These Naval aviators are quite surprised to be training at an Airforce facility.
My late father, a former Naval aviator, might be turning over in his grave at
the very suggestion. This flight of Navy officers is particularly uncomfortable
there, because they happen to be the Navy’s team of women air-show
demonstration pilots. However, desperate times call for unorthodox measures and
a North Korea-like rogue state’s nuclear testing absolutely qualifies as a
crisis in Ashley L. Gibson’s Called to Duty, which releases tomorrow on
VOD.
The
“Wing Girls” are inspired by the WWII Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs),
but they are Navy instead of Air Force. Even though they are fulltime
active-duty, they are only supposed to make exhibition flights and not perform
combat operations. That is how their leader, Kaden “Country” Riebach reconciles
her service with her Christian faith. She really takes the “thou shalt not kill”
part seriously.
Serving
with cocky male pilots like Jeter “Ego” Ulter really tests her Christian charity.
Say what you will, but Ego has one of the most believable call signs of any
military aviation movie. He is also a jerk and Margo “Edge” Lee is not about to
let his sexist cracks slide. In fact, she is always spoiling for a fight. Yet,
the Wing Girls, Ulter, and several top Airforce pilots will have to work
together to pull off a strike on “North Kiyoung’s” nuclear program. There are a
lot of misgivings regarding the Wing Girls’ involvement, including from Country,
but the DOD is convinced they are only pilots agile enough to evade the North
Kiyoung anti-air defenses.
Between
its feminism and some characters’ Evangelical Christianity, there is something
in Called to Duty to alienate either side of the social spectrum—which we
should respect it for. Gibson and screenwriter Bobby Hammel never make things
too easy for the Wing Girls. Arguably, the messiness of their climactic mission
is much more realistic than the Top Gun films. However, it totally
sacrifices authenticity with the frequency with which major characters
disregard orders. That just doesn’t fly in any branch of the service. (In
contrast, the “S.O.S.” episode of Quantum Leap did a good job
establishing the significance of chain-of-command in military service.)
Despite
these credibility issues, Called to Duty is refreshingly patriotic. It
is no accident it is releasing right before the 4th of July.
Clearly, the filmmakers had a lot of sympathy for military personnel and their
families. Nevertheless, it is pretty weak of Hammel to create aliases for North
Korea, China, and Cuba. The truth is most of the potential audience for Called
to Duty would love to see a successful mission against any of those three terrorist-sponsoring
countries, so why not give it to us?
I am not an aviation authority by any standard, but as the son of a late
Naval aviator, I am only one degree removed from the cockpit of an A6 Intruder.
I’ve heard stories and met people, so I feel like some kind of expert on
military culture. As a result, Top Gun: Maverick rings pretty true to my
ears, so it is cool to see a relatively accurate and sympathetic depiction of
the American military crushing it at the box office.
As
Maverick opens, Captain Pete Mitchell is posted to a Naval Air Station
in the Mojave Desert. Presumably, this is China Lake NAS, where I was born,
because it’s the only Naval Air Station in the Mojave that I know of. Maverick
is testing an experimental hyper-sonic aircraft, in a scene that compares to
Chuck Yeager’s final flight in The Right Stuff film. China Lake would be
the perfect place to do so—because it is in the Mojave.
Maverick
thought his defiant final flight would be the end of his checkered career, but
his old Top Gun rival-turned-buddy, Admiral Tom “Ice Man” Kazansky saves
his butt one last time, transferring him back to Top Gun, for a final mission—a
training mission.
Maybe
the most unrealistic aspect of the original film were the cool sounding call
signs. These handles are not chosen, they are bestowed on pilots. Typically, they
refer to an incident or hang-up that will keep the aviator humble. In Top
Gun 1, “Goose” was probably the most true-to-life call sign, so in addition
to its symmetry, “Rooster” is also a believable call sign for his son, Lt. Bradley
Bradshaw. “Hangman” might sound cool for Lt. Jake Seresin, but it is actually
an unflattering reference to his showboating. In practice, the call sign “Bob” wouldn’t
work, because it could confusingly apply to other pilots, but it seems to fit
the apparent blandness of nebbish Lt. Robert Floyd.
Maverick’s dialogue is not
bad, but it can’t match the spot-on perfection of the first film. Original
screenwriters Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr just nailed Naval Aviator attitude
and humor with gems like: “Whose butt did you kiss to get in here?/The list is
long but distinguished” and “The plaque for alternates is down in the ladies’
room.” If that offends you, I don’t care, because it captures the swagger you
need to dogfight with enemy planes in a multi-million-dollar piece of hardware that
experiences mechanical failures far more often than it should.
Perhaps
even more than the original film, Maverick does a nice job fleshing out
the other pilots at Top Gun. Bashir Salahuddin is a notable standout playing “Hondo,”
Maverick’s non-commissioned sidekick. I’ll defer to other experts, but to my
untrained eye, Kosinski does a great job recreating the sensation of pulling
multiple G’s. The dog-fighting sequences maintain the high standards of the
first film. Admittedly, Maverick and Rooster’s adventures behind enemy lines
are a bit far-fetched, but they are fun to watch.
Maverick
is
also one of the best decades-later sequels (2010 and Psycho II are
also surprisingly successful examples) because it explains how Maverick got to
where he is in ways that stay true to original character. Despite countless
commendations for combat bravery, he just kept sabotaging his career, simply by
being Maverick. Admittedly, his bad blood with Rooster is a bit contrived.
However, the way the tactically conservative Rooster’s rivalry with the
hot-dogging Hangman echoes Maverick and Iceman in the original Top Gun adds
a lot of fan resonance to the new film. Some might miss Kelly McGillis, but do
you really think it would have worked out between those two? If you rewatch the
original, Penny Benjamin is indeed mentioned by name and Jennifer Connelly appeals
to 1980s/1990s fan nostalgia (thanks to classics like Labyrinth and Rocketeer).
