of football has fried Utd fans' brains and we're all doomed.
Putting aside its extreme jingoism and American exceptionalism, which are disturbing and problematic, it's about 65/70% of a really poorly written and acted film and the rest of good/great action scenes, with no sense of real danger and no jeopardy for anyone (not the pilots, and not the general public as this mysterious enemy never really exists, except in 3D modelisations and Tom Cruise's imagination). It also lacks any charm to make it endearing,
I mean, it's weirdly watchable (wouldn't go so far as to call it enjoyable, for me in any case), it's made to be seen in the best conditions possible, and I respect that there is love and dedication that went into making it... but it's objectively rather shit. There is no scenario (which is weird cos Cruise had stated for decades he wouldn't make a sequel until the right scenario came along - really curious to see the ones that have been rejected over the years), and it's running on the nostalgia fumes of an already pretty shit film.
No idea how it's being compared favourable to Mad Max Fury Road, which had its faults, but had no further ambition that to offer a high octane, balls to wall, fast paced action film with no semblance of script - it was pretty honest in that regard. Maverick actually tries to play on both fronts, the action is good, but all the rest is nauseating filler, from the barely believable love interest (the lack of chemistry between Jennifer Connelly and Cruise is a sight to behold), the incessant flashbacks, the unresolved alpha male resentment with Rooster, and the Goose death PTSD (which is kinda bought up... but actually not explored or resolved cos that might actually require someone with writing skills to do something with it in the script). They clearly took the "don't think, do" mantra and applied it to the entirety to the film. There's some really, really shit scenes along the way - the initial gathering in the bar, the football scene on the beach, the love scene...
And yet I do understand why it's enjoyable, I get it, we're jaded by the CGI/Marvel wankfests of these past few years and we yearn for something that feels more organis and real... but it's incredibly forgettable and is in no way a "great film" or perfect. On the balance of things, it's mediocre at best.
I found Mad Max Fury Road incredibly boring and dull personally (and frankly a bit stupid) but I found Maverick really exciting and was genuinely on the edge of my seat for the final third. Is it a big dumb movie? Yes of course. Is it hugely entertaining and have incredible action, in my opinion yes. I'm more than happy with that.
Not sure if you have much flying experience but there are plenty of interviews of ex Top Gun pilots talking about the flying sections in the movie on youtube and they all agreed it was very realistic and that all of them had done pretty much all the maneuvers shown in the film. They said the attention to detail was spot on.
THANK YOU!
I was feeling like such a lone voice in this thread I was starting to wonder if I was losing my mind. The only thing I was clinging to was that a good friend who watched it with me - and has excellent taste - was similarly unimpressed.
Agree with every word you say.
The lack of jeapordy made the closing act as close to boring you can get with so many very noisy/dramatic looking scenes. They even had the perfect opportunity to add some uncertainty (and add a bit of emotional heft) when they could have killed off one or two minor characters after the bird strike. But oh no, test audience says no. Everyone must survive. Yawn.
For all its flaws the original TG at least had the balls to kill off a major character. The closest they came to making you care in this mess was crowbarring in that exact scene all over again. Feck off.
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It's ok, I'm here. I was unsure as to whether I'd post about it cos meh, but now I've decided it's a hill I'll die on.
I agree it's mediocre.
That’s not him
It's predictable, it's ripe fromage, it replicates entire scenes from the first film, and it is enjoyable as hell. Jennifer Connolly is still stunning and Cruise is simply the Newman/Redford of my generation.
I find the suggestion that only people without excellent taste would like this movie to be a bit arsey to say the least.
It's even cheesier than Tottenham's stadium cheese room, it's terrible.
The finale is so OTT. It's STAR WARS/BEHIND ENEMY LINES/FIREFOX. I expected Hangman to shout "You're all clear, kid!"
Fair enough. That wasn’t my point though. It was more that I found it reassuring that someone whose opinion I would always trust agreed with me.
A lot of very well respected critics love it too. So this isn’t about film snobbery.
It's about corruption and kickbacks, that's what it's about
I meant mostly this bit where he flies up between the two aircraft. That would never happen. Plus there is the fight at the end with the F14 beating 3 Su-57s, including the stupid cobra move one of them does
Also, if you have seen the interview with the pilot who flew most of the low level stuff, he said it was a nightmare getting approval for the flying as most of what they did would never be allowed in normal circumstances and was really pushing what the aircraft were capable of.
i think the American exceptionalism is very toned down, no big bad Russia or China, just unnamed rogue country.
This stuck out to me too.
Don't really see how that tones it down, but it was very strange to make it a nameless baddie. It feeds into the lack of jeopardy and threat that is an issue for the film, in fact.
I kinda feel he'd be dead and dreaded it, but turns out it's a happy ending so i felt kinda relief. I really want him to wed Penny and end up happy. I think Cruise really plays maverick well to make me care forhim
I don't know, that's at least how I felt. Or could be that they make the Admirals and the higher ups kinda not so annoying. The part where they admit they cant go toe to toe with a 5th gen, whereas normally these type of movies would be hooah go go team USA.
As a film it has its flaws obviously, but seeing it on Imax was an awesome experience, probably my favourite cinema experience ever in fact. And loved it for what it was.
Great cinematic experience > great movie.
Not bothered to watch it right now, but super interesting to read all the comments.
Majority of the scenes that were not CGI and contained a fighter jet are fake anyways (as im that's not how it actually goes down irl) and I can't truly appreciate the cinematic attempts only because I grew up in and around the Navy, where the films are based out of, so yeah. Go Navy, Beat Army.
Not bothered to watch it right now, but super interesting to read all the comments.
Majority of the scenes that were not CGI and contained a fighter jet are fake anyways (as im that's not how it actually goes down irl) and I can't truly appreciate the cinematic attempts only because I grew up in and around the Navy, where the films are based out of, so yeah. Go Navy, Beat Army.
What a real-life Red Arrow thinks of Top Gun: Maverick
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0..._source=LI&li_medium=li-recommendation-widget
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0..._source=LI&li_medium=li-recommendation-widget
Actually this year's top gun is more realistic as in the actor actually flown in real F18 and the manuver are done by actual pilot in actual jet.
They kinda made a new breakthrough with 6 imax camera mounted inside the F18
Keanu
You could be right about the movie (can't comment that as I haven't seen it yet) and still be losing your mind, amirite?
100%
Possibly the cheesiest movie i've ever seen, a visual feast at the cinema but not one i will be running back to watch again on my own tv.
Fair shout, he's done a few action films, though not as exclusively as some others on that list. John Wick has been a big boost to that action resume.
I thought it was a very good movie. Definitely appreciated the lengths they went to film legit fighter jet footage and I liked that it wasn’t blatantly woke. It focused on being a cool action drama movie.
You can say whatever you want about Tom Cruise and his private life, but he knows how to make good movies and he‘s dedicated to his craft. Infact I kinda like that he’s reined in the Scientology stuff and hasn’t really said much about it since that famous video of him talking about it leaked, and the promotional stuff for War Of The Worlds when Spielberg had enough of him and basically wanted him to shut the feck up about it.
A second Top Gun movie could have easily been shat out by a hack writer and Cruise could have taken the cash grab years ago, but he does seem to care about doing it right. Good for him if he said he wasn’t doing it if the jet scenes were going to be CGIed for example.
You can say whatever you want about Tom Cruise and his private life, but he knows how to make good movies and he‘s dedicated to his craft. Infact I kinda like that he’s reined in the Scientology stuff and hasn’t really said much about it since that famous video of him talking about it leaked, and the promotional stuff for War Of The Worlds when Spielberg had enough of him and basically wanted him to shut the feck up about it.
A second Top Gun movie could have easily been shat out by a hack writer and Cruise could have taken the cash grab years ago, but he does seem to care about doing it right. Good for him if he said he wasn’t doing it if the jet scenes were going to be CGIed for example.
It’s behind a paywall, what are the two eyebrow raising moments?