He’s become a modern-day Chuck Yeager, a test-pilot behind the times yet riding the bleeding edge, racing into a void so he can ignore those of his own creation. Tom Cruise introduces us to this complicated man at the beginning of “Top Gun: Maverick” (2022) and then somewhat shoves him aside for the typical testosterone, posturing, good guys and bad guys of the Jerry Bruckheimer action machine. But all that old machinery, it still works pretty darn good, with an extra-large helping of emotional exploitation. Maverick becomes Yoda. He finds his Luke and they go on a Death-Star-like suicide mission.
Archives for posts with tag: Val Kilmer
Remember when we used to debate who was the better Batman? Clooney? Keaton? Ummm, Kilmer? And then, in 2005, came the Dark Knight trilogy, with “Batman Begins.” Bankable, big-name stars can make for good box office, but it’s the story that makes for a great movie. When Christopher Nolan rebooted the Caped Crusader, he made the story less like the cartoonish 1960s TV series and more like the brooding comic books. And he surrounded a relative B-lister, Christian Bale, with stellar cast of character actors. Because if the story’s good enough, Batman is the only bankable big name you need.
“Point Blank” (1998) is a terrible movie (shit… still have 93 words to go). Uh, well, OK, I planned to watch “Point Break,” a bad surfing/crime drama with Val Kilmer, but I mixed up the titles. Instead, I get Mickey Rourke, all roided and botoxed, and a prison break gone wrong. Mickey’s a second-rate Rambo trying to rescue his brother, one of the breakees (“Point Break” might have actually been a good title for this one, too.). Anyway, I got bored and started writing this review. I’ll let you know how it ends if I have any words left (oops).
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