OT: Top Gun Movie

[ZooCougar]

You're right on the third act. The final 45 minutes of the movie are going to end up going down in history as the best 3rd act in movie history. It's seriously that good.

Agree. Just ridiculous.

 

[Chin Diesel]

The Blue Angels or the Thunderbirds come to town every year. I like The Blue Angels better. I usually watch the Saturday show from my deck and then go on Sunday.

I want to see an F-22 demo at some point. I’ve seen them at Langley but they weren’t doing any tricks.

F-22 is rhe most spectacular manned flight demo you will see.

 

[CL82]

You would probably be puking !

Puking, but loving it

 

[ZooCougar]

F-22 is rhe most spectacular manned flight demo you will see.

Vectored propulsion. Super maneuverability.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Great podcast with Frank "Walleye" Weisser, a former Blue Angel pilot who flew many of the airplanes scenes in Top Gun.

About 40 minutes long with first half mostly about getting to know Walleye and flying as a Blue Angel and last 15 minutes or so about the flying scenes in the movie.

For those who said they like watching airshow, about the 20-27 minute mark is fantastic info.

 

[ZooCougar]

You would probably be puking !

I’m told the trick is to pretend your are flying the plane. They even put a stick that has no function back there for that exact purposes. Even WSOs can get air sick. It’s like reading in the backseat of a car while driving through northwest CT.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I’m told the trick is to pretend your are flying the plane. They even put a stick that has no function back there for that exact purposes. Even WSOs can get air sick. It’s like reading in the backseat of a car while driving through northwest CT.

Biggest thing for those not used to it is when the aircraft does an increasing g maneuver as compared to a quick jerking motion.

Think the difference between Hulk Hogan putting John Stossel in a headlock compared to being punched in the face by Mike Tyson.

Those longer g maneuvers have you feeling the blood push down from your head and chest, the vision graying out, light headedness and finally a nice dream for a few seconds.

 

[ZooCougar]

Biggest thing for those not used to it is when the aircraft does an increasing g maneuver as compared to a quick jerking motion.

Think the difference between Hulk Hogan putting John Stossel in a headlock compared to being punched in the face by Mike Tyson.

Those longer g maneuvers have you feeling the blood push down from your head and chest, the vision graying out, light headedness and finally a nice dream for a few seconds.

Did you ever get to go up?

 

[Chin Diesel]

Did you ever get to go up?

I was a mechanic on F-14's and F/A-18's and was fortunate enough to get two separate rides in an F/A-18D. That is the two seat version of the older Hornet.

Had the fun of experiencing formation flying and experience of being jerked around the desert southwest.

Did a max of .99 Mach since the range was not cleared for supersonic that day and had about an hour of flying from -1.5g to +7g.

Never puked and according to the pilot and in-flight video cam I never blacked out but I definitely was heavily dark gray.

I also worked or assisted with over 100 VIP folks and saw a great variation of post flight perspectives.

 

[auror]

Loved the movie. Thought the casting was impeccable. The new guy Hangman was great and Teller is always good. Also impressed by Phoenix. Thought Tom Cruise really brought it, and the chemistry was really good with Connelly. Hamm didn't have much to do, but played his part well.

It's not going to win any awards for originality or unpredictability, but the filmmakers clearly knew what made the 1st great and surpassed it in every way.

Higher stakes, character and relationship focused, real emotional beats, good humor and catharsis sprinkled throughout, and of course the intense thrilling action. Absolutely has to be seen in theaters with rumble seats/butt kickers.

Best action movie since Mad Max. John Wick movies probably the only things that come close.

 

[8893]

I was skeptical—and it was totally cheesy and totally derivative—but damn that was a great watch.

Agree with @auror ’s review in pretty much every respect, except that I saw it in a normal theater and didn’t feel gypped. It’s just a good, old fashioned action movie experience, and we haven’t had that experience in a movie theater in a long time.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I was skeptical—and it was totally cheesy and totally derivative—but damn that was a great watch.

Agree with @auror ’s review in pretty much every respect, except that I saw it in a normal theater and didn’t feel gypped. It’s just a good, old fashioned action movie experience, and we haven’t had that experience in a movie theater in a long time.

Got around to seeing it yesterday. Had to see it on a regular screen since the Jurassic movie took over the local IMAX screens.

Overall, good, cheesy movie. Thought they did a nice job of giving Iceman a good sendoff.

Obviously a bazillion plot holes or suspension of belief to make the movie and the characters work.

Two which stood out the most to me were the location of the nuclear enrichment plant and younger pilots not knowing who Maverick was or Rooster's background. A country as big as Iran isn't building anything, no matter how well protected by mountains and valleys that close to the coast. And no way, within the fighter community of pilots, is a guy like Maverick not known to every single pilot. Same for Rooster. If there is a pilot who had previously gone through Top Gun and who had a father killed in a combat aircraft, everyone would know that story.

Earlier in this thread I mentioned I know one of the pilots who flew several of the stunts. He's the guy talking in the podcast, Frank Weisser. Some of those shots of the back of Maverick's head were actually Weisser's. Several of those low level shots of the Hornet flying in the desert were Weisser as well. He's a real good dude and probably just made himself a second career doing action shots in movies or working with movie companies on how to actually fly or create a simulation.

As an old Tomcat mechanic I thought they did a great job on a few technical aspects.

-14 shown in the movie had the older Pratt and Whitney engines on it (You can tell by the exhaust nozzle shape) which would have been the configuration Iran bought prior to the Revolution. When Maverick went to start it up, they did a good job explaining how Rooster would have to turn on the air cart to provide forced air to start rotating the engine.
Also, having Rooster close up the step ladder and climbing on the left horizontal stab is how the aircrew would actually do this if there was no ground support crew.
As someone who directly worked on the system, I found the images of Rooster being in the back seat with about 200 circuit breakers spot on. Those systems sucked and were a constant source of pain.
Those P&W engines were notorious for compressor stalls causing an engine flameout and Maverick once again had to deal with that as he approached the ship.
As Maverick approached the boat and they showed the rigging of the barricade also brough back fond/crappy memories. That drill is practiced at least once a week on the ship and it works just like the movie showed it. However, once it crashed and stopped moving no one would be allowed anywhere near that plane until they got the aircrew out safely and doused it with plenty of water to make sure there wasn't anything that would combust.


I spent some of my time in the Navy with VF-41 Black Aces so seeing Phoenix wearing the squadron patch on her flight suit and helmet was neat.

 

[8893]

I forgot to mention that the audience in the theater where we saw it started clapping at the end of the movie, which gave me the perfect opening to use the line from the guy in the Progressive commercial, "No one who made the movie is here." My wife roared.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Also loved the bar scene where they introduce "Bob".

There is real ball smashing between pilots and Naval Flight Officers (NFO's). The NFO's have specific designators based on what they are flying and a two-seat Hornet has a WSO- Weapon Systems Officers who manages the back seat systems. The fact that the pilots had completely ignored Bob and were unaware of his presence is spectaculalry funny. Having him slumped over on a bar stool spitting seeds and then having his pool cue taken is not an unrealistic scenario either. Giving a guy named Bob the call sign of BOB and then figuring out it meant Baby On Board is very realistic too.

Finally, all the avionics technicians I know that work on FLIR or ATFLIR (Forward Looking Infra Red) pods got totally psyched when they showed the targeting pods fail in flight and go "dead eye". That happens way more often than your tax dollars would like to believe.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I forgot to mention that the audience in the theater where we saw it started clapping at the end of the movie, which gave me the perfect opening to use the line from the guy in the Progressive commercial, "No one who made the movie is here." My wife roared.

Your wife roared at the end of the movie or roared at your comment at those clapping at the end of the movie???

 

[8893]

Your wife roared at the end of the movie or roared at your comment at those clapping at the end of the movie???

At my comment.

 

[Chin Diesel]

At my comment.

Outstanding work on your part.

 

[Chin Diesel]

MSN

www.msn.com

 

[Kolumbo]

I was going to say that there’s plenty of CGI stuff in Tom Cruise movies, which there is, but he does an awful lot of sound stunts, which is impressive for a guy his age.

I agree with you. For the most part, you know what you’re going to get with a Tom Cruise movie and it always delivers it.

At one time Tom said, "what the duck," made his move. He was on a mission. He had all the right moves to make plenty of stuff the color of money. He truly is a rain man.

 

[ZooCougar]

Got around to seeing it yesterday. Had to see it on a regular screen since the Jurassic movie took over the local IMAX screens.

Overall, good, cheesy movie. Thought they did a nice job of giving Iceman a good sendoff.

Obviously a bazillion plot holes or suspension of belief to make the movie and the characters work.

Two which stood out the most to me were the location of the nuclear enrichment plant and younger pilots not knowing who Maverick was or Rooster's background. A country as big as Iran isn't building anything, no matter how well protected by mountains and valleys that close to the coast. And no way, within the fighter community of pilots, is a guy like Maverick not known to every single pilot. Same for Rooster. If there is a pilot who had previously gone through Top Gun and who had a father killed in a combat aircraft, everyone would know that story.

Earlier in this thread I mentioned I know one of the pilots who flew several of the stunts. He's the guy talking in the podcast, Frank Weisser. Some of those shots of the back of Maverick's head were actually Weisser's. Several of those low level shots of the Hornet flying in the desert were Weisser as well. He's a real good dude and probably just made himself a second career doing action shots in movies or working with movie companies on how to actually fly or create a simulation.

As an old Tomcat mechanic I thought they did a great job on a few technical aspects.

-14 shown in the movie had the older Pratt and Whitney engines on it (You can tell by the exhaust nozzle shape) which would have been the configuration Iran bought prior to the Revolution. When Maverick went to start it up, they did a good job explaining how Rooster would have to turn on the air cart to provide forced air to start rotating the engine.
Also, having Rooster close up the step ladder and climbing on the left horizontal stab is how the aircrew would actually do this if there was no ground support crew.
As someone who directly worked on the system, I found the images of Rooster being in the back seat with about 200 circuit breakers spot on. Those systems sucked and were a constant source of pain.
Those P&W engines were notorious for compressor stalls causing an engine flameout and Maverick once again had to deal with that as he approached the ship.
As Maverick approached the boat and they showed the rigging of the barricade also brough back fond/crappy memories. That drill is practiced at least once a week on the ship and it works just like the movie showed it. However, once it crashed and stopped moving no one would be allowed anywhere near that plane until they got the aircrew out safely and doused it with plenty of water to make sure there wasn't anything that would combust.


I spent some of my time in the Navy with VF-41 Black Aces so seeing Phoenix wearing the squadron patch on her flight suit and helmet was neat.

I listen to something called “The Fighter Pilot Podcast” and they all were really proud of how the movie turned out. The host used to be a Top Gun instructor and the only real problem he had with it was the line “if we’re the best, who is going to teach us”.

And yeah real life Maverick has his own wiki a book deal and more. And Calr Spackler would be riding his Johnson.

 

[ZooCougar]

I forgot to mention that the audience in the theater where we saw it started clapping at the end of the movie, which gave me the perfect opening to use the line from the guy in the Progressive commercial, "No one who made the movie is here." My wife roared.

Everybody clapped at the IMAX I saw it in on opening night. Not just the olds. I can’t recall the last time I walked out of a film and total strangers were still talking about it on the way out after.

I saw that commercial later on. Totally hilarious.

 

[ZooCougar]

Also loved the bar scene where they introduce "Bob".

There is real ball smashing between pilots and Naval Flight Officers (NFO's). The NFO's have specific designators based on what they are flying and a two-seat Hornet has a WSO- Weapon Systems Officers who manages the back seat systems. The fact that the pilots had completely ignored Bob and were unaware of his presence is spectaculalry funny. Having him slumped over on a bar stool spitting seeds and then having his pool cue taken is not an unrealistic scenario either. Giving a guy named Bob the call sign of BOB and then figuring out it meant Baby On Board is very realistic too.

Finally, all the avionics technicians I know that work on FLIR or ATFLIR (Forward Looking Infra Red) pods got totally psyched when they showed the targeting pods fail in flight and go "dead eye". That happens way more often than your tax dollars would like to believe.

But don’t WSOs command missions, squadrons and become CAGs too? RIOs on F-14s even fired the radar guided missiles. It’s a movie not a documentary but the WSOs and RIOs have tough jobs.

 

[Chin Diesel]

But don’t WSOs command missions, squadrons and become CAGs too? RIOs on F-14s even fired the radar guided missiles. It’s a movie not a documentary but the WSOs and RIOs have tough jobs.

Actually a WSO can take command of a squadron or become a CAG. I've personally had them as squadron CO's and airwing commanders.

It's not uncommon to have a junior officer pilot take up a higher ranking WSO. The title/qualification/certification of a mission commander is something a NFO can attain.

Now, is a young kid whose been flying for 2 years going to pop off and talk smack to a much senior WSO? Hell no. Or, as the saying goes, they do that once. But amongst peer groups, they definitely have fun.

Same within the pilot community. Fighter jocks always think they are the best and will always crack on the helicopter pilots and cargo plane pilots any chance they get. This, in spite of helo pilots often times flying way more dangerous and technical flights than fighter pilots. This goes back to initial flight training where as pilots wash out in curriculum they get assigned different type of airplanes and last ones standing are the fighter pilots.

As the joke goes, how do you know if a person you just met is a fighter pilot? Give them a minute and they'll tell you.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Another behind the scenes look at some of the action shots.

 

[nomar]

Saw it, it was great. Everything it was cracked up to be.

Not sure I loved the 4DX. I think it's a bit overused. And it makes it very hard to eat popcorn!