Top Gun: Maverick - Cheap Thoughts

Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell is a fossil, a pilot of a bygone era that doesn’t have a place in modern society. That is how he is described early on in the film, that his character and his way of doing things is a relic of the past. This is also how Tom Cruise could be described as a movie star, in fact his entire filmography of the 21^st century is something of an outlier. Cruise is often described as the last true movie star, he’s a name that draws an audience and he also retains creative control over a lot of his productions, and with that power he commits anything and everything towards making the film. Cruise doesn’t half-arse anything, if he is making a film where he is a fighter pilot, he is going to learn everything he can about the jets, he will have his team learn everything they can about the jets, and they will film as much of it practically and realistically as possible. Forget “They don’t make movies like this anymore” they just simply don’t make movies like this, anywhere, at any time. Unless of course you’re Tom-Bloody-Cruise, the most committed man in Hollywood to the craft.

It doesn’t take long for the film to leave you jaw-dropped, with an early flight sequence of Cruise making it to Mach-10 not even 10 minutes into the film and the absolute power you feel from the jet, the beautiful scope of planet Earth as Maverick takes it in and even he can’t help but be awestruck at the view. The film takes that level of adrenaline and never loses it, and not just in the flight sequences-all of which are just stunning in their practicality, choreography and weight-but all these impossibly beautiful people dramatically posing in front of a never-ending sunset before driving away on a cool motorcycle, there is such an attitude to the film that it’s hard to argue it doesn’t earn.

More so than just aesthetic or production being against the grain of modern blockbusters is the attitude of the picture. Top Gun is one of the most stylised, personality driven action films of the 80s, it is also incredibly corny by modern standards. In a post-modern sarcasm ruling world, it’s amazing that there is not a hint of snark to be found anywhere in this film. No cringing of their younger selves, no pointing out the newer hotter models of old characters; no irony, no cynicism, no mockery to be found, just honest heartfelt storytelling. That exact attitude is what the film lives and dies by, because no one is going to argue the film has a complex story exactly, it is very simple Unnamed Bad Guys^tm have weapons that are hard to get to, Good Guys need to train to destroy them and hopefully overcome their emotional barriers on the way. Simple, smooth, slick. That’s Top Gun: Maverick baby.

-Danny