dancingthroughchaos

“I feel the need… the need for speed” – Maverick and Goose; Top Gun (1986 director: Tony Scott )

The long-awaited and much-anticipated Top Gun movie now showing in cinemas up to ten times a day, was delayed more than once by the pandemic, frustrating those of us who wanted to see what Captain Pete Maverick Mitchell has been up to lately.

‘I’ve waited two years for this film,’ I moaned to my husband.  No, he informed me, it’s actually been thirty-six years since we watched the first one.  It wasn’t what I meant, but you get the picture.  Thirty-six years?  Yikes!

Top Gun: Maverick, was scheduled for release in December 2020.  This was postponed until July 2021, then November 2021 and finally bumped until the end of May this year.  I have to tell you that when I finally settled into my cinema seat to watch it, it didn’t disappoint.

Masterfully, and cannily, the producers and director have kept most of the same thumping sound track we all loved in 1986.  The planes are bigger, noisier and more powerful; the flying sequences will take your breath away – especially if you manage to catch it on IMAX. 

No green screens or special effects were employed in this one, so the facial reactions you see on screen are due less to Lee Strasberg’s method acting theories, and far more thanks to a combination of genuine terror and gravity as G-forces jolt land-lubbing actors around their assigned cockpits.  The fighter pilots who actually flew the planes with such consummate skill deserve our greatest respect.  I saw manoeuvres which caused my heart to leap into my mouth and the adrenaline to shoot through my entire body.  Such balletic, precision flying is nothing short of astonishing.  

Actors sat behind the professional pilots and had to pretend they were in control, while under strict instructions not to touch anything.  These planes are worth millions of dollars and are part of America’s finest weapons arsenal.  Thanks to clever camera angles and secure from your own cushioned vantage point, you go with it, because you truly want to believe that Maverick is still pulling off eye-poppingly extraordinary feats in the air and, of course, buzzing the tower.

I don’t think Tom Cruise is disappointed either, after taking a whopping $248 million on the first weekend of its release, he’s in clover even after a tax bill.  That’s a staggering £196 million, which has broken box-office records for any of his films.  With Mission Impossible 7 and 8 coming out over the next two years, he should be good for a round of drinks for a while yet.

Back in 1986, a visit to the cinema to watch the original was a treat, but I had no idea how exciting or engaging the film was going to be.  I’m not sure I’d even seen a trailer since my student grant didn’t usually stretch to such indulgences.   In fact, this particular outing was my first date with the young man who subsequently became my husband.  True story.  None of this distracted me from being completely captivated by the film, from that iconic opening scene on an aircraft carrier somewhere out in the middle of the ocean to the closing credits. 

In all honesty, it was an odd experience for me all those ago, since I had expected an entire youth group to embark on this trip, so was rather non-plussed to find that no-one else had actually turned up.  The husband clams it was my misunderstanding; I suspect darker, but eventually positive motives.  Whatever, he was forgiven long ago. 

In many ways Top Gun has been the back drop of our peculiar lives.  Through the fire, to the wire, sang Larry Greene, and we’ve sung along with gusto many times. His words pretty much describe some of the crazier moments of our lives: pioneering in church life; swimming against the tide of what was popular; daring to trust when others thought we were reckless; weathering stormy situations; facing up to difficult situations and hard conversations; persevering; falling down and getting up again. It’s familiar ground, but never dull!

Ultimately, this film backs up what we believe: know who you are and where you belong.  Good ole Maverick never did climb any higher in the military hierarchy because, as he says, ‘I know where I belong’.  For him, that’s not behind a desk or clinking with the shiny medals of an Admiral like Ice (Val Kilmer), but using his experience, instinct and skill to fly planes and push life, speed and planes to their limits. 

Doubtless, it’s somewhere different for you and me, but I believe the assurance of knowing who we are and who we were made to be, is worth far more than $248 million.  Really.