system
Thanks for the review. I was wondering if it was going to more hype than substance.
Thanks for the review. I was wondering if it was going to more hype than substance.
Can’t wait. I like airplane movies.
Never a fan of ‘Top Gun’
Immature brats whose stunts
Would have them out of the military without a trace
The jets were the stars not the actors
I can only take so much of odd facial scenes in a cockpit
I’d rather watch jet flybys at Oshkosh
The dialogue was ridiculous
And the love story vapid
Memorial Day commemorates the men and women who died while in military service. To memorialize our heroic fallen, many people visit cemeteries and memorials, participate in parades, and countless volunteers respectfully place American flags on each grave site at national cemeteries.
As stated, Paramount delayed the film’s release for two years due to Covid because they wanted people to see it on a big screen. I’m at a loss why the release couldn’t have waited a few more weeks for a more appropriate, glove-fitting July 4 celebratory fireworks holiday weekend.
Well researched and interesting analysis nonetheless. I didn’t see the first one, not interested in seeing this one.
Interestingly, the dynamic message sign today on my local highway read: ‘To be Mavs wingman, you need to Buckle Up’ - so even city councils are evidently excited about the movie.
I’m with you, Dave. Most folks use Memorial Day as the unofficial gateway to summertime and totally forget the true meaning and reason for the Holiday. Those of us who served – a small subset of the population – at least fully understand the meaning. I will see it but NOT tomorrow; I’ll be at the small town gathering. July 4 would have been a more fitting day to roll out this cinematic extravaganza.
A PB article and only five comments … are ya’ll out boating or … ??
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I’m surprised you didn’t mention the similarities between the big attack in this movie and “633 Squadron”. Both flying up a twisty valley, against ground defenses, fighters poised above, having to drop the ordnance on a small target, etc.
For THAT matter, the same plotline was used as the climax in the original “Star Wars.” Do a Goggle search along the lines of “video 633 squadron star wars”. It’ll bring up a video where they take the video of the attack sequence from 633 squadron, with the audio soundtrack from Star Wars. Amazing how the two match up…
Hey Larry- Yeah, this fantasy flick redux released on a reality check weekend just hit me wrong this year.
Around anything hyped I usually get very sleepy, yet this ‘need for speed’ movie hype that seemed to be everywhere - (I was hesitant to open a fresh bar of soap to shower for fear Cruise’s face would be imprinted on it - thankfully, surface smooth as butta)
…and it was smothering the solemn quiet of MemDay weekend, and getting under my skin.
It almost seemed deliberate, and obtusely out of touch - until I slapped myself awake from my dozing and realized, as Randy Newman crooned, ‘It’s money that matters’.
Of course, geez, now all is in its rightful place. ?
How many people on this blog really think anyone on this blog is going to run out and see this movie today? You’ve got your head up your nostrils if you think that.
It’s a movie, people. Entertainment. Not political statement. I agree with Paul 100% - the flying scenes are incredible, and Cruise did a great job of portraying a man who has learned much since he was a brash 20-something, trying to pass some of it along to the brash 20-somethings he’s ordered to train.
Four of us saw it opening night in a fairly full theater. All four of us loved it, and that seemed to be the general concensus of the whole crowd. The man in front of me was retired Air Force, and he was quite literally on the edge of his seat for much of the second half of the movie.
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Haven’t seen it yet. But excited to do so. I’m looking forward to just a fun, fun, exciting, airplane action filled couple of hours of entertainment. That’s what it’s about folks. You don’t need to think any deeper than that occasionally. And I liked comic books too.
Thanks for a sensible reply. Just cause I want to see a movie on Memorial Day doesn’t mean I’m disrespectful. I can both watch a movie like this AND be grateful to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. I don’t see them as mutually exclusive. Now if I only had an IMAX nearby…
Dennis, are you new to AvWeb? The comment section of AvWeb is the ultimate hive of curmudgeondry it the Interweb. Only grumpy old white men can turn anything into a political left v right issue or just plain FAA-bashing. It’s a hoot most days. Welcome and bring your lawn chair and popcorn.
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“Bated breath crowd”… Kudos, Paul. That itself it bait for the literati.
I doubt the movie is an artistic giant. But, the flying scenes alone make it a must-see for anyone in aviation.
Blasphemer!!
Saw it three days ago. The best aviation related movie experience for me since watching the Apollo 11 movie in '19, on the very day of it’s 50 th. year anniversary, in the West Yellowstone IMAX theatre with a mostly Asian tourist crowd who sat quietly throughout, while I had all I could do to not jump up and scream like a maniac when the Lunar Lander touched down with just seconds of fuel remaining. Yeah I know, TGM is just a Hollywood movie, but go see it, you won’t be disappointed.
YOU BEAST
GEEZ
Hey John,
He’s the one with the bulging shades… ???
Sorry John, I just could not resist to give you this answer.
Blue skies, G
Saw it Friday, great movie, lots of fun and action. More mature then the original.
Danger Zone? The “worst ear worm in the history of music”? Hey Paul, I don’t know about you but when I think danger, I think Kenny Loggins. Shame on you, sir!
Thank you, Paul - saw the movie yesterday - your review just about nailed it!
(only part I cannot agree with is your take on “Danger Zone” ;-))
Think I will wait for the Betamax release.
Went and saw this movie this weekend because of this review, it was good but hard to beat the first (unfortunately). Lady Gaga just didn’t do it for me on the song. There was just more depth on the first and the youth and what you expect from a top gun team was more believable. This movie lost me on the stealing of military F18/F14’s and what it takes to actually put one of those in the air in ground team work, coordination and logistical cooperation.
Excellent write up Paul, and an Excellent Movie. Not perfect, but really good, and like the previous one, it will have a profound long-term positive impact on aviation, both civilian and military.
As someone who has served, and have lost many friends, I never understand that philosophy. I don’t like “Happy Memorial Day,” but the fact that a movie opens, or beaches are full or there are sales in stores, are EXACTLY why we served, sacrificed and some gave all. To live and enjoy America.
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Geez is right. And you don’t know it’s silly or pointless, you didn’t see it. Also, honoring our departed can be celebrating American’s celebrating a holiday, regardless if they fully honor it as Memorial Day. That’s why we served and sacrificed.
Cruise was great in Edge of Tomorrow, he’s a very good actor.
That’s been debunked,
We enjoyed every bit of it. Not for the story but just loud Jets and entertainment.
These same VR routes are set in MS2020 as low level challenge flights.
Boy you ain’t kidding. Tom Cruise could never act and still can’t. Same old dumb grin, same old facial expressions, same old stupid lines.
Why can’t Hollyweird make a military movie that feels real and not a movie that’s hokey and cliche?
The writing and characterization is an insult to military members regardless of rank.
Awful flick
Sorry Paul, this movie sucked. The writing was beyond absurd, the cliches were even more absurd, and the love story was dumber than dumb.
Why the fallen served was not mentioned by anyone. For my part, questioning the status quo was prominent.
Yes, we served so people could freely say "Happy Memorial Day!’ or “Get a job!” to a homeless veteran, or that corporate greed could freely misuse the holiday to make money with a film, concert or a sale.
No argument from me. We all served - this is what we got.
Seeing a local gun store advertise “Top Gun Memorial Day Sale!” while our collective consciousness is still blood-wet from a school slaughter is as American as apple pie, baby!
And yes, we served for that freedom of expression, too.
Questioning the status quo and head-bobbing acceptance of a huge, corporate money making, over-hyped fantasy film on a somber national holiday - just because it had airplanes in it - is perfectly legit in my mind. If the movie was about climate change or how Musk spends his days with that level of hype and promotion on MemDay weekend, I would still object to the effort.
And yep, we served for all that, too.
But not to worry, carry-on - it’s just a pause of thought if you dare until the next assured, status quo school massacre or Veteran’s Day sale of bedsheets and condoms soothes us back to the familiar, safe space ethos we all know and love.
And that’s the second time you’ve tried to post that drivel, Kent. Give it a rest.
No need to apologize to Paul. He wrote one of the best reviews of the movie I’ve read (and there have been a lot of them) most of which are not nearly as aviation-savvy. Maybe you’ll like “Dune” better.
But, hey, my wife loved “Mamma Mia”. Think you could pinch out a troll of that for me?
Funny but true RN
I honestly would have enjoyed it if they were subtle. I felt like I was at some weird drunken party where young people kept using old Top Gun movie quotes. It’s fun for the first few minutes, but then after each old quote it starts to be like the drip drip drip of water torture to where it drives you to scream the message of the move: “IT’S TIME TO LET GO”.
Regardless, both can kill you in a heartbeat if not flown properly.
I agree with You, Steve, and I don’t care of the contrary comments my opinion are gone to be expressed.
I’m totally with You, David A.
Actually it was refreshing to see women, men of color and other ethnicities in the twelve-member team.
And Tom is crying all the way to the bank.
Paul Sir!, I lover reading your articles and watching your videos. I’m especially appreciative of your dry wit and your on-the-mark accuracy.
In the interests of encouraging the accuracy… “ …Cruise is in the back of an F-18, including a carrier launch. A Navy pilot is in the front seat doing the flying, …” It’s interesting that the Navy allowed a harbor pilot whose job it is to guide ships in and out of harbors fly one of their F18s. I’d have thought they would have INSISTED upon an actual Naval Aviator. ;>)
Paul Sir!, I love reading your articles and watching your videos. I’m especially appreciative of your dry wit and your on-the-mark accuracy.
In the interests of encouraging the accuracy… “ …Cruise is in the back of an F-18, including a carrier launch. A Navy pilot is in the front seat doing the flying, …” It’s interesting that the Navy allowed a harbor pilot whose job it is to guide ships in and out of harbors fly one of their F18s. I’d have thought they would have INSISTED upon an actual Naval Aviator. ;>)
Quite true how the story is pretty shallow. I’m wondering why on earth a movie like this can’t fetch a good story. It is a ‘set your brain at the door’ sort of flick. You go here and ignore the story and wait for the flying sequences.
The first eye-roll I had was in the beginning when Maverick takes off with the test plane and looked behind him (his helmet would block his view and so would the cockpit) as he blasted the admiral standing at the end of the runway. I’m not convinced that admiral wouldn’t have been at least slightly singed from being blasted by an afterburner.
Oh hear hear R.N,!
“ultimate hive of curmudgeondry it the Interweb”
Sublime use of verbiage.
It was built as a P-51K and modified as F-6K (prior to delivery), not an F6-K (no such thing). It was restored back to look like a P-51D (basically removed the cameras, changed the propeller and added a second seat). And it is registered with the FAA as P-51K and owned by Valhalla Aviation Inc., of which Tom Cruise is president. So, his company does own a Mustang, but Tom Cruise technically owns neither a P-51D, P-51K nor F-6K, but certainly no F6-K.
I am a NFWS graduate, right as the first movie released. Other than a few flying scenes, I thought it was embarrassingly stupid. The “plot” was which infantile pilot would do the dumbest thing while trying to get their name on the trophy. To hell with aircraft, to hell with RIO’s, to hell with the mission, just get your name on that (completely fictitious) trophy.
The actual school as you might expect, was completely different, the most professional training I ever attended anywhere, with the best lecturers I’ve ever seen. One of the best aspects was that we learned to give far better presentations ourselves, which served us well throughout our lives. Crews took the information back to their fleet squadrons, and gave the lectures and shared the latest and greatest tactics and training with their unit.
I heard this one as a plot, which is to take out a target that a single Tomahawk Land Attack Missile could do after a few minutes of programming, and a Tactical Officer pushing a button while drinking coffee.
The movie is heavily promoted as it the lead in a massive push to get customers back in theaters. Not in any hurry, but I’ll have a look in due course. Probably on my nifty 4K HDTV in a few months. BTDT, have the patch.
Whatever you think of Cruise personally, he generally makes good movies. Nothing wrong with putting your mind in neutral and just enjoying the fun.
Well worth masking up for. Managed a matinee in the IMAX and some social distancing too.
Can’t imagine seeing this on a wide screen after IMAX. It is immersive. The plot stretches it a bit, some ranks seem to manage to get transferred all over the world at a drop of a hat to keep the story going and some operational points are simply eliminated. You know - the usual movie “some events have been condensed” type disclaimer.
There are some lovely nods at the original, some nods at a few other Tom Cruise movies too. Anyone get the one at “An Officer and a Gentleman”? And the Dambusters and Star Wars get their nods too. But at the end of the day - while knowledge of the first movie adds to the experience - this movie stands on its own. And with a lot more hardware in the air and at least three “acts” featuring different hardware - you get a lot more flying for your money. It’s better than the first.
Sure there is some CGI in there. The F14 is real on the ground, but in the air - well… But a chunk of this flying is real. And it’s just worth it for that.
Of course the good guys win - but so what?
For the folks who think it “would never be like that”. Here are two YouTube videos showing this is trained for all the time by a whole raft of the NATO inventory.
First video - from the cockpit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyzAAcpsdEQ
Second video from the plane spotters’ viewpoint (watch out for a flight of 4 x C130’s flying the profile)
Sorry - Richard Gere’s Officer and a Gentleman.
Thanks Brian, it is and was a dang movie for us flyer types, and we enjoyed it for the entertainment. How often do we get to do that?
As to Tom Cruise, thanks. We don’t know who you are as a private person, and really don’t or shouldn’t care. You did your job just as all of us do, and I don’t see what else anyone should expect of you.
I’m looking forward to anything aviation related, good bad or indifferent mainly because it helps all of us escape this insane world and we need those few moments.