I feel the need...

[Indy511 686]

for a new Top Gun movie.
https://variety.com/2018/film/news/tom-cruise-top-gun-maverick-photo-1202826439/

[Chock 17,769]

Had to laugh when I read: 'Although 'the plot is being kept under wraps' on a press release related to this sequel. Like you couldn't work out the plot of any Tom Cruise movie in under two seconds. 🤣

[stans 702]

7 hours ago, Chock said:

Had to laugh when I read: 'Although 'the plot is being kept under wraps' on a press release related to this sequel. Like you couldn't work out the plot of any Tom Cruise movie in under two seconds. 🤣

 Yep, pretty much! 

[W2DR 1,859]

It'll be interesting to see how they portray a 56 year-old jet jockey who's past the 30-year mandatory retirement. AFAIK the oldest Navy fighter pilot was 54 when he retired (Cmdr. Tim Kurtz). Cruise is just too old to make this believable.

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

I bet they make him the new instructor and they have a young next generation of flyboys. I like what they did with Karate Kid's remake Cobra Kai, shows you can do these things if you do it properly, that reboot was spot on. The original Top Gun was entertaining and cheesy so more of that is fine by me

[Chock 17,769]

4 hours ago, W2DR said:

Cruise is just too old to make this believable.

Fortunately for Cruise, he's aged fairly well and is in good shape physically, so that'll help a lot in selling the role to most movie goers, who will be more concerned with some fun and action than factual accuracy. Cruise might be a bit bonkers in real life what with all that Scientology nonsense, but he's undeniably an engaging screen presence and a very committed actor, as well as being a qualified pilot with his own P-51 Mustang, so at least he will look convincing as a fighter jock despite his age. Jimmy Stewart (who was indeed a real combat pilot) was 48 when he played Charles Lindbergh in the Spirit of St Louis, despite Lindbergh being in his twenties at the time of his famous flight, and it still makes for a compelling movie in spite of Stewart, factually at least, being way too old for the role.

Let's be honest, the original Top Gun movie was hardly a paragon of factual accuracy and that didn't stop it from being a success with the movie going public at large, even though it's cheesy and laughable to anyone a bit more clued up about aeroplanes and combat etc, I mean for a kick off it's unlikely the Navy'd approve a US Navy aviator using a callsign which is the same word as a missile in its inventory, it'd be a nightmare for radio call confusion. And the notion that F-14s would close to visual range to engage smaller nimbler aircraft when they were specifically designed to carry up to six missiles which could engage targets up to well over 120 miles away is pure hokum too. But when has Hollywood ever let facts get in the way of a story? The demise of this long range capability in the US Navy's missile inventory with the retirement of the AIM-54 and the Tomcat might even serve as a plot device for a movie, in much the same way as the experience of Vietnam with poor missile performance with the Sparrow actually led to the creation of the 'Top Gun' school to improve pilot gunnery skills when the fancy technology fails..

As far as the 'story' goes, it'd be my guess that the plot will pretty much be a carbon copy of Heartbreak Ridge with appropriate changes to suit an air combat unit as opposed to a Marine Recon unit; Cruise being in the Clint Eastwood role, as this would allow him to still be a 'Maverick' who goes up against convention, and yes, Heartbreak Ridge is cheesy, but Clint, like Cruise, is almost always watchable and both can carry a film with comparative ease even when the screenplay could be better. Obviously Cruise's character will step in at the end and 'save the day', probably against North Korea or some fictionalised version of it. Not exactly Pride and Prejudice, but if it jives with the public through some topical touches in regards to US-North Korean relations in its screenplay, it might even have something to say.

Edited June 2, 2018 by Chock

[BillCusick 75]

Haven't seen the script...but
I reckon that the Paracels & the Spratleys will be 'rescued' by Cruise with NK's 'backup'...

Regards

Bill

[Lorby_SI 2,036]

Quote

Although the plot is being kept under wraps, it’s been previously reported that Cruise’s character would now be a flight instructor and that the film would explore a world of drone technology, fifth-generation fighters and the end of the era of dog-fighting.

Quote

“The navy is very different now than it was in 1986,” said Kosinski, who previously worked with Cruise on 2013 sci-fi pic “Oblivion.”

Although quite the movie nut, I admit that I haven't had Oblivion figured out after two seconds - sure, I thought that I did, but then... Maybe this sequel will hold a few surprises too.

Best regards

[stans 702]

10 hours ago, W2DR said:

It'll be interesting to see how they portray a 56 year-old jet jockey who's past the 30-year mandatory retirement. AFAIK the oldest Navy fighter pilot was 54 when he retired (Cmdr. Tim Kurtz). Cruise is just too old to make this believable.

You are correct on the mandatory retirement ages.  They evidently don't apply with Hollywood depictions of military or government agency retirement requirements.  CBS is still filming episodes of NCIS even though the USN mandatory retirement ages apply to that agency.  Mark Harmon is now 66 and David McCallum is 84.  In the real NCIS, both of these men would be retired from duty, their only input, if needed, would be as consultants.

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

If they can make a Rocky 6 and have Rocky in his late fifties and make a return to the ring and take on a younger champion and actually beat him, while anything is possible in film isn't it 😄