It's been 36 years since Tom Cruise first starred as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in Top Gun, and he didn't miss a beat making his return to the big screen last weekend. In this high flying summer sequel, Mav finds himself back at TOPGUN as an instructor. His assignment is to train graduates for a special assignment, but Maverick must also confront the ghosts of his past as this mission demands the ultimate sacrifice from those chosen to fly it.
If you have a need for speed, look no further than Top Gun: Maverick. I had very mild expectations for this movie, but now, it is my favorite movie of the year so far. Maverick is arguably one of the best action movies of the 2000s and the best action movie since 2018's Mission: Impossible - Fallout, which coincidentally, also stars Tom Cruise. Cruise has become the greatest action star of all time thanks to the high quality of the films he stars in and the willingness to use practical effects and do his own stunts in a day and age when everything seems to be CGI. Cruise put Miles Teller and the rest of his co-stars on Maverick through a grueling 3 month training to prep them for the aerial stunts in Maverick. Real F-18s and F-14s took to the skies to pull some real Gs. Most sequels fall short of the original, or they are simply an excuse to do some cash grabbing, but Cruise clearly has a passion for this franchise and filmmaking itself. The practical effects, visuals, writing, music, and performances all make that very clear as they come together to bring us one of the very best blockbusters to come out in recent memory.
The plot of Top Gun: Maverick is pretty predictable, but very enjoyable nonetheless. It particularly takes off (pun very much intended) in the third and final act, wrapping up the film in a super satisfying and epic way. Of course Tom Cruise brought the heat as Maverick, but the rest of the cast did as well. Miles Teller was a great addition as Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, the son of Mav's former co-pilot, Goose. He hit all the right emotional notes and was a very well written character. Glen Powell also stood out as the hot shot pilot codenamed "Hangman." This very well might be a breakout role for him and he's now at the top of my wish list to play The Human Torch in the Fantastic Four reboot. After everything Val Kilmer has been through health-wise, to see and hear him reunited with Cruise was a really touching moment.
Even 36 years later, Top Gun: Maverick flies circles around the original. It will end up on the pretty short list of movies that surpass the original source material (Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, Terminator 2 to name a few). It's exactly the kind of movie we needed to be released right now and a blockbuster that doesn't come around that often anymore. I love Marvel, but I am about Marveled out right now which is partly why I didn't do a review of Multiverse of Madness. It's refreshing to see a film like Top Gun: Maverick release and be nearly universally loved. This movie absolutely deserves to be seen on the biggest screen and if I could find a close IMAX theater, I'd see it again in a heartbeat. Expect to see this on my Top Ten list at the end of the year.
- BH
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