Top Gun (1986)
I think it’s safe to say that nostalgia is the only reason Top Gun remains so revered. At least, I hope that’s the only reason, because Top Gun is a really bad movie.
Top Gun was the highest gross film in 1986, as well as the cannon that shot Tom Cruise into super stardom. Since I wasn’t around in ’86 and I have the benefit of hindsight, I can’t fathom how people watched Cruise and didn’t think something was a little off. He has such a creepy intensity that oftentimes I just had to assume he was looking at Kelly McGillis intimately. If I’d judged it by his acting, I could only assume he was about to strangle her.
His character, the forever memorable Maverick, also seems to me like an unlikely character to root for, much less idolize. Maverick is absurdly arrogant and desperately defiant, risking his own and others’ lives repeatedly. The movie lets him off the hook by having tragedy come by way of accident instead of his actions, but that doesn’t change the fact that Maverick is, all things considered, a prick.
The characters remain static, never becoming more than “the goofy best friend”, “the hard-to-get love interest”, “the snarky rival”, and, of course, “the angry bald dude”. All of them spend the entirety of the film telling Maverick to chill the hell out. Maverick spends the entirety of the film telling them to fuck off.
Adding insult to injury is the soundtrack. I’m not a hater of 80s music by any means, but the guy in charge of Top Gun’s soundtrack seems content with getting two songs and repeating them ad nauseam. “Danger Zone” has never been anything more than a novelty, and the opening bars of “Take My Breath Away” are not some works of genius – neither needs to be heard as much as they are during Top Gun.
There are a few redeeming reasons to watching Top Gun. You’ll probably recognize a bunch of phrases that have become part of popular culture, and there are some amazing flight scenes. In fact, the action scenes in the air are so impressive that I would probably recommend the movie for those alone – the last act, which centers on Cruise’s first real assignment could stand alone as a great action short film. Had the movie focused even more on scenes with its characters kicking aerial ass and less on superfluous beach volleyball scenes, it might have gained more credibility as a classic 80s action film.
Instead, Top Gun is a Tom Cruise showboat, championing a character who you’d never want to work with in your life. The story is flat and superficial, and the acting is hammy, sometimes worse. As an impressive showcase of jet pilot action scenes, Top Gun works exceedingly well. As a movie, Top Gun is really bad.
Final rating: 4/10
–James A. Janisse
Heat (1995)
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are two monumental actors, and both starred in Coppola’s acclaimed epic Godfather II. However, there they existed in disparate timelines; their characters never interacted. Instead, their first time working onscreen together came in Michael Mann’s epic heist movie that sets the standards for crime dramas.
Heat places these two actors in direct opposition to each other in a battle of the titans. Pacino plays the cop and De Niro plays the robber, but don’t be fooled into thinking that this film presents them as good and bad guy respectively. Heat transcends such simplicity and focuses equal time on lawman and criminal, with an extensive probing into other characters as well. The film is much less an action film than one rooted in performances; it is multiple character studies rolled into one, with a formidable cast in roles both big and small.
Of course the two leads are the film’s claim to fame. These two men and their relationship makes Heat the fantastic film that it is. Both are at the top of their game and providing some of their greatest acting talent, no small tribute from careers that include many brilliant pictures.
Pacino’s LAPD Lieutenant is an obsessive man. He’s on his third marriage, and if the current situation is anything like his former ones, then you can guess that they ended because of his work. Pacino is his work; he’s devoted to his job for all hours of most days, straining his relationship with both his wife and his step daughter, played by Natalie Portman in a fine if sparse role. It’s taken its toll on him, as well. He shakes, yells, is frantic in every way; you wouldn’t want to hang out with him just in fear of ending up on his bad side. There are moments where Pacino reaches sheer craziness, and the role is perfect for his explosive and expressive style.
De Niro stands in stark contrast to Pacino’s character. Although he’s beginning to see a graphic designer played by Amy Brenneman, he still sticks to a rule of never letting himself get attached to anything he couldn’t leave in 30 seconds. He’s cool, calm, and collected. He can be ruthlessly efficient, but he never blows up in anger like Pacino does. They are antitheses to each other.
Despite their differences, the two characters have a lot in common, which discover for themselves over a very memorable diner scene. As they exchange facts that grow more intimate as the conversation continues, they discover that both of them are driven to obsession over their goals; goals that are mutually exclusive and necessarily combative. Mann doesn’t overuse the confrontations between the two leads. Their meetings are few and far between, but every one of them is powerful and very enjoyable.
Right after the infamous diner scene, at the film’s midpoint, is an exhilarating shootout on the streets of Los Angeles. The camera never slows down for an instant and keeps up with the frantic pace of the dangerous urban firefight. By time it ends, some of the characters have tragically been killed, and the audience member’s breath has been taken away.
It’s likely one of the best shootouts in the history of cinema. The climactic shootout is also very memorable. It balances out the earlier sequence with a very quiet and dark one-on-one chase. Though it’s not pure excitement like the first, it still is intensely suspenseful, and likely to immerse the viewer just as much if not more. Both scenes are supporting evidence for the claim that Mann is one of the best action thriller directors of our time.
The cinematography by Dante Spinotti is very involved and complimentary. Symmetry has supremacy, and its balanced compositions reflect the competing but equal forces at odds in the form of De Niro and Pacino. Other times, the camera is used as though to creep around the characters. With that, the tangential threads that develop so many characters are made all the more intimate.
Val Kilmer plays one of De Niro’s gang in a large role. He also sees problems with his lover as per Pacino, showing that the lifestyle of both cop and criminal proves to be incompatible with healthy and sustained relationships. Tom Sizemore is another member of the gang that refutes that position because of his family, but Sizemore and Danny Trejo, the last member of the gang, are a bit underused. They’re not as developed as the others, but by no means are they wasted.
Only one subplot stood out to me as superfluous and unnecessary. Dennis Haysbert plays a released criminal who eventually ends up with De Niro and his gang. His backstory seems out of place for a while, and though it provides another insight into a life of crime and its effects, in the end the film probably could have benefited from cutting it. Though the movie’s near-3 hour span is enjoyable throughout, a more parsimonious film would have been that much closer to perfection.
Heat is not only an amazing crime film, it’s also a very good film against any genre. The characters are unusually intelligent and articulate, and their meaningful insights are what allow us to root for both characters even though they are hopelessly at odds with one another. Though its story becomes somewhat complicated at times, it only does so because it trusts that the viewer is as intelligent as the characters on the screen.
Final rating: 8/10
–James A. Janisse
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
The other week I watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, a tongue-in-cheek neo-noir starring Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer. I had seen it once before and liked it a lot, and I liked it almost as much the second time through.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is immediate in its presentation of style. Robert Downey Jr. narrates the film, and consistently breaks the fourth wall while doing so. He includes misdirection and tangents, and if you’re not annoyed by those kinds of things, it will be a treat. I loved it, and enjoyed the direct address that Downey gave me as an audience member. He has just the right amount of charm to pull it off, even while playing a common criminal projected into Hollywood.
His thrust into Tinsel Town takes places when he escapes a robbery by running into a film audition. Because of the audition’s material exactly mirroring his immediately prior situation, he is able to impress the casting agents and bag a job. Real detective “Gay” Perry (Kilmer) is introduced to make Downey learn his detective role better, and the two stumble upon a mysterious murder. Along with Downey’s childhood crush who happens to be an aspiring actress in the area, the two try to track down and solve the mystery while staying alive.
The best thing about this movie is its awareness. It knows that it’s outrageous and embraces its genre. In fact, it’s almost more of an homage to a genre than anything else. It’s self-deprecating and self-praising. It’s funny while doing both. The excitement is always building as the shit just piles on for Downey, and the humor is maintained throughout all of it. Honestly, this is one of the most entertaining movies I’ve seen in a while.
The actors are fantastic. Downey is fantastic to play a selfish, cheap criminal who still manages some charm. One of the disappointments that I was met with this viewing was the homophobia, however. His character is blatantly disgusted by any mention of homosexual relations, gagging at Kilmer merely mentioning a male high-school sweetheart. I guess it was an attempt at humor, and I suppose his character is established as an idiot, but it still reeks and brought down the movie a bit. I would have been rooting for Downey a lot more if he wasn’t so uncomfortable with relations of an opposing sexual nature.
Kilmer manages to outshine Downey, and probably plays his most comedic role ever. He’s hilariously sharp as Perry, and brings a great discipline and down-to-earthness that Downey’s character clearly needs. The chemistry between them was hilarious and perfect. Any scene where Kilmer gets stuck with the bumbling Downey is sure to garner some genuine laughs, usually in favor of Kilmer.
The movie maintains its fun level from start to finish, and that’s a pretty rare instance, even in entertaining movies that are of low quality. This movie manages to defy statistics, however. It’s able to be intelligent, entertaining, and consistent the entire way through. I’d recommend this to absolutely anyone.
Final rating: 9/10
–James A. Janisse
