'Top Gun: Maverick' Review: Tom sa nahin dekha!

Top Gun MaverickDir Joseph KosinskyCastTom Cruise Miles TellerRating 45Forget about past lives that Scientologyis obsessed with and that Tom Cruise follows In this life itself while Tom is a Hollywood top gun he probably doesnrsquot even know it hersquos actually a Bollywood star curiously supplanted to another movie universeShort at 5rsquo7rsquorsquo jet black hair ever ready with a wide smile wearing a monogrammed leather jacket with a penchant to drop his shirt to reveal his sixpack torso at 59mdashthe immediate equivalent of this eternal romantic on a fancy motorbike isnrsquot in America But back here in Bombay the SalmanSRKHrithikAamir type who similarly simply refuse to age And nobody mindsWersquove known this about Tom ever since 1986 when desi kids began putting up posters of Top Gun on their walls picked up from Archiersquos GalleryA film so huge that even its parody Naked Gun became a blockbustermdashjust so we could watch the popular scenes again I donrsquot know an equivalent instanceWhat was in that Bollywood movie again Romance regret wingman brotherly love pining for papa and enough aerial action to make us wanna turn into fighter pilots I owned a frickinrsquo Air Force childsuit myself And thatrsquos what Top Gun did actuallymdashencourage you to join the forces also come fall in loveItrsquos 36 years sincemdashcanrsquot fantasise about enrolling in the Fighter Weapons School aka Top Gun anymore But Tom as Captain Pete lsquoMaverickrsquo Mitchell in the cockpit againmdashwho ldquowonrsquot get promotion but wonrsquot retirerdquomdashin this incredibly belated sequel has the same hypnotic effect on the audiences who regardless of age would wanna flyNostalgia is a high anyway This film lands higher still For one technology has advanced enough not just in aviation but in filmmaking as well to more convincingly reproducesimulate supersonic flight experience and lsquodog fightrsquo on screenThe potentially fatal mission in this moviemdashdropping bombs on a nuclear reactormdashitself last two and half minutes Which can play in realtime enough to feel like yoursquore really in it I watched Top Gun Maverick on a regular big screenmdashwill certainly recommend IMAX if you get the chanceThis is whatrsquos changed in 36 years What else has Well to an audience like me the movie seems whiter with a couple of token black characters than anything wersquove been used to from a more multiculti inclusive Hollywood lately Also we inevitably think of films on political termsmdashsomething we didnrsquot beforeThough technically all movies that glorify the military are propaganda filmsmdashtotally dehumanising the dead from the rival forceAnd indeed any cause as it were that nations go to war forBut this isnrsquot so much about enemies at war nor is it just videogame like mindless actionIn its simplicity itrsquos still the rsquo80s Top GunPeter Pan Pete single no kids has a love life in the form of the lovely barowner Jennifer Connelly Iceman Val Kilmer is an ailing Admiral who looks a bit like the late filmcritic Roger Ebert right before he passed on Ebert didnrsquot think much of the original Top Gun which is depressing hersquod just outgrown it I guessPetersquos deceased wingman Goosersquos Anthony Edwards son Roosteris his proteacutegeacute of sorts in this film Thatrsquos actor Miles Teller Whiplash gifted with a face that reveals so much of whatrsquos going on in his head when he doessays nothing Itrsquos the young naval aviators flying the planes this timePete is still leading the teammdashhersquos not gonna be happy merely being the instructor of course Each character and their basic emotions drama action perfunctorily matterAnd women are there for Tom stillHerersquos what this Bombay film star touching 60 is telling Hollywood through Top Gun Maverickmdashstop turning your heroes into fake superheroes and alteregos of machines and flying objects decaying their talents and charms inside costumes with nuts and boltsWersquore getting tired marvelling at the same things Be more like Bollywood Give us back the basic heroes of yore Or maybe like MJ or Bruce Lee there really is no one as globally universal as Tom anymore