If you enjoy these videos, I'm pretty confident you'll also enjoy my first book of essays,
called ESCAPE INTO MEANING, which is available now in hardcover, ebook,
and audiobook (which I read personally). You can find the links for those in the description
below. Thank you to everybody who's already got the book. Happy holidays! And enjoy the video.
Watching Top Gun: Maverick earlier this year, I realize something. Great action
sequences in movies are a lot like great pop songs. Many of the same rules apply. Now,
I am an unashamed lover of pop music, from The Beatles to Beyonce, Abba to Ariana Grande,
and what I love about pop music is how it moves me physically. Pop songs can be lyrically nuanced, of
course, but they don't have to be. We often come to pop music for its melodrama, its universality.
Most of all we come to it for the expert craft of the music, music which is highly structured.
The fact that we know the structure doesn't make the music any less thrilling. In fact,
the best practitioners of pop music use its formulas to make it more so. "What is it?
What?" All that I just said goes for action sequences too, and specifically *this* action
sequence, what you can call The Mach 10 Sequence, eight minutes of action cinema perfection.
The stakes in this scene are as clear as day. "They're scrapping the program.
They say we fell short. The contract threshold is Mach 10." And repeated a number of times so that
there's not even a shred of confusion crowding the viewer's mind. Tom Cruise has to go Mach 10,
faster than any pilot in history, to save this program and all its jobs. Wait -- how fast does
he have to go? "The contract threshold is Mach 10 -- not 10.1, not 10.2. Mach 10." This clear
expectation of an ending to the sequence is what gives it structure. We know the problem and we
know the solution. The question for Cruise and director Joseph Kaczynski is what is the most
invigorating route to get there. This is where the techniques of pop music come in handy. All
music utilizes tension and release. That's what makes a pop song or a concerto or an
opera dynamic and interesting. There are lots of ways to create and release tension: you can do it
harmonically, melodically, with rhythm or volume, repetition or syncopation. Whatever method,
the music has to go through some kind of change, some kind of transformation. The Mach 10 Sequence
is one of increasing intensity, as Cruise makes it to his target speed and beyond. But that line
from silence to crescendo isn't a straight one. Kaczynski builds tension only to release it at key
points, which keeps you engaged in the same way that a pop song keeps you engaged by transitioning
from verse to chorus back to verse again. This sequence is actually remarkably similar to the
classic pop song formula of: intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus,
outro. Let's take a closer look at each of these sections. First is the intro, which we've already
discussed. Cruise learns about the cancellation of the program and decides to go for Mach 10 anyway.
Then the first verse, which is the build up, a montage of Cruise suiting up, getting in the
plane, taxiing the runway, while the control room people are getting into position as well.
Then comes the first release in tension. Admiral Kane arrives at the base, Harold Faltermeyer and
Lorne Balfe's score pulls back a little, and just before takeoff Cruise considers his decision one
last time. "I know what happens to everyone else if I don't." So he reaffirms his choice,
which launches us into the second verse, the second buildup, as Cruise takes off and buzzes
Admiral Kane in this outstanding shot. You know, often what separates bad pop music from good pop
music is the quality of the musicianship, or simply the decision to draw on the mastery
of live musicians. This movie's stunning in-camera shots are the equivalent of that.
"Admiral, uh just in time, sir." "I'm early, so are you." After the second buildup,
Kaczynski releases the tension again as Kane bursts into the control room,
and rather than diminishing our anticipation, this somewhat comedic respite only heightens
it. A continuous raising of intensity would quickly become exhausting or
boring. Instead we get to go on this much more interesting roller coaster.
Which brings me to my favorite part of this sequence: the bridge. In pop music,
a bridge is used to provide a contrast to the rest of the song, another chance for change,
a new perspective. In this section of The Mach 10 Sequence, we are rather suddenly hit with
new emotions, a sense of wonder. We're invited to step outside the narrow frame
of this struggle between Admiral Kane and The Mach 10 Team and witness human
beings exceeding their limitations. It's unexpected in a way that really grabs you.
We've made it to the final verse, the final push to Mach 10. In the first verses,
the score was used to build tension. This time the sudden absence of music has the same effect.
What's so cool about this section is that with all the groundwork laid Kaczynski is able to
build maximum tension with two simple shots: a close-up of Cruise, and the speedometer. We're
fully invested now; we don't need all the bells and whistles. At this point in the theater, I was
white knuckling the armrests. The final release is joyous, triumphant. They reach the goal,
they solve the problem laid out so clearly seven minutes ago -- but of course this is a trick.
You know, one thing I love about The Beatles is their outros. They often give you a little
something extra at the end of their songs that that leaves you smiling. Top Gun:
Maverick does the same here. This push beyond Mach 10 is just icing on the cake. You're instantly
worried as soon as the music cuts out again. You know something is going to go wrong, and it does.
Pop music is body music. Action cinema is body cinema. It makes sense that these two
genres might inform and resemble each other. They're both under-appreciated siblings to
more quote-unquote "sophisticated" genres. Their formalism and emotional bigness are strengths
when done right. Of course, because of their commercial nature, pop music and action cinema
are often *not* done right, and we get a lot of bad or mediocre work. Making people dance
or white-knuckle their arm rests -- it's not easy, but when it hits, it really *really* hits.
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