“Top Gun: Maverick” MEGA REVIEW

When I consider blockbuster movie sequels over the past 20 years, there are few I have anticipated more than “Top Gun: Maverick,” the follow up to the 1986 hit “Top Gun.”

We’d heard rumblings about a sequel for many, many years. I wasn’t convinced it would ever happen. Sure, Tom Cruise has proven himself to be near immortal as he has pushed the limits of his body — and old school practical effects — in the terrific “Mission: Impossible” franchise. 

I just wasn’t convinced that Hollywood would want to create a franchise from a single film firmly rooted in the 1980s Cold War, Reagan-era pastiche. 

And if they did, I was worried it would lose all of charm the original movie imbued (see 2012’s “Red Dawn” reboot). 

After a three-year wait (the film’s original release date was July 12, 2019), “Top Gun: Maverick” has finally been catapulted into theaters. 

(I wrote a blog first on the film’s first day of filming more than four years ago!) 

The timing of the film’s release couldn't be better. 

The theatrical box office has taken a hit in the past 24 months. Some have been ready to relegate the movie-going experience to the annals of nostalgia in this so-called “new normal.”

And while there have been some recent blockbusters (like 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home”), you sometimes wonder if Marvel movies (and their ilk) are the only films mass moviegoers care about seeing on the big screen anymore. 

Leave it to Hollywood’s last true movie star to change the narrative. 

“Top Gun: Maverick” recalls a bygone era in the world of summer blockbusters. It is a film that avoids an agenda (thankfully) and reminds viewers how much fun movies can be when you don't need a “cheat sheet” to know what’s going on. 

I’ve already seen the movie twice (my brother-in-law took me for the second time a couple days ago). 

When I was a teenager, I remember eagerly anticipating the summer preview issue of Premiere Magazine. The editors would typically predict how each film would finish at the box office, and it was fun to learn about all the upcoming releases.

During those years, there were relatively few sequels. The summer movie season wasn’t dominated by a single genre (for example, “Forrest Gump" made ~$330 million in the summer of 1994 and finished second that year to “The Lion King”).

When I saw “Top Gun” in 1986, it was with my friend Mike Bartholet at Omaha’s Indian Hills Theater — in an auditorium that seated 810 patrons and featured a huge, wraparound screen that was originally built in 1962 to showcase films in the widescreen Cinerama format. 

It was an amazing experience. I was 13 at the time. You felt like you were in the movie. What teenage boy didn’t want to be one of those buff pilots zipping around the skies in an F-14 Tomcat?

“Top Gun” is the quintessential ’80s movie. It was built for the MTV generation and features one of the best movie soundtracks of the era (at no time in history has a hit soundtrack — and the resulting radio and music video airplay — been more important to a movie’s marketing than it was during those years). 

While “Top Gun: Maverick” certainly pulls on that nostalgia, it also feels effortlessly modern and fresh. 

Cruise collaborated with his screenwriter/director pal Christopher McQuarrie (one of the most fascinating scribes in the movie business) on the script (Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer are also credited). The directing duties were helmed by Joseph Kosinski, who worked with Cruise on the sci-fi flick “Oblivion” and helmed Disney’s underrated “Tron” sequel “Tron: Legacy.” 

“Top Gun: Maverick” finds our titular protagonist Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Cruise) testing experimental planes (and avoiding promotion) at a naval facility in China Lake, California. As the movie begins, the aircraft he is testing (the “Darkstar” scramjet) has the set goal of reaching a speed of Mach 10. 

But irascible Rear Admiral Chester “Hammer” Cain (Ed Harris) — nicknamed “The Drone Ranger” — wants to shut the program down and shift financing to unmanned aerial vehicle programs. 

Maverick (being Maverick) decides to launch one last flight before the admiral’s arrival. Not only does he reach Mach 10 benchmark, he pushes the needle beyond. The move provokes the ire of Cain, leaving our hero in hot water and his future as a pilot in doubt.  

“The end is inevitable Maverick,” Cain tells Maverick as he scolds him for the stunt. “Your kind is headed for extinction.”

“Maybe so, sir,” replies Maverick, “but not today.”

That exchange pretty much embodies the spirit of “Top Gun: Maverick.” It is also likely why moviegoers over the age of 40 — who comprised 55 percent of the opening weekend box office (according to Variety) — have been singing its praises. 

As much as the first “Top Gun” celebrated youth, “Top Gun: Maverick” celebrates experience and the wisdom gained with age. 

At the behest of friend and former TOPGUN class rival Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, Maverick is sent to NAS North Island to serve as a TOPGUN instructor for an elite group of pilots assigned a seemingly “impossible mission” (see what I did there) behind enemy lines to bomb an unsanctioned uranium enrichment plant. 

To be honest, the whole thing felt like they were training for the Death Star trench run in “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope,” but I didn’t mind a bit (and I don’t think anyone else in the theater did, either). 

What was nice about having a hook like that in the story is that there was more “meat” (and more at stake) in “Top Gun: Maverick” than there was in the 1986 movie. The creators of the original often mention that it was essentially a “sports” movie — the fighter pilots being the talented athletes. 

The pilots Maverick is tasked with training are likable. Granted, Cruise gets most of the screen time in the movie, but there are some notable performances. 

While much of the focus is on Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), son of Maverick’s friend and RIO Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards), some of the other members of the team stand out. 

In particular, Glen Powell’s turn as Lieutenant Jake “Hangman” Seresin was noteworthy. A number of people online have compared Hangman to Iceman in the first movie, but when you analyze the character point-for-point, he actually seems more akin to Maverick. 

Powell is an actor I recognized, but I couldn’t recall what he’d been in before (he played John Glenn in 2016’s “Hidden Figures” and was one of Stallone’s band of mercenaries in “The Expendables 3”). I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of him in the future. “Top Gun: Maverick” will definitely increase his profile. 

I also enjoyed the team of Lieutenant Natasha “Phoenix” Trace (Monica Barbaro) and Lieutenant Robert “Bob” Floyd (Lewis Pullman). 

As the first female pilot to be featured in a “Top Gun” movie, it was nice to see Barbaro make the most of a fairly limited role. 

It should be noted that Lewis Pullman is the son of actor Bill Pullman. The elder Pullman also flew an F-18 Hornet on a deadly mission as President Thomas Whitmore in the 1996 movie "Independence Day." 

What was nice about the “Bob” character is that he didn’t look like a model who had just jumped out of the pages of a fashion catalog. (I mean, there are already plenty of pretty people in this movie.)

The look of the original “Top Gun” was inspired by the work of Bruce Weber (the photographer behind brands like Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Abercrombie & Fitch), and presented a more “idealized” view of a military officer. 

In addition to the aviators, Jennifer Connelly plays Penny Benjamin (a character mentioned in passing as being an “admiral’s daughter” Maverick once had a relationship with in the early stages of the original “Top Gun”). 

Penny owns the Hard Deck Bar (where all the pilots hang out) near the base. She is a divorced mom with a teenage daughter. 

(Note: During the movie, a song selected on the jukebox in the bar is number “86,” an homage to the original movie’s year of release.) 

As a love interest, I liked her dynamic with Cruise. As someone who turns 50 this year, I appreciated seeing two actors in their fifties — both incredibly well preserved — rekindle an old romantic relationship. 

It could have been overly melodramatic, but the filmmakers chose to take a light touch with the relationship. As a result, they achieved just the right tone. 

Obviously, the *real* star of any “Top Gun” movie is the mix of amazing flight sequences. Filmed in cooperation with the United States Navy (at a reported price of ~$11,000 per hour), the aerial combat sequences in “Top Gun: Maverick” are gorgeous. 

I love the fact that Cruise is committed to practical effects. We’ve all seen far too many modern movies with CG fighter jets — and those computer-generated images just don’t look or feel real. 

A pilot named Mark Scott — who graduated from a local high school here in the Omaha area — helped film some of the flight sequences featured in “Top Gun: Maverick.” I saw the story profiling Scott (a former Navy air-wing strike operations officer) on a WOWT newscast. He also appears as an extra in one of the movie’s bar scenes. 

As I mentioned earlier, the first “Top Gun” movie had a terrific soundtrack packed with pop hits. I originally owned the soundtrack on cassette tape and have Kenny Loggins' “Danger Zone” as a 45-rpm single (see picture below). Not long after, I purchased the soundtrack on CD. 

The soundtrack for “Top Gun: Maverick” is geared more toward the instrumental. Harold Faltermeyer’s “Top Gun Anthem” is featured prominently, with additional instrumentals by Lorne Balfe. That said, there are a couple of fresh pop licks by Lady Gaga and OneRepublic this time around.

The standout single (in my opinion) is “I Ain’t Worried” by OneRepublic. The song features a whimsical vibe in the spirit of Kenny Loggins’ “Playing With The Boys” on the original soundtrack (not a surprise since both songs were the backbone of a similar sequence in each movie). Trust me, the tune will be stuck in your head for days: 

There is also Lady Gaga’s “Hold My Hand.” The single (which plays over the movies mid-credit sequence) is power ballad done in the spirit of Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.” It’s a solid song, but is surprisingly “forgettable” compared to some of her famous hits: 

Overall, I wish they’d been able to craft a few more fresh pop standards for the soundtrack. I know that isn’t the trend today, but songs like Loggins’ “Danger Zone” and Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” became two of the definitive Top 40 hits of the 1980s. 

As some of you know, Bridget and I are big UNO Maverick Hockey fans. Not only do we run a fansite for the team (mavpuck.com), but we’ve attended each and every home game during the program's 25-year history (crazy, but true). 

In the early years of the program, they played Faltermeyer’s “Top Gun Anthem” and Loggins’ “Danger Zone” (along with audio clips from the movie) during the pregame festivities. 

Sadly, the program shifted away from that over the years, but Coach Mike Gabinet (a former player in the program) pays homage to that tradition with the team’s postgame locker room tradition that awards players “Maverick” and “Goose” flight helmets for a standout performance: 

In the inaugural NCHC post game celebration, Jake Randolph was awarded top wing man/unsung hero (Goose award) and David Pope was top gun (Maverick award). Great to see the guys compete for each other and play as a team. pic.twitter.com/Cw9A6UBfx7

— Mike Gabinet (@Mike_Gabinet) November 11, 2017

In addition, the president of the University of Nebraska system is former naval aviator Ted Carter. The Naval Academy grad (who served as superintendent of his alma mater prior to his current stint in Nebraska) was a lieutenant at the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) when the original “Top Gun” was being filmed.

A recent article in the Lincoln Journal Star discusses how Carter was tasked with entertaining Cruise during the movie’s production. Carter told the LJS: “They said ‘Go out and meet Tom Cruise, get him really drunk, and then we’re going to throw him in the swimming pool the next day so we can show him how hard this is.’”

Like Goose in the movie, Carter (call sign “Slapshot” because he played hockey at the Naval Academy) was a RIO (radar intercept officer) in the Navy. The article is worth reading and provides the perspective of a real-life graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN), along with insights into Cruise and the movie. 

Speaking of the Naval Academy, Bridget and I attended a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in 2016 — our hotel was just up the road from the institution. I purchased this “Maverick” T-shirt at a gift shop near the school: 

The “Top Gun” shirt below came from my brother and sister-in-law. They purchased it for me during a trip to Las Vegas last year. It’s one of my favorites and it was very thoughtful of them to get it for me: 

I’ve worn one of the shirts to each of my two viewings of “Top Gun: Maverick” — it’s obvious I need more themed shirts so I can attend additional showings.😉 

The early success of “Top Gun: Maverick” illustrates that movies driven by star power — and built for U.S.-centric audiences — still work in today’s marketplace. It also shows that “cinematic universes” — where audiences have to watch 20+ movies to understand what is going on — are NOT required to make a compelling movie-going experience. 

It’s also nice to see a movie geared toward a decidedly “older” demographic having box office success. 

At one point in my life, I was attending (at minimum) one movie per week at the theater. The movie-going audience has never been “monolithic.” Movie fandom is a tradition that is passed down from generation to generation, and this is a film that various ages can enjoy together. 

If this movie had been released back in 2019, I’m not sure it would have had nearly the success it is enjoying this year. “Top Gun: Maverick” has seemingly hooked onto something intangible in the current cultural zeitgeist. 

And timing is everything. 

After the global malaise of the past two years, people needed a reason to go back to the movies. They needed to be reminded about why they loved the communal movie-going experience in the first place. 

Movie theaters needed this. Movie fans needed this. The near universal praise of “Top Gun: Maverick” shows the unifying force movies can provide, if done right. 

More than anything, “Top Gun: Maverick” is a fun time at the movies. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. It is a likable movie that reminds viewers what made the theatrical experience exciting in the first place.  

For me, that makes it perfect.

Previous post: Book Review: “Assassin’s Edge” By Ward Larsen 

Book Review: “Assassin's Edge” By Ward Larsen

“Fly across the Arctic in winter, violate Russian territory. Maybe go for a dive and blow some things up.” — David Slaton in “Assassin’s Edge”

As I’ve gotten to know the writing of author Ward Larsen over the past few years, I’ve come to appreciate the fact that the author doesn’t write the same book twice. 

His eighth David Slaton thriller — “Assassin’s Edge” — illustrates that point. 

Taken in total with his previous two novels — 2020’s “Assassin’s Strike” (read my review) and 2019’s “Assassin’s Revenge” (read my review) — you see a thriller writer who is willing to mix things up. 

That makes for an enjoyable reading experience. 

“Assassin’s Edge” finds Slaton (a former Mossad “kidon” – assassin) called into duty to find the daughter of former Mossad colleague Anton Bloch.

The disappearance of Bloch’s daughter in Kazakhstan and a downed U.S. RC-135 (known as “Raven 44”) along Russia’s northern border are somehow intertwined. 

Our protagonist has to put these seemingly unrelated puzzle pieces together — in a mission that finds Slaton hopping across the globe as he wrestles past demons and works to thwart a larger geopolitical threat. 

He has to deal with a shadowy operator known as Lazarus, a mysterious cabal known as the Trident, suspicious vessels operating in the open seas, and a whole host of staples familiar in today's espionage thrillers. 

Larsen’s smooth prose and deft handling of multiple plot threads illustrates his skill in the thriller genre. He works diligently to keep an authentic feel in “Assassin’s Edge.”

A former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, Larsen often gives military aircraft starring roles in his novels. In addition to the RC-135 mentioned earlier, he also features the venerable V-22 Osprey in the narrative (a plane I find fascinating and first learned about in Dale Brown’s 1990 novel “Hammerheads”). 

Larsen dedicates this novel to the late David Hagberg — a thriller writer I first read in 1990 (it was the Kirk McGarvey thriller “Countdown”). Both authors share the same publisher and I decided to pull out Hagberg’s 1995 novel “High Flight” for this occasion: 

While Larsen’s thrillers are current and topical, his stories exude a vibe that would have felt right at home alongside retro-masters like Hagberg, Clancy, Coonts, and Ludlum back in the day. 

If you enjoy espionage thrillers, I’d recommend you check out the novels of Ward Larsen. His books can be read in any order, and “Assassin’s Edge” is a good place to jump in. 

You can order your copy of “Assassin’s Edge” here. 

Previous post: TV Review: Amazon’s “Reacher” Season 1 Gets It Right 

TV Review: Amazon’s “Reacher” Season 1 Gets It Right

“I didn't kill anybody. At least not recently, and not in this town.” — Jack Reacher in “Reacher”

Now this is more like it...  

A little over a decade ago, Bridget and I were eating at our favorite local Omaha Mexican eatery Señor Matias (since closed) when we learned that Tom Cruise would be playing Jack Reacher in a filmed version of Lee Child’s novel “One Shot.” 

We didn’t discover that piece of news while looking at our iPhones. Rather, Bridget and I were munching on some flour tortillas and salsa when a guy at the table behind us exclaimed, “Tom Cruise is not Jack Reacher!”

Tom Cruise doesn’t imbue the physical characteristics — or personality traits — that have made Child’s literary protagonist popular through 26 novels. 

Like many stars of the 1980s, Tom Cruise basically plays himself in most of his movies. 

That said, I really enjoyed 2012’s “Jack Reacher.”

The movie is imminently watchable and crafted to perfection. Much of that success has to do with the partnership between Cruise and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie — a partnership that has yielded “best in class” action movies like the three most recent “Mission: Impossible” films (read my review of “Mission: Impossible - Fallout”). 

Unfortunately, 2016’s “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” missed the mark (likely due to the fact that McQuarrie wasn’t at the helm). As a result of the film’s lackluster response, the future of the franchise was in doubt. 

Then, a few years ago, Lee Child teased that he wanted to bring the titular character to a “binge series” for streaming. Fans were excited at the prospect. I am one of those fans. 

The first series of Amazon’s Prime Video’s new series “Reacher” is here at last. 

In this production, Jack Reacher is played by relative unknown Alan Ritchson. 

First things first. Ritchson looks like he could eat Tom Cruise as a mid-afternoon snack. He is a physical specimen whose size, stature, and look fit the way the character is described in Child’s novels. 

The 8-episode season is built around Child’s first novel, 1997’s “The Killing Floor.” Well-versed fans of the novels will also note that some of the flashback elements are pulled from the 2004 novel “The Enemy” (read my review) and the short story collection “No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories” (read my review). 

While the adaptation paints outside the lines a little bit, it stays pretty faithful to the novel. 

The setup finds our hero — a former military police officer who roams the Earth like Caine in “Kung Fu” — arriving in the small town of Margrave, Georgia. The “Reacher pastiche” in the novels is that he goes wherever the spirit moves him (or wherever a friendly driver is willing to take him). 

Reacher is sitting down in a Margrave diner — ready to eat a piece of peach pie — when authorities arrest him for a murder that took place the night before. 

He is sent to prison with a local banker named Paul Hubble (Marc Bendavid) — a man who is scared of something and falsely confesses to the murder. 

It is such a deceptively simple way to start a story. That’s the genius of Child’s novels. His protagonist — inspired by fictional knight errants of yore — has found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time more times than he probably cares to remember. 

“Reacher” was created by screenwriter/producer Nick Santora. Santora serves as the showrunner and has worked on a number of popular shows like “The Sopranos,” “Prison Break,” “Law & Order,” and “Scorpion.” I recently reviewed Santora’s 2007 legal thriller “Slip & Fall” (read my review). 

Santora does a credible job crafting a series that is loyal to a fault. As the eight episodes rolled along, you could tell that every effort was put into capturing the magic that makes a Reacher novel so special. 

One interesting tidbit: This season of “Reacher” was filmed in Ontario. I Googled to see where it was filmed when I noticed a rack with hockey sticks in a garage during an episode — not a common sight in eastern Georgia. 

In addition to Ritchson, the show is well cast. I particularly liked the interplay between Reacher, police officer Roscoe Conklin (Willa Fitzgerald), and Chief Detective Oscar Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin) as they worked to uncover the bigger conspiracy at play in Margrave. 

The entire dynamic could have been nothing more than a series of heavy-handed, character-archetype clichés and tropes. The show’s writers instead chose to employ a “lighter touch” when it came to characterizations. For that, I am thankful. 

A lot has been made of the fact that Cruise didn’t fit the physical profile of Reacher in the novels. Those who haven’t read the books oftentimes think the criticism is overblown. 

The issue is that Reacher’s physical nature is part of the reason people underestimate his intellect in the novels. His foes assume he is a simpleton — solely based on his appearance. 

That was a key ingredient lacking in the Tom Cruise movies. I mean, Cruise looks like an Ivy League educated attorney in most everything he stars in. 

Alan Ritchson does a good job balancing both attributes of Reacher. I’ll admit, he was a little stiff at times, but that will ease with time. 

More often than not, filmed adaptations of books stray significantly from their source material. We’ve seen it happen time and again in recent years. 

So there was something refreshing about watching an adaptation that tried to hit all the notes. If you look at various reactions to “Reacher” online, viewers seem very pleased with the final product. 

I know I was happy with the first season. I think you will be too. 

Whether or not you are a fan of the novels, I encourage you to check out Amazon Prime Video's “Reacher.” It is a fun action thriller that offers a compelling mystery and interesting characters. 

I’m excited to see where “Reacher” goes from here. The series has already been picked up for a second season. I’m curious to see what book they use as the basis (I’d like to see “Persuader” used — read my review). 

If you enjoyed my review of “Reacher,” follow me on X/Twitter: @TheJonCrunch 

Additional blog posts on author Lee Child and Jack Reacher: 

> Blog: Author Lee Child Reveals the Only Person Jack Reacher is Afraid of... 

> Book Review: Tech at the Center of “The Sentinel” By Lee Child and Andrew Child 

> Book Review: “Past Tense” By Lee Child 

> Book Review: “No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories” By Lee Child 

> Book Review: “The Midnight Line” By Lee Child 

> Book Review: “Night School” By Lee Child 

> Book Review: “The Enemy” By Lee Child 

> Book Review: “Persuader” By Lee Child 

> Book Review: “Without Fail” By Lee Child 

> Book Review: “Echo Burning” By Lee Child 

Previous post: Book Review: TV Scribe Santora Tackles the Law and the Mob in “Slip & Fall” 

Book Review: TV Scribe Santora Tackles the Law and the Mob in “Slip & Fall”

“I was desperate and scared. I felt like I was all alone, in the middle of the ocean drowning.” — Rob Principe in “Slip & Fall”

Over the course of the last 33 years, I have collected a wide variety of novels. Hundreds. Some of those books rest on bookshelves. Most of them are stored in large, sturdy plastic totes in our basement. 

A few years ago, I came to the realization that I might not ever get to them all — a sobering thought as you reach your late 40s. I have books from the 1990s that are still on my “to be read” list. Some will eventually be sold or donated, but this year I want to try and tackle some of that back catalog — at least a few.  

The other night I noticed Nick Santora’s 2007 novel “Slip & Fall” sitting on a shelf in our bedroom. Santora is the screenwriter/producer involved with TV hits like “Prison Break,” “Law & Order,” “The Guardian,” “The Sopranos,” and “Scorpion.” The novel was a Borders exclusive when it was published 15 years ago (one of many marketing moves by the bookstore chain that ultimately failed to bear fruit). 

Santora is currently the executive producer and showrunner for the new Amazon Prime series “Reacher” — based on Lee Child’s popular novels. That tie-in (I like to be able to link to past blog posts in upcoming reviews) spurred me to dive into “Slip and Fall” so I could review it for my loyal readers! 

“Slip & Fall” tells the story of personal injury lawyer Robert Principe. Principe is an honest legal operator who owns a struggling, one-man law firm in Brooklyn, NY. 

Ethics are at the core of his practice. But after a lunch conversation with childhood friend Roland Cozzolino, a successful attorney who skirts the ethical line, Principe starts to doubt his philosophical underpinnings.

Cozzolino tells Principe: “You can bend the law like a pretzel, man. You just can’t break it.”

Facing mounting debt, a looming eviction from his brick row house, and a pregnant wife, Principe does something he once thought unthinkable. He concocts an insurance scheme (to make some quick cash) involving his cousin Jackie Masella, a wiseguy under the employ of mob boss Big Louie Turro. 

Principe never intends the scheme to be a long-term play, but soon learns that once you’re caught in the hip pocket of the mafia, it’s hard to extricate yourself. 

“Slip & Fall” is told from the first person point of view, and the entire narrative is presented through Principe’s eyes (his wry voice is pretty engaging). 

I’m a fan of that storytelling style, and Santora’s writing is fast and breezy (in the “Acknowledgements” section, Santora says the novel clocks in at around 77,000 words). 

Overall, “Slip & Fall” moves at a brisk pace. As a result, there isn’t a lot of time to do a “deep dive” into some of the finer plot points. In particular, I would have liked to see Principe’s relationship with his wife Janine fleshed out a bit more.  

I’m also not sure how authentic some of the “legal wrangling” is in Santora’s novel, but as a fun “beach read,” it works well. 

Back in the 1990s, I read quite a few legal thrillers. John Grisham was in his prime, and stories about characters grappling with daunting legal issues proved a potent mixture for thrillers in that era. 

I’ll admit, it has been a while since I’ve picked up a legal thriller to read. In many respects, the mid-2000s “Slip & Fall” is a throwback to that 1990s golden era. 

In this 2007 promotional video from Borders (don’t you love how nothing ever dies on the Internet?), Santora discusses his book and talks about how the characters in the novel are based on people in his life: 

(The way Rob Principe describes himself physically in the novel makes him seem like a dead ringer for Santora.) 

Overall, I was entertained by “Slip & Fall.” While the novel doesn’t rank among the best legal thrillers I’ve read, it does remind me of what I enjoy about the genre. 

Original hardcover copies of “Slip & Fall” are hard to come by, but a softcover version was published in 2012 and is available on Amazon. 

Previous post: Movie Review: Neeson Tries Hard in “The Ice Road” 

Movie Review: Neeson Tries Hard in "The Ice Road"

“I don’t have a lot of tire left on my own treads.” — Mike McCann in “The Ice Road”

As I was watching Liam Neeson’s latest action movie last night — Netflix’s “The Ice Road” — I imagined how the screenwriter must have devised the film’s concept... 

It starts one morning, after a restless night of sleep. The screenwriter pulls himself out of bed, lets out a big yawn, stretches, and stumbles down to the kitchen. 

He pours a mound of Fruity Pebbles into a bowl, pops a K-Cup into the Keurig, and flips on the small TV set mounted above the kitchen counter to the The History Channel. 

As he swallows a spoonful of sugary goodness, he notices that the reality series “Ice Road Truckers” is airing. At first, he thinks nothing of it. Then, a light flickers in his groggy mind. He points at the screen and says, “This...This right here could make a great action movie!!”

The director/screenwriter of “The Ice Road” is Jonathan Hensleigh. While I don’t know what actually sparked him to write the movie, he is a person of note in the film industry. 

If the name sounds familiar, it is likely due to the fact that the 62-year-old filmmaker is the scribe behind films such as “Die Hard With a Vengeance” (1995), “Armageddon” (1998), “Con Air” (1997), “Gone in 60 Seconds” (2000), and “Jumanji” (1995). He cut his teeth writing on George Lucas’s “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” TV series in the early 1990s. 

In my opinion, the 1990s was the last great era for the sort of macho action movies Hensleigh built his career on. 

In the intervening years, the genre (at least at the theatrical box office) has largely been the domain of “pop sci-fi” superhero movies, a genre I’ve written about quite a lot on this blog (most recently in my review of “Spider-Man: No Way Home”). 

Those who know my movie tastes know of my fondness for the action movies of yore. Movies like “Cliffhanger,” “Die Hard,” “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” “Lethal Weapon,” “Under Siege 2: Dark Territory” (I preferred it over the original “Under Siege”), and “The Rock” (for which Hensleigh did an uncredited rewrite) are all favorites. 

“The Ice Road” is a movie crafted in a similar fashion. It feels like something that could have been a hot commodity in the ’80s and ’90s. 

In that era, it might have been produced by Joel Silver or Jerry Bruckheimer, directed by Michael Bay or Renny Harlin, and starred an icon like Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger (maybe even Nic Cage during his prime). It would have had a massive budget that allowed for all the bells and whistles, and played on the biggest screens in North America. 

The tagline would have been: “‘Die Hard’ in a Truck.” 

While “The Ice Road” might lack some of the amenities afforded by a bigger budget, it still “tries hard.”

Neeson plays Mike McCann, a grizzled truck driver who works in North Dakota with his brother “Gurty” (Marcus Thomas) — an Iraq War veteran who suffers from PTSD and aphasia (loss of ability to express speech, caused by brain damage). 

Since 2008’s “Taken,” Neeson has become the go-to guy when you need the action hero equivalent of a weathered leather jacket. He could play a simple insurance agent and it would be entertaining — in fact, he did just that in 2018’s “The Commuter” (read my review). 

Mike and Gurty find themselves down on their luck in the early stages of “The Ice Road.” The burden of caring for Gurty has taken a toll on Mike, and he wants his brother to get the help he needs. 

But the brothers’ fortunes soon perk up when they hear about the need for ice road truckers in Winnipeg. A mine explosion in northern Manitoba trapped 26 workers, and the operation needs fresh wellheads in order to mount a rescue attempt. 

Jim Goldenrod (Laurence Fishburne) runs a trucking operation and agrees to lead the supply mission to the mine. Since it is late in the season, most of his existing drivers are unavailable. 

So he hires the McCann brothers and a young woman named Tantoo (Amber Midthunder) to drive the other two semis. Along for the ride is an actuary named Tom Varnay (Benjamin Walker), who works for the mine’s parent company. 

The drivers will split $200,000 for the mission (if any driver fails to make it, their portion will be reallocated to the other drivers). Despite the Canadian province’s northern latitudes, the conditions on the ice road will be unpredictable due to the time of year. 

That’s the setup. It seems like a fairly basic “character vs. nature” structure in the vein of action movies like 1996’s “Twister.” 

At first, I wasn’t sure how the story was going to sustain any semblance of suspense (other than weather issues and a running clock). Based on the trailers, I figured it would be ice cracking every five minutes, narrow roads, washed out roads, downed trees, engine trouble, etc. 

But Hensleigh found a way to infuse the “human element” into “The Ice Road.” In that regard, it steered in a decidedly more “Die Hard-esque” direction. 

One of the sketchy players is Katka General Manager George Sickle (Matt McCoy). I will admit, it was somewhat jarring to see McCoy — a spokesperson for property and casualty insurance company The Hartford — making some of the decisions he did. 

At times, the story in “The Ice Road” can feel ludicrous, but its energetic pace largely covers up the imperfections. The movie also looks and feels authentic (relying primarily on practical effects). 

In this Netflix featurette, real life truckers react to scenes from the film: 

Part of the reason things work is the aforementioned Neeson. He feels right at home playing a blue collar trucker caught in an impossible scenario. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, he played a snowplow driver facing a difficult situation in 2019’s “Cold Pursuit” (read my review). 

“The Ice Road” is not exactly high art, but I thought it was a lot of fun. It reminds me of the high-octane action movies I enjoyed in my teens and twenties — I’d like to see more productions return to that form. 

Bridget and I had a good time watching “The Ice Road.” I think you will, too! 

Additional blog posts on Liam Neeson:

> Movie Review: “The Communter” 

> Movie Review: “Cold Pursuit” 

Previous post: Book Review: Bishop’s “The Body Man” Elevated By Fast Pace and Nostalgia