When I first heard about a TG remake, I pegged it as the kind of thing that I'd have no interest in. Action, military propaganda, nostalgia-baiting. Another classic being milked dry for a quick buck. But I heard good things so I gave it a shot and saw it yesterday.
I have no choice but to admit that it's a good movie. They found a good way to remake a classic while also making it feel just fresh enough. It sticks closely enough to the original formula to feel familiar while returning only two actors.
It has only brief moments of eye-rolling, but they don't ruin the movie. And it does enough things well enough that you walk away with a great feeling.
Minor criticisms that were so small they don't really matter:
-dogfight football was an unsatisfying knockoff of the volleyball scene
-Tom Cruise staring up at an attack helicopter (with us knowing that he'd come out on top) felt like a shark-jumpy moment where he had transformed into Ethan Hunt
-Casting Jennifer Connelly as the love interest felt like such an "80s thing" to do. She's one of the quintessential "hot chicks" from the era, so she's right up the as alley as anyone who was boomerly enough to be the target audience for the original Top Gun. In a weird way, her presence somehow felt like nostalgia-baiting even though she wasn't actually in the first movie.
My one and only real criticism:
The first movie had the balls to kill off Goose, which is something that diverts from the formula you'd expect in that era. The new movie had no such similar moment where they really tried to surprise us. This keeps the movie at "good" instead of being "great" enough for me to call it a must-see.
This post was edited by Kayeto on Jun 18 2022 07:26pm