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Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell. © 2022. Columbia Pictures/Sony, Stage 6 Films, and Black Label Media. Directed by J.D. Dillard.
Watched it at The Chicago International Film Festival 2022 through AMC Theaters (CIFF #5)
Q&A Question Included in The Review Witness The True Story of The First African American Navy Officer Through Friendship. If Top Gun: Maverick was only the best navy film of this year, you might wanna rethink again. This film is a much more serious but filled with great performances and amazing direction. This film will definitely be underrated in the future but it will leave a mark because of the two main leads. It's a much deeper film exploring friendship and love for the navy. It's a crowd-pleasing film for sure but it's a film that you will definitely put on your best-of-the-year list. Join me in North Korea and let's find Kim Jong Un and let's ki-. Wait, wrong film. We are going back in time and taking a trip with two buddies to a forgotten war. Story: A pair of U.S. Navy fighter pilots risk their lives during the Korean War and become some of the Navy's most celebrated wingmen. But it focuses on the life of Jesse Brown through the war but is supported by his best friend Tom Hudner. A film about war, racism, and friendship. This is a different film from what I saw in the marketing itself. While the film didn't change or it's not like a Synder cut situation, but the way it was marketed was interesting. When watching the film, the marketing was 50/50 and I was glad that I was kind of misled going into this film. It's more of a dramatic film over your typical action navy film. Yes, there are navy action sequences that were great and entertaining, but the drama carried the film including the performances. I really loved the directing from J.D. Dillard and the transition from low-budget films to this high-budget movie is seamless. J.D. Dillard gave me a personal response about how he transitioned from smaller films to big-budget films. The only thing I would say from his personal response was that it's the same thing. "It's directing through actors with or without a monitor but now with a bigger crew." Other than that, I asked him a public question that relates to the directing which I will get into that later in the review. His directing in this film is amazing and the way he directed some of the shots including the long-take airplane crash was fucking dope. The camera transition was too smooth and I love it. Besides Dillard's directing camera, he brought every detail of Jesse Brown's life into this film and brought great direction to Jonathan Majors. I really loved Major's performance and it's one of the best works in his career. Glen Powell is also great in this film and he has a much more serious character compared to his other naval character. The chemistry with Majors worked very well and when they are on screen together, that's where the film strengthens its dramatic moments. But even without them, the scenes just by themselves are still great. There are a lot of great things about this film including one scene that was shot on Day 2 according to a post-Q&A question I asked the director and both the director and actor responded to my question. I asked what was Dillard's directorial techniques to Jonathan Majors and he gave me and the audience a great response. He said "So much of the work is done in prep. We talk about everything, we are sharing things, and we're building that language, so by the time that were on set, the actor does the job. Most of our work is like, can you just turn a little bit, and it becomes more technical, and of course, there are things we talk about on the sideline. What's more important is that our line share of work is done ahead of time." (Taken from a Post Q&A during the Chicago International Film Festival 2022). I really loved his response on how he directed Jonathan Majors and he mentioned that the mirror scene was shot on day 2 and when you watch the film with that context in mind, you will be definitely surprised at how Majors pulled off that performance. He expanded upon that if the actor/director relationship didn't quite work ahead of time, you wouldn't receive the performance you wanted so it's important to communicate with the actor more often like with your producer since he's your collaborator. I really loved this response and it made me love this film even more. There are more questions he answered from the audience and that will be separate from this review. Back to the review, I really dig his directional style and making every moment matter so it connects the relationship between the two main leads. Even during the smaller moments with them together adds chemistry and when we see them for one last time, the build-up was worth it. It was emotional and heartbreaking. I really loved that scene and it's the best scene in the film. There are a lot of great scenes in the film but the action sequences are very great. They are well-directed and it gives a lot of dramatic moments in the film. While there were only two major action scenes, how it was directed was great. Plus, the score makes the sequences more tense and memorable. The production of this film is amazing and I loved the dark/blue cinematography. It fits well with the dynamic of the story and the aspect ratio is perfect for this film. The VFX/CGI are very great and when the camera is inside the plane, it doesn't look too bad. I loved the production design and costumes of this film and the bomber jacket looks dope. Loved how they went to Cannes which makes me smile since the Cannes Film Festival takes place there. Overall, the production is amazing and there was care behind this project which is important. There were some things that didn't click with me. I felt like the film could've been shorter in my opinion but the pacing was still good. The first act was a bit slow but it picked up its pace. Since it was based on a true story, there were some constraints which is understandable. You still got your typical post-WWII clichés but besides those small problems, I still loved this film. This is a strong big budget film start for J.D. Dillard and the performances in this film are amazing. Majors steals every scene but once Powell arrives on screen and they are together, that's when the film soars. I really enjoyed the action sequences and it's a great film for telling a true story. It's hard to pull these kinds of stories off but with Dillard's response on how he worked with Majors made me confident in making my own films. Plus, it also made me love this film even more. It's another win for war films and this is a good back-to-back film with Top Gun: Maverick. I had such a great time with this film and event and I can't wait to see Dillard's next project including Majors! In theaters November 23, 2022. Vizeit Score: "A-" (Share this review with your film friends and on social media! Thank you for your continue support.) Copyright © 2022. Vizeit Studios. All Rights Reserved. Review Written By: Everardo Garcia Jr.
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