Top Gun

23 comments on “Top Gun ”

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1. Puckish Rogue 1

   27 May 2022 at 8:51 am

   I was fortunate enough to read what I considered to be a well-written, erudite yet down to earth review of the movie, I'll repost it here for everyones enjoyment, along with a trailer for the movie:

   This movie is fantastic entertainment, I rate it slightly higher than the original.

   Its not perfect, the shoe horned in romance didn't really do it for me (or my wife for that matter) and it felt at times as if there was a previous movie we haven't watched but for all that this is top tier movie entertainment.

   I've always been a fan of Tom Cruise because you can tell he loves making movies and he gives 110% for every role but for this he has surpassed himself, you can tell he really wanted this to work and it does, it really does.

   There is no star today (sorry Brad Pitt) that can get close to Tom Cruise when hes on and he may have single-handedly shown to Hollywood that we, the paying public, don't care about representation (plenty of people of colour and woman as pilots in this movie) as long as the characters are more than one dimensional cut outs (see also Aliens)

   I would go so far as to say that this is Tom Cruises Magnum Opus, not saying its his best movie (I have a soft spot for Born On The Fourth Of July) but this is everything that encapsulates Tom Cruises career, turned up to eleven

   You want charming Tom, funny Tom, driven Tom, doubting Thomas (yeah yeah I know), Tom who even though hes 59 can easily pass for late 30s (especially with his shirt off), introspective Tom, take charge Tom, running Tom (of course) then this is it, this is everything

   If this is the start of Tom Cruises with drawl from more physical movies (Mission Impossible aside) then this is one helluva swan song

   Yes its unashamedly nostalgic, as soon as the movie starts and the music starts playing and the you watch the credits you'll know what I mean and yes its unashamedly patriotic but it works

   Grab a large popcorn and fizzy drink (go to the toilet first as its over 2 hours), sit back, let the sound wash over you, put your brain in neutral and prepare to be transported back to when you were 13 years old (or however old you were when you first watched Top Gun)

   Hollywood please take not of this, Tom can't carry the whole industry forever
   • Ad 1.1

     28 May 2022 at 3:37 pm

     Actually agree with all of that.

     The scene with Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer is pathos-brimming especially since Kilmer is actually pretty sick and probably won't act again.
     • Puckish Rogue 1.1.1

       28 May 2022 at 5:57 pm

       I know right, it made me keen to watch a movie in the 90s where Iceman is rising up through the ranks and Mavericks getting upto shennigans
2. roblogic 2

   27 May 2022 at 10:11 am

   The US military is an incredible machine, in a class of its own. Its tech is state of the art, and that's just the stuff we know about. If there's a serious confrontation I suspect they will roll out Stark level tech stashed away in places like Area 51.

   However, is it fit for purpose in the 21st century? It is built to project global power for a WW3 scale conflict. But that is not the usual mission that the military finds itself engaged in. It has a myopic focus on battleground dominance, ignoring longer term strategic goals and other ways of achieving American ends, via political means. From The Angry Staff Officer:

   Now, you might be saying, “What’s the big deal? Shouldn’t we always want the Army to think about winning wars?” Sure, yes, absolutely. Only, see, the problem is, the Army spends most of its time not fighting actual wars. Throughout the history of the Army’s conflicts, “war” – the political act of nations trying to impose their will on each other via violence – takes a very back seat role. Conflict, yes. There’s plenty of that. Irregular, always messy, few clearly defined rules, shifting objectives, politically fraught, sometimes ethnically or racially charged, fought with either little fanfare or with intense media interest. These conflicts have happened anywhere from North America to Africa, from the Pacific to the Middle East, from Siberia to Latin America.

   Furtthermore, as Chris Hedges stridently argues, (I have reservations about some of that piece, but largely agree with it) … Americans love militarism and ignore the cries of their own neighbours, facing multiple domestic crises and insfrastructure deficits and stagnation. It looks a lot like a hollowed out empire clinging to a mythical greatness, while the elites plunder the carcass of a once abundant common wealth.
   • Ad 2.1

     27 May 2022 at 10:27 am

     Hard to see another open-field heavy tank war after Ukraine. Equally drones didn't win in Afghanistan.

     I much prefer elections even crap ones to war.
   • Sanctuary 2.2

     27 May 2022 at 11:43 am

     As Julius Caesar was fond of observing, you must always support your tanks with infantry.

     Tanks have been declared obsolete since Cambrai in 1917. Ludendorff thought little of them and once the war was over everyone wanted to get back to riding Dobbin. Part of the problem is people have this idea that tanks should be invulnerable. They are not. Never have been and never will be. Between June 6th 1944 and the end of the war in May 1945 in the European theatre alone the US Army lost 4,295 tanks – roughly 100 a week. The USSR lost between 85,000 and 100,000 tanks and self-propelled guns in WW2. Tanks still offer the best blend of firepower, mobility and protection. The old Soviet era designs in the Ukraine were conceived and built for a different sort of tank battle to the one they find themselves in now, and have severe design flaws in the era of top-attack munitions.

     The biggest problem with Soviet era tanks is a hit frequently results in a turret popping ammunition detonation that kills the crew, whereas western tanks are designed to keep as many of the crew alive as possible.

     Ironically, the Russians have a well thought out modern tank that addresses many of these issues in a prescient way – the T-14 Armata. Unfortunately for them, they don't have the money or know how to build more than a dozen of them.
3. Sanctuary 3

   27 May 2022 at 11:18 am

   Top Gun is an Infomercial for the American dream, the pinnacle of US soft power and a snapshot of a morning in Reagan’s America so bright that everyone has to wear sunglasses. The mighty F-14. Naval aviation – where only the most steely eyed survive. The fighter mafia at the peak of it's glory post Vietnam. Men were men and women swooned at the mighty missileers and their afterburning steeds.

   I recall an RAF Tornado pilot recounting how the 1991 Gulf War was the last hurrah of a certain type of American aviator, Vietnam era combat veterans who were all in their forties/fifties by then in the US Air National Guard units – larger than life men who smoked cigars, wore ten gallon hats, had ash trays added to their cockpits and went "Yeeeehaaaa!!!!!" a lot over the radio.

   Everyone secretly or not so secretly wants to be Maverick, and live in the America that was at it’s height of power.
4. KJT 4

   27 May 2022 at 11:30 am

   We will ignore the obvious causal link, between war and gun porn movies, and shootings?
   • Sanctuary 4.1

     27 May 2022 at 11:46 am

     I was answering the question – "..why is it so easy to still love Top Gun..?"
   • Puckish Rogue 4.2

     27 May 2022 at 12:25 pm

     Because its lazy, bullshit reasoning?

     May as well blame video games, drugs, heavy metal music, D & D etc etc while you're at it
     • KJT 4.2.1

       27 May 2022 at 12:36 pm

       Sure.

       https://thestandard.org.nz/if-not-now-then-when/#comment-1890464
   • Populuxe1 4.3

     27 May 2022 at 2:15 pm

     Hands up everyone who has ever seen Top Gun and didn't immediately go out and invade a foreign country or buy a bunch of AR-15s?
     • Nic the NZer 4.3.1

       27 May 2022 at 3:04 pm

       Hang on, you just told me you couldn't compare military invasions with US second amendment issues.

       https://thestandard.org.nz/how-russia-loses/#comment-1890503
       • Populuxe1 4.3.1.1

         27 May 2022 at 3:25 pm

         Pew pew
     • Puckish Rogue 4.3.2

       27 May 2022 at 3:54 pm

       Well now that you mention it the 80s are a bit of blur…
     • Phil 4.3.3

       27 May 2022 at 4:05 pm

       I'm slightly too young to have seen the original Top Gun in theatres, but I can still remember the hilarious fretting and handwringing that went on within circles of 'concerned parents' when The Fast and the Furious was supposed to be the cause of a spate of young people crashing cars.
       • KJT 4.3.3.1

         28 May 2022 at 4:01 pm

         People never try and emulate characters in movies?

         Sure.
         • Phil 4.3.3.1.1

           30 May 2022 at 11:09 am

           Video games, rap music, movies with fast cars… it's the boomer parent trifecta of fears that has as much intellectual merit as previous generations fearing women riding bicycles.
           • KJT 4.3.3.1.1.1

             31 May 2022 at 9:36 am

             Billions spent on advertising in and around movies, worldwide.

             Because they have "no effect on peoples behaviour".

             I don't think so.
     • Phil 4.3.4

       27 May 2022 at 4:12 pm

       Hands up everyone who has ever seen Top Gun and didn't immediately go out and invade a foreign country.

       The Belgian Revolution was sparked by a patriotic opera performance in 1830.
       • Puckish Rogue 4.3.4.1

         27 May 2022 at 4:45 pm

         Always thought we should ban opera
     • Francesca 4.3.5

       27 May 2022 at 4:25 pm

       The US military hopes it will boost their recruitment drive

       Even though Top Gun: Maverick is Navy-centric, all branches of the military will likely see a lift from the film in what is the toughest recruiting market in more than 20 years, Thomas added.

       https://www.flyingmag.com/u-s-navy-air-force-banking-on-top-gun-maverick-recruitment-boost/
       • Populuxe1 4.3.5.1

         27 May 2022 at 7:18 pm

         As opposed to just conscripting them like Russia?

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