TOP GUN: MAVERICK (2022)
So, the in-laws were in town. My wife's family has history with this movie, the Air Force, and The Navy. She's been bouncing off the walls with excitement since she caught the trailer over a year ago. We caught it in the theatre, which is a rare indulgence for us these days. She loved it. I have mixed feelings, but I enjoyed it a bit more than I thought I would.
Tom Cruise's perpetually grinning wholesome badboy Maverick is one of those characters that resonates really strongly with a lot of people, and I think the original Top Gun is one of those generational touch stone films. I'm not 100% sure why that is, but I'm going to hazard a guess. Maverick is a very American character. He's rebellious in ways that are safe and recognizable. Maverick's ideas about making trouble are Divorced Dad ideas. Like, sometimes he drinks too much beer at the sports bar. Sometimes he disobeys his boss. He rides a motorcycle and hooks up with single moms. He's easy to figure out. His super human jet plane powers are secondary to his image as the not-too-bad boy. He's not far removed from your typical Scott/Ken/Bill living across the street spending alimony money on his first tattoo.
Maverick is what most midswesterners of A Certain Age see when they think about what it means to be an American man.
Hey, that's fine. It's charming even. I have to admit that the image of good 'ol Tom Cruise zipping along on his bike grinning like a lunatic under his Ray-Bans is iconic as shit. There's some comfort in it. The whole movie is a call back to a simpler time. It's not complicated. It screams out "We are Americans, and we are not interested in following orders. We will defeat 'The Enemy' and resolve our daddy issues by learning how to be sensitive (but not too sensitive) and then go back to the beach bar for Margs and Bud Light." There's a meat headed, goofy appeal to that. Fuck art, let's dance (to an easily cross-marketable song).
On the whole, Maverick is a cheesy, predictable, amusing time capsule. There's nothing new to see here. It's more of an exercise than anything else. But it's an exercise that makes people happy. The people in the theatre absolutely loved it. Honestly, you kind of have to hate fun to hate that kind of experience. Jet engines go vroom; stuff explodes; everyone claps. Everyone feels nice at the end. It's simple, but simple ain't all that bad.
Having said that: Tom Cruse is still kinda creepy, and even his most beloved role won't make you forget it. The flying scenes were really cool and fun. It gets into ridiculous, almost HARD TICKET TO HAWAII zones of implausibility by the end. It's exactly what it says on the tin, but in the end, it's always nice to see people having fun.
I have not seen this movie yet, but this review makes me suspect that the TOP GUNiverse justifies a book-length unpacking. I used to think I understood that really it was about volleyball and Val Kilmer understanding what that meant while Tom Cruise did not. Now I'm wondering if it's scalable to the level of defining the fantasy that masculinity can be resolved by a psychological break with reality wherein one becomes the protagonist of a divorced dad-level hero's journey, regardless of how reality is experienced by everyone else in the world. The fact that the fantasy assimilates shirtless volleyball, etc., into itself is actually evidence of its intense, anxious need to preemptively insulate against a menu of known threats to the fantasy, wrenching them beneath a divorced-dad definition of masculinity, rather than an actual need for speed. Like sometimes I think Tom Cruise doesn't want us to admire him for being a stuntman actor, but want us to want to do airplane stunts. Which gives me a weird feeling. I agree that it would make sense that this would be a comfort for certain audience members.
ReplyDelete"I do not have a need for speed. I actually have a need to possess a need for speed. I have a need to be perceived as a person with easily met needs." I think I always liked the idea of Tom Cruise more than the reality of Tom Cruise. Maybe he's just an affable fella who gets to do neat stuff and doesn't understand that he's the only person who gets to do those things. I really like to think of him as the most wealthy and handsome version of a Lenny Smalls.
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