Top Gun:Maverick

[Starkers]

Just got back from seeing it. It was preposterous and silly AF and someone seriously loves the last ten minutes of Star Wars but I can't deny I really enjoyed it.

Spoiler: spoilers

I figured they weren't going to kill him before the mission started, they were just foreshadowing him dying way too much.

Stealing the F-14 was ridiculous (and I'm guessing we know exactly who the rogue nation is now, right?) but made perfect sense.

If I'd be Rooster I'd be annoyed, Hangman gets to shoot down a fifth gen fighter (better than calling them Mig 28s I guess) and all he gets to shoot down is a Hind

Thought the cast was v good, Teller was very effective as Goose's son, seeing Kilmer was very emotional. The only weak point for me was Connelly. I didn't get any chemistry between her and Mav. Shame McGillis and Ryan weren't involved as well.

A- for me, shame it was a tad predictable, but like I say still hugely enjoyable.

 

[Jedi Marso]

Hangman got some vindication for the ragging he took earlier in the movie for his single kill being against a 20th century museum piece of a plane.

And while there is the temptation to say that his kill at the end of the movie was a cheap-shot bushwack, there is no such thing in aerial combat. You check six periodically, beware the hun in the sun, and maintain SA, or you die. A significant number of the pilots shot down in aerial combat over the past century never knew what hit them.

 

[Aragorn]

Top Gun breaks $900 million without China or Russia. Maybe Top Gun and Doctor Strange will change the knee-jerk reactions from Hollywood studios about China's censorship requirements. Or probably not since Top Gun and Doctor Strange are in a different ballpark than most movies, although Top Gun wasn't originally expected to be.

 

[Jedi Marso]

Top Gun breaks $900 million without China or Russia. Maybe Top Gun and Doctor Strange will change the knee-jerk reactions from Hollywood studios about China's censorship requirements. Or probably not since Top Gun and Doctor Strange are in a different ballpark than most movies, although Top Gun wasn't originally expected to be.

1. It may go unnoticed by less discriminating fans, but in the final release version of the movie, the Taiwan and Japanese flags are back on Mav's flight jacket. Blink and you'll miss it.

2. I've also read that Hollywood in general is getting weary of trying to cater to the CCP's requirements for every movie that comes out, and are increasingly thumbing their nose and refusing to bend the knee. This is a good thing. Suck it, commies!

 

[Danja]

1. It may go unnoticed by less discriminating fans, but in the final release version of the movie, the Taiwan and Japanese flags are back on Mav's flight jacket. Blink and you'll miss it.

2. I've also read that Hollywood in general is getting weary of trying to cater to the CCP's requirements for every movie that comes out, and are increasingly thumbing their nose and refusing to bend the knee. This is a good thing. Suck it, commies!

What's the point if the country goes into lockdown on opening day?

 

[Jedi Marso]

What's the point if the country goes into lockdown on opening day?

The fuck are you even talking about?

 

[Danja]

The fuck are you even talking about?

China recently went back on lockdown for Covid-19.

 

[KennyB]

China recently went back on lockdown for Covid-19.

COVID is a mute point when the film isn’t even being released there. The flags were blacked out in the trailer but reinstated in the theaterical release.

 

[Jedi Marso]

COVID is a mute point when the film isn’t even being released there. The flags were blacked out in the trailer but reinstated in the theaterical release.

I read that this happened when a Chinese financial backer of the movie withdrew their funding, and there was no more reason to appease the chicoms. There may have been some other reasoning as well. In an interesting side note, I also read that the CCP is claiming that the flying scenes in the movie are performed by their own air force. Not sure I believe that, but you just can't make this shit up.

 

[Starkers]

I thought I'd read the SU-57s were completely CG?

 

[Owain Taggart]

1. It may go unnoticed by less discriminating fans, but in the final release version of the movie, the Taiwan and Japanese flags are back on Mav's flight jacket. Blink and you'll miss it.

Yeah, on my second viewing of it, I made sure check for details I hadn't seen before, and I'd been aware of the change the second time around, but was surprised to see that both of the flags were back since there'd been so much fuss about the patches.

 

[Aragorn]

Not to worry. John Cena is apologizing to the CCP right now for those flags being there.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I thought I'd read the SU-57s were completely CG?

No, they were not.

At Cruise's insistence, CGI in the film (if indeed there is any at all) was kept to an absolute minimum. He made it a point that the flying sequences all be shot as "live" as possible.

 

[Smellmet]

I thought I'd read the SU-57s were completely CG?

Yes and no. In some scenes where planes were flying in formation sometimes only the lead plane was real. Not sure about the enemy jets.

 

[Starkers]

Yes and no. In some scenes where planes were flying in formation sometimes only the lead plane was real. Not sure about the enemy jets.

Yes there was apparently only one F18 rotoscoped to make it look like their were four, but (admittedly according to Wikipedia) the enemy jets were CG, as was the F-14 (in flight anyway)

 

[Owain Taggart]

It's a lot harder to fake G-forces.

 

[Q2UnME]

Just got back from seeing the movie. Definitely one of those ones that you have to see in the theater. Mostly hits with very minor misses. Dinged it a little for too many memberberries but most of the emotional beats landed. Gonna go A-

Q2

 

[Vger23]

I am thrilled beyond words that Hollywood just proved to itself that it is actually possible to produce a blockbuster that doesn't have superheroes or lightsabers in it.

I hope this leads to a swing of the pendulum back toward making different kinds of films, instead of putting a McDonalds cheeseburger with a cape on it in the theaters every summer.

I doubt it though.

 

[Owain Taggart]

One would hope. There are still many different types being made, but they're mostly either stuck on streaming services or the movie festival circult, which at one point were more about art-house type deals. It's my opinion that Disney holds too much influence in the industry when it comes to theatrical releases, and there is evidence in markets like Canada's, where domestic movies have been pushed out in favor of screening the juggernaut's movies.

 

[Aragorn]

I am thrilled beyond words that Hollywood just proved to itself that it is actually possible to produce a blockbuster that doesn't have superheroes or lightsabers in it.

I hope this leads to a swing of the pendulum back toward making different kinds of films, instead of putting a McDonalds cheeseburger with a cape on it in the theaters every summer.

I doubt it though.

It's still a sequel though. All this will probably do is lead to Hollywood giving the green light to E.T. 2, Ferris Bueller's Day Off 2, Footloose 2, Flashdance 2, Full Metal Jacket 2, Fast Times at Ridgemont High 2, Bull Durham 2 and Commando 2.