Honestly, I'd forgotten movies could be made like this.
Each musical cue was an operatic emotional statement. Each line of dialogue was an offering to Zeus, some timeless message carried out through the ages. Each shot a tribute to the Titans, honoring the mythos of Tartarus.
The enemy is a mask, a silent menace, a blank slate (they have no presence except to exist as capital C conflict, and when they perish, it's as if they were never anything but fire and smoke to begin with). Each action sequence tailor-made for any future possibility of a roller coaster or indoor 3D dark ride simulator (seriously, just try the D-Box or 4DX); the most thrilling trench run since the 1970s!
Not a single trace of reality, not a shred of credibility, not a tinge of objectivity in how it treats Maverick or the other characters or the story.
It is a perfect blockbuster. I hadn't experienced the '90s this hard while acknowledging the 2020s of it all until the Lady Gaga song began playing after segueing seamlessly from the love theme instrumental as the two love interests look longingly at each other while bathed in the light of Apollo.
Hahahaha. I was skeptical, and earnestly believed Cruise and his Scientology posse just mind-controlled everyone to praise the film, but no, this thing f*cks.
What a Colossus of a time at the movies.
P.S. This has 2 Oscars already in hand, minimum. And kudos to the team for coming down to Earth for the
[Show spoiler]Ice and Maverick scene in Ice's study, a truly lovely grace note for the character and Kilmer
.