Top Gun 2: The Lone Ranger
Top Gun: Maverick
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Writers: Iren Kruger / Eric Singer / Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise / Jennifer Connery / Miles Teller / Jon Hamm
Type: Action
Duration: 131 minutes
Country of Production: Chinese mainland / United States
Douban score: 8.2
Minor rating: 7.3
In 1986, 24-year-old Tom Cruise spent years in Hollywood, still a little-known figure in the eyes of studio owners.
However, with his handsome appearance, he was given an opportunity to have a significant impact on his career. The new film to be filmed this time is more special in terms of subject matter, with the participation of the military background.
In order to cooperate with the filming of the film, the US military not only sacrificed its own active main fighter, but also let the members of the elite military aircraft enter the group and completed several thrilling air battlefields.
This project was later the famous "Top Gun".
The film was a global success as soon as it was screened, not only grossing $300 million at the box office, but also giving the military a considerable return on its investment (even losing a costly F-14 during filming).
The number of recruits in the U.S. Navy that year directly increased by 30% because of the film relationship, becoming the highest enlistment rate after World War II.
The movie-watching boom created by "Top Gun" is not as simple as a conscription propaganda film.
If you look at it from today's point of view, a large part of the bathroom scene showing the military's posture in the film, and even the "base film" label labeled by the director Quentin, look a little noncommittal.
Not to mention the famous scene where Brother Atang and the fighters go hand in hand, and the iconic pilot's leather coat on his body.
After 36 years, Brother Atang, whose position in the film industry has long been different from before, has returned again and taken on this "impossible task".
In addition to still insisting on real shooting like the Mission Impossible series, the choice of camera positions and the change of shooting perspective have once again refreshed the audience's understanding of the theme of air combat.
Frankly speaking, because of the limitations of hardware and shooting conditions, audiences who did not know much about military aircraft were prone to "face blindness", and it was difficult to distinguish who was who from the rapidly changing air combat.
This phenomenon was changed in the sequel.
The new editing ideas and shooting methods not only greatly reduce the difficulty of understanding this aspect, but even because of the significant increase in the first perspective in the cabin, the film has done a solid job in the "immersive experience".
Whether it is the tense moment when the pilot loses consciousness due to gravity overload, or the life of the enemy aircraft hanging in the balance...
A large number of follow-up close-up shots, so that every emotional transformation of the actors, every inch of facial muscle fluttering, are clearly and visible on the big screen, and the emotional appeal is full.
Just like the sequel movies we usually see, Top Gun 2 tries to keep up with the past in addition to the opening version of the old version of the camera language to pay tribute.
Although the relationship between the time span has ushered in a major change of blood in the starring lineup, it has led to the disappearance of the lover and wife played by Kelly McGillis and Meg Ryan for no reason.
But within acceptable limits, the addition of a new character can still be seen as an important link between the two generations, that is, Bradley, the son of Mitchell's former comrade-in-arms.
One of the film's story lines revolves around a feud between two generations:
Mitchell had been grumpy about accidentally "killing" his comrades in his early years, and his guilt led him to decide to coldly deal with Bradley in a new mission against the enemy for protection purposes, but was seen by the latter as a squeeze and suppression of his military career.
As the war approached, the contradictions between the old and new generations of air elites were also frozen through the deepening of contact, and reconciliation was reached in joint combat.
But this reconciliation is awkward and abrupt to the female characters in the film, as mentioned earlier, the character faults brought about by the time span make the new role played by Connery ambiguous and unexpected.
After all, this is a character who has never been mentioned in the previous game, and the sequel rarely reveals her past with Mitchell except for a few words of information.
Coupled with the unclear ending of Mitchell and the former heroine (although this is mostly due to the fact that the image of the predecessor is no longer enough to support her appearance in the sequel), the new work has become routine and rigid in the depiction of the emotional line.
Fortunately, as a movie with air combat as the selling point, the superb portrayal of "Top Gun 2" in martial arts makes the self-contradiction of literary drama worthless.
In the typical three-part Hollywood narrative structure, Tom Cruise not only once again proves to the world how he is worthy of Hollywood's top salary in a hands-on way, but also uses adrenaline-filled air combat elements to rekindle everyone's infinite curiosity and imagination about falconry.
In the film, in addition to setting up extraordinary military missions (military bosses use "miracles" to describe the tasks of Mitchell's team), the passages in which characters face extreme tasks to break through their own limits, although some clichés, still bring good appeal.
Of course, the so-called growth is not just about the growth of recruits, even a guy like Mitchell who was once unruly is also transforming. Because it is clear that the choice in front of him is not large:
With an aggressive enemy fighter on one side and an old friend's only child on the other, Mitchell had to choose emotionally and intellectually, whether to let go of the past or focus on the present, and in the end he bravely chose the latter.
This coincides with the real situation on the battlefield, where the instinct of soldiers often leads to more unexpected outcomes than obedience and restraint.
As for the wolf-like chicken-blood slogan of "don't instigate it, just do it", it has also become quite convincing in actual combat, so as not to become an empty propaganda of American ideology, not to mention that for Mitchell, who has practiced less and more, such an idea is itself the reason for his survival.
Through the contrast in manufacturing equipment, the film conveys the concept of "what is important on the battlefield is not equipment, but people", although it is a boost, it forms another sense of contrast with the image of the US military that has been defeated and retreated in overseas battlefields.
Although the bleakness of reality makes the film somewhat boastful, it is undeniable that this work with strong patriotic feelings is still full of warning meaning.
Although the US military did not let the 5th generation fighter show its muscles, even if it is unbalanced confrontation, we can still see the cruelty of modern warfare and the horror and destruction it may bring through the real scenes.
Although the $1.4 billion box office record can make "Top Gun 2" deservedly become the number one seed player of this year's global box office champion, after the passion and chicken blood, how to avoid humanity from falling into the quagmire of war is the part left for the audience to reflect after watching the film.
As for whether the nuclear power plant attacked by the United States and the country behind it really poses a real threat to NATO, its authenticity can never be judged by a movie, or even rely on a war (Iraq) that has long been characterized.
Brother Atang and his battle group may be able to create miracles on the screen again and again, but reality is another matter after all.