Recommendations of the Editorial team
It is not difficult to imagine a wrong, alternative reality on the head, in the Val Kilmer Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun From 1986 and Tom Cruise plays as a Tom “Iceman” Kazansky. Kilmer’s Maverick would be cocky, but also uncut and unprotected. Good in what he does. But a hopeless failure in everything else. Kilmer’s specialty was to give the audience an insight into the intellect and compassion behind his steel look.
Cruise, on the other hand, could never have played Iceman. Cruise was too much his main character. An immature hot spur with a cozy grin. His Iceman would probably be included in the ranks of the eighties rübel and one-dimensional over-jocks. Johnny in The Karate Kid Or Craig Sheffer in Some Kind of Wonderful.
No bad, Tom. You are good in what you do (for example very, very quickly). But Kilmer had more to offer. And his Iceman had depth. He was funny, mysterious and confident. Dangerous, but professional. Iceman is the moral center of the daredevil universe of the film. Who in the end gets the great cheer when he acknowledges that Cruises Maverick has grown up, a fantastic Bengel. And the right deserves “to be his wing man at any time”. Maverick could never enter the plane before the fight in the Walhalla without Iceman’s blessing.
He is not a “team player” in human resources
Kilmer, who died yesterday at the age of 65 after a long fight against larynx cancer, was an actor who beamed. A reserved sun god from LA that was accessible and warm -hearted. When we meet Iceman for the first time, he despises Maverick, although he loves Goose, Mav’s life partner, who is played by the lanky fool Anthony Edwards (in every dimension of the multiverse, Edwards is Goose because he is so good). Iceman is a warrior with instinct. He feels that the new one is not only a ticking time bomb, but also a burden. He is not a “team player” in human resources.
Kilmer is in Top Gun To see only for about 10 minutes. He is a secondary figure. In addition to old Haudegen such as Tom Skerritt and Michael Ironside. But he steals every scene in which he plays. Why? Val Kilmer was a film star and a unique actor who balanced two different moods: the casual beach chair and the “Heavy is the head that is wearing the crown” adonis.
Its intensity was always alleviated by a natural decency. He was best on the screen as a Zen master who fights for the good. A cool type with medium irritability. His performance in Top Gun The time-honored actor saying proves that there are no small roles. But only actors who are not as good as Val Kilmer.
Regardless of the genre, he was always vulnerable and accessible
Kilmer’s career stretched over almost four decades and began in 1984 with his first film, the absurd, minute -long parody of World War II Top secret!from the weak heads that the comedy classic Airplane! have created. He is the main character. A good -looking rocker with a perfect serious face.
One year before Top Gun Val Kilmer played in the best John Hughes film, precisely because it was not staged by John Hughes, Real geniuswhere, as a brilliant villain, at a fictional engineering school on the west coast, he delivered a performance to Bill Murray level. Directed by Martha Coolidge Real genius Geil, silly and deeply countercultural. Everything is anchored by a good -looking star with a wink. The fact that Kilmer changes from the comedy to action is earlier proof of its versatility. Regardless of the genre, it was always vulnerable and accessible.
Top Gun is primarily a shameless guitar solo from the Reagan era that advertises the American military power. A work of undisguised warfare propaganda. Second, it is also a film about men in love – in your toy, your country and each other. These boys are all brothers, a selected family. Who of us doesn’t play volleyball with his siblings without a T-shirt?
His career was saved by an old friend. Wing men forever
Thirty -six years later Kilmer and Tom Cruise came as Iceman and Maverick in Top gun: Maverickthe successful continuation of Cruise. There is a short scene between them. Iceman is admiral and Maverick is emotional. And almost exactly where we left it in the original. His career was saved by an old friend. Wing men forever.
One had changed while the other stagnated. In his office, Iceman inspires his brother in a croaky voice to let go of things that he cannot control. Like the gas of a fighter jet. First, Kilmers communicates Iceman by tapping words on a computer screen. But his voice was reproduced with the help of AI.
Kilmer diagnosed larynx cancer in 2014, and his path to recovery was long and arduous. Because of the treatments, he had difficulty speaking, especially after an emergency tracheotomy.
His scene with cruise is moving. Both because they highlighted the fictional gang between two former rivals that became friends. As well as because two prominent middle -aged people pursue their job. One at the height of his work, still good at the age of 59. The other weaker, with glasses, 62 years old, a scarf around his neck. But brave, even defiant. And he was still beaming.