It’s easy to see how Tom Cruise might be entirely confident that he can handle the physical challenges of Top Gun: Maverick, as he’s been one of the hardest-working actors in show business when it comes to taking risks on set. Even Jackie Chan can’t claim to have hung from a plane or flown in an actual F-18, though it helps that Tom Cruise has produced several movies in which he’s performed the most dangerous stunts of his life. Given this fact though it’s kind of hard to expect his costars, who haven’t been through the same rigors that he has, to be able to perform in the same manner. In a sense he’s inviting kids to the same dangers that he’s been willing to put himself through for years, as his costars are quite a bit younger and the footage, as Neeraj Chand of MovieWeb puts it, can’t even be used since the other actors were either close to passing out or were vomiting in the cockpit. This is when we can say that Tom Cruise is about as unique as they come in the regard that he’s done enough in his career that rattling him is insanely tough. What might be easier though is the fact that Maverick has a June 24th release date that could be postponed if the COVID-19 virus isn’t contained within the next month or two.
In case anyone wasn’t paying attention, theaters across the nation have been shutting down completely in the last week, with word that they might not open up for two to three months depending on how things go. Zoe Herdt of RadioTimes has more to say about the movie’s release. Many people believe that we haven’t even seen the real beginning of the coronavirus pandemic for various reasons, not the least of which is the fact that people aren’t embracing social distancing as much as they’ve been urged to do. Obviously the world has to keep moving forward or everything will stall, but any and all trips that aren’t essential to one’s survival, meaning any non-essential trip such as a visit to the local theater, is meant to be kept on hold indefinitely until the coronavirus is finally contained as much as possible. If the theaters are closed for the next two to three months and things don’t get better, then the real challenge will come from wanting to see the next Top Gun and not being able to thanks to the quarantine that’s been hitting so many different cities throughout the nation.
Tom Cruise has been putting his mark on his own movies for a while now in a big way by taking the kind of risks that a lot of people couldn’t be paid enough to do and a lot of people wouldn’t even think of doing unless they were experienced stunt people. But he’s done all this without thinking twice about it, going at each stunt in a safe and precise manner but also doing so without showing any signs of slowing down despite his age. When looking at the man he’s rather fit and he definitely looks like he takes care of himself, but one also ha to think that time is starting to take its toll as the years continue to roll by. Top Gun: Maverick will hopefully be the last movie of its kind with Tom Cruise, even if it does manage to spawn other action movies that are willing to take things to the same limits just to keep up. It’s true that he’s been pushing the envelope and that this movie will have gone to lengths that others just don’t dare, but one has to wonder where the limit is since having actors operate machines that are fully capable of responding to successful maneuvers as well as human error appears to be pushing a line that some people might balk at before even coming close to going too far. To his own credit Cruise is definitely taking all precautions and doing what he can to make sure that he’s offering up a pleasing amount of action and a story that people are bound to care about. But the question is still whether or not he’s going to keep pushing as the years keep moving forward, or if he’s finally going to slow down at some point, perhaps when his body finally tells him that he simply can’t do as much as he used to. Something tends to indicate that even then he might try to push whatever limit he can.
There’s word that Iceman, played by Val Kilmer, will return as well, though it’s going to be interesting to see just how Kilmer enters this role yet again thanks to the fact that he endured a bout with throat cancer a while back that left him with a rasp due to surgery that had to be performed on his trachea. Rachel DeSantis of People has more on that particular subject. Maybe it will add to his character, but it would be great to see Iceman again all the same.
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