As an actor, Tom Cruise’s range has, if anything, steadily narrowed over his career. (In a painfully knowing exchange here, a colleague remarks on his steely resolve, ‘I don’t like that look, man.’ Cruise: ‘It’s the only one I got.’) But Cruise makes up for much that’s missing in animalistic cunning on what suits his abilities.* As in this slow-to-show sequel to the star-affirming original TOP GUN/’86. And he certainly was right to wait and wait . . . and wait, for a COVID-delayed theatrical release, knowing a film this corny, this formulaic, this masticated, needed the lowest common denominator mob-mentality only available in a packed movie house. (Pumping up the volume by literally pumping up the volume. Seen plain on a home screen, impact less reduced than undetectable.) He even had critics falling in line. Basically, a hammering John Henry vs Machine fable, Cruise’s old-school flyboy argues for seat of your pants cockpit instinct; his Navy superiors seeing an all-A.I. future. But a mission to take out a nuclear facility in some nameless country (gotta safeguard the international market) needs a leader pronto. The team assembled for him hardly a bespoke unit: Self-doubter; Blowhard; Over-achiever; Under-achiever; Surrogate son. And that’s just the guys. (The original TOP GUN the film they undoubtedly watch while hoping to get one of those BACHELOR roses from TC.) The women flyers come in a variety of shades, but with no personality to speak of. (Director Joseph Kosinski has more rapport with inanimate speed machines than with fleshly beings.) Winding up with the big mission, a climax that largely replays the climax of the original STAR WARS/’77, right down to its ‘Use the force, Luke’ motif. But then, in a coda for Tom & surrogate son, a laughable ‘jump the shark’ moment, something kind of wonderful happens. The two, having bailed in enemy territory, need old-fashioned analogue tactics & dodges to make it back, turning the whole thing into the Boy’s Life adventure it’s been trying to locate for nearly two hours. Fun!
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Did Tom choose the song cues? Half the cuts would have sounded moldy 36 years ago.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Cruise’s commercial pull confirmed when a film as God-awful as COCKTAIL/’88 cleaned up. And his hold on audiences fully tested when A FEW GOOD MEN//’92 shot a whole scene on his back without loss of audience identification. (Though a new MISSION IMPOSSIBLE/’23 shows undeniable fatigue.)
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Sounds unlikely, but the snowy last scenes had me thinking of WHERE EAGLES DARE/’70. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/06/where-eagles-dare-1970.html
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