It was worth the wait: this movie is going to be the big hit of the summer

After relentless delays and complications, "Love in the Sky: Maverick" is coming out, and it was worth the wait.

The action scenes are dizzying, Tom Cruise looks like he will bury us all and the script manages to surprise and even excite

Avner Shavit

20/05/2022

Friday, May 20, 2022, 00:00

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Trailer for "Love In The Sky: Maverick" (Cannes Film Festival, Fremont Studios)

Star rating for movies - 4 stars (Photo: image processing,.)

"Love in the Sky" became a cult film more than half a century ago for many reasons, including the amount of legendary quotes it contains.

One of them refers to the need for speed ("I Feel The Need… The need for speed"), but the pledge of the hit actually progressed at a snail's pace.

The studios were interested in producing a sequel immediately after the original success.

Tom Cruise, he told Cannes this week, was not interested, and production did not progress.

It entered stages of development only at the beginning of the previous decade.

The director of the first episode in the series, Tony Scott, was supposed to return to the cockpit, but passed away in 2012. The project returned to the table only a few years later, and the filming was eventually completed at the end of the previous decade.

the end of the story?

Definately not.

The film was supposed to be released in late 2019, but its distribution was delayed so that it could be further refined.

When the work on it was completed, the corona arrived, leading to repeated delays in its distribution.

Only on Tuesday (Wednesday), three years after the original date, did he make his world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, and on Wednesday it will be screened around the world and also in Israel - ticket sales have already begun.

There was also a whole saga about three of the stars of the original film - Tom Cruise;

Val Kilmer, who in recent years has battled throat cancer;

And Kelly McGillis, who in recent years has completely disappeared from the radar.

More on Walla!

"There was no chance that the new 'Love in the Sky' would air on Netflix"

To the full article

The best for flying.

From "Love in the Sky: Maverick" (Photo: Cannes Film Festival, Fremont Studios)

The talk is that Cruz was originally supposed to settle for a supporting role, but in the end, the star of the original film also stars later on.

Val Kilmer, he says, had to beg the producers to include him this time as well - and he does appear, but in a small role.

Kelly McGillis, however, has never had a casting option.

The protagonist's lover is played this time by Jennifer Conley.

And after all these complications, the plot of the film is remarkably simple.

He is called by the nickname of the pilot wizard played by Cruz.

The veteran fox was called upon by the U.S. military to guide a band of young pilots, on their way to accomplishing an unprecedentedly challenging mission in the history of American aviation.

Not sure it was the source of inspiration, but when learning about the details of the mission here, it is hard not to recall the bombing of the miners in Iraq and Syria.

Here, however, the camp on the other hand is neither Iraqi nor Syrian, and in fact has no face and names at all.

It's not long before we've seen a Hollywood action movie with such an abstract script.

We know only one thing: the pilots are required to bomb some dangerous compound.

where?

who will?

Why?

There are no answers to this, perhaps because the producers did not want to upset anyone or any nation, so as not to harm the commercial potential of the film in different countries overseas - and its potential is huge.

By all indications, "Love in the Sky: Maverick" is about to smash box office.

In our country, as befits the homeland of the "good pilots", it must be assumed that he will be particularly successful.

The sky is open, but not for women.

From "Love in the Sky: Maverick" (Photo: Cannes Film Festival, Fremont Studios)

In the crash course, the experienced instructor meets a young pilot played by Mace Teller, best remembered from "WeFlash."

He's not just a flying flower, but none other than the son of "Goose," another one of the protagonists of the original film, whose death is borne by Maverick on his conscience in an accident.

Maverick has no family of his own, and a complex relationship develops between him and Goss' son, which raises issues such as father and son, guilt and attempts to correct him.

Next, the protagonist criticizes "Iceman", his longtime friend played by Kilmer, who like the actor in reality, turns out to be suffering from a cancer that has impaired his ability to speak, which adds more emotional depth to the film.

Although the film takes place in the present, it often seems to have been shot as the producers wanted at the time - that is, in the late 1980s.

It has a variety of characteristics of the period, including a soundtrack in the scents of the eighties, punch lines in the style of "it's not who you are, it's who you are" and "it's not the plane, it's the pilot"

In a sense, the pledge also has a regression compared to the original.

In that movie, Kelly McGillis' character was almost as active and authoritative as Cruz's.

Here, there is only one prominent female character, played by Conley, and she is pushed to the margins - her role is mainly to bartend in a pub, and send veiled glances at the main actor.

It's not in honor of this great actress.

Dorian Gray.

Tom Cruise in "Love in the Sky: Maverick" (Photo: Cannes Film Festival, Fremont Studios)

On the other hand, "Love in the Sky: Maverick" surpasses its predecessor in many ways, and as it progresses, it also manages to rise to the top on any absolute scale.

This is happening for four reasons: we have already talked about the emotional depth, and to this must be added the Tom Cruise gameplay.

Just before he celebrates his sixties, the film world's Dorian Gray / Benjamin Batten remains younger and more vibrant than ever.

In many of the pawns of this kind, the stars appear to have dragged them by force.

Here, the veteran star is full of life and passion.

He seems to enjoy every moment, and the same is true for those by his side - except perhaps John Ham, who in his role as senior army commander provides a casual appearance to most of those he has made since "Meter Man."

A third and even more important reason is the bulk of the film - the action and aviation scenes, which manage to skyrocket.

The film was directed by Joseph Kosinski, who broke out in "Tron" and has already worked with Cruz in "Doom."

Despite developments in the field since the original came out, he insisted on following in the footsteps of his predecessor as Tony Scott, taking advantage of Cruz's pilot license and filming the aerial acrobatics shows as realistically as possible, with as few stunts and as few computer-generated effects as possible.

This insistence bore fruit - "Love in the Sky: Maverick" smells like a pastry coming out of the oven.

All for one, one for all.

From "Love in the Sky: Maverick" (Photo: Cannes Film Festival, Fremont Studios)

Unlike many commercial productions, there is no sense here that the film was created by artificial intelligence and algorithms.

Instead, "Love in the Sky: Maverick" seems to be done by hand, with a lot of soul, and it should be noted that this is true of many of Cruz's previous films (and yes, I'm a blind fan of his).

Above all, what makes the film so enjoyable and satisfying is actually its script, signed by, among others, Christopher Macquarie, who wrote "The Immediate Suspect" and has already worked with Cruz on "Mission Impossible."

There are random and even obscure parts in the script, but there are parts in it (we will not find out which of course) that develop in a surprising, brilliant and exciting way.

The script has some rather predictable messages even if inspiring, for example the importance of the value "all for one and one for all", but it also has less trivial touches.

This approach was probably behind the refusal of the studios and producers to sell this product to streaming services despite all the Corona delays and all the changes in the market, and to insist on its screening on the big screen.

They hope that what is true of the world of aviation is also true of the world of culture.

Tom Cruise has never made a movie on Netflix and is not going to start, and from the energies he demonstrates here, he seems to stay in the field even when cars fly in the sky.

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• Tom Cruise