Why ‘Top Gun Maverick’ is summer's very best
- Melissa Herrera: Not Waiting for Friday
- June 12, 2022
- 700
Early summer of ’86 found me restless, reckless even, all of 17 and driving aimlessly with my friend through small towns in our area. The night sky was electric, full of magic, and the lipstick we swiped across our lips before putting a Bartles & Jaymes to them glistened like coral in the dark. Unbidden, these memories race back to me from that summer before senior year: night rides, darkened theaters, hot sticky evenings spent chasing nothing and everything. I don’t want it back yet long for it in the same breath.
I knew Dover and New Philadelphia better than I knew Wooster. Every road and side street off the boulevard was known to me, like the tiny mall and theaters nearby knew my every footfall. But that night it was Wooster that saw us enter its downtown cinema. The lights went down, and “Top Gun” careened onto the screen, leaving nothing else to do but be consumed by it.
It consumed me then, and it consumed me now.
There was before “Top Gun,” and there was after “Top Gun.” It was as if no other action movie existed or could take its place. The drama, the romance (ahh, the romance), the building action that was nearly unbearable, it was the best damn thing I had seen in a theater in my entire life, up to that point.
That was 36 years ago, and I find myself trying to recover a slice of my youth from that night. Maybe I wish to be as ignorant as I was then before endless war and military might became clearer to me. When I found out they were making a sequel to “Top Gun,” I wondered what the story would be. What could they spin off such a simple premise?
You can love or hate Tom Cruise, but there aren’t many movies of his I don’t love. If you start from the beginning and just name “The Outsiders,” “All the Right Moves” and “Risky Business,” you have an incredible resume. The “Mission Impossible” movies, aside from “Top Gun,” are incredibly important to film, reshaping the spy thriller in massive ways. If you take the time to sift through his filmography, I’d wager most of us have been impacted by at least one of his movies. “Eyes Wide Shut” is a masterpiece.
I don’t really care if you like Tom Cruise or not. I like him. Many of us have forgotten to lay down our grievances at the theater entrance and be entertained.
Last Monday, after a very productive first cardiac rehab for George, we pointed our car toward Canton to see “Top Gun Maverick.” Not even a heart attack could’ve kept him away from seeing this movie. Tom Cruise has been his favorite actor for as long as he can remember, and maybe a little bit of our movie-loving hearts connected even deeper upon learning this fact. It might’ve been the 17-year-old inside of us that really saw each other.
If asked his favorite movies, George would first say “Cocktail,” then “Top Gun,” “Knight & Day,” “Minority Report,” “Mission Impossible,” and “Far and Away.” Add “Jerry Maguire” in there as well. We’ve cried our way through a bunch of his movies and been thrilled off our seats in others.
We nestled ourselves into the lounging recliners at Cinemark and cheered as “Top Gun Maverick” came on the screen. It was a far cry from the uncomfortable seats in downtown Wooster that summer so long ago, but back then we didn’t have anything to compare it to. And as the first scene played out, my mouth was agape in awe because it was gorgeous. I don’t even care they knew exactly when to tug at my heartstrings or how to make one mission be the centerpiece of the movie. The only thing missing was a cameo of Goose’s ghost. That would’ve been the cherry on top.
This is how you make a movie because it made me feel alive, and that’s what counts.
Instead of wishing back my youth, I felt secure in my age after walking out of the theater. I didn’t long for dark, daring nights spent cruising the streets looking for nothing, everything. Tom Cruise will turn 60 years old this summer, and his love interest in the movie is in her 50s. I felt seen, heard and entertained all in one showing in an XD theater on a Monday afternoon. And George, he got a cardio workout just sitting in his seat and watching.
Our son, when talking to his dad for the first time after his heart surgery, told him, “Dad, ‘Top Gun Maverick’ is coming out this weekend. Imagine if you hadn’t made it.” And because we are who we are, we howled with laughter.
Go see it. And bring some tissues if you loved the original movie.
Melissa Herrera is a columnist, published author and drinker of too many coffees based in Holmes County. You can find her book, “TOÑO LIVES,” at www.tinyurl.com/Tonolives or buy one from her in person (because all authors have boxes of their own novel). For inquiries or to purchase, email her at junkbabe68@gmail.com.