A thrilling legacy sequel that soars above the 1986 original, Top Gun: Maverick repositions Tom Cruise as the world’s biggest movie star in his reprisal of a role that he invests with wisdom and experience without losing that hotshot confidence.
Top Gun: Maverick delivers everything you would want in a blockbuster movie: thrilling action; high-stakes drama; engaging characters; and a magnetic performance by a movie star lead. When that leads happens to be no other Tom Cruise, an excellent time at the cinema is sure to be had.
Cruise reprises his superstar making role of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a highly skilled and daring Navy pilot whose lukewarm reaction to authority has seen him rise no higher than the rank of captain during his long tenure in the military. When the Navy undertake a top-secret mission to destroy an enemy’s nuclear arsenal, they call upon Maverick to train a group of young high class fighter pilots to complete the daring mission. Complicating matters is that one of the pilots is Lt. Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s late co-pilot Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (played in the first Top Gun by Anthony Edwards.)
Director Joseph Kosinski (TRON: Legacy) delivers upon the “need for speed” mantra and then some, with Top Gun: Maverick showcasing the best aviation sequences in a feature film so far. Much like the films cast led by the always daring Cruise, the audience is thrust into the high flying, sky screeching, adrenaline inducing action scenes that need to be seen and felt on the biggest screen as possible. While Covid restrictions have placed temporary chokehold on cinemas, Top Gun: Maverick is just the film to convert those stuck on streaming platforms back to the celluloid church, so entertaining and dramatically compelling the film is.
In his reprisal of Maverick, Cruise brings a certain gravitas to a character who knows his place in the world, which is often streaking across the skies above it. Still with that cocky spirit and a “mouth writing cheques his body can’t cash”, this older and (somewhat) wiser Maverick has more flesh to his character and weight to his soul. A pivotal scene between Maverick and once nemesis turned best friend Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer) is incredibly moving.
Good too is Cruise’s scenes with the eternally beautiful Jennifer Connelly as love interest Penny Benjamin, the makers of Top Gun: Maverick thankfully pairing actors of equal age for its romance story. The younger stars of Top Gun: Maverick also have their moments to shine, with Glenn Powell in particular stealing scenes with charismatic ease. Miles Teller brings a wiry edge to his role of a fighter pilot who views risk with weary suspicion, the death of his father a cloud that hovers above him no matter how high he flies.
Scripted by Ehren Kruger (Arlington Road), Eric Warren Singer (American Hustle), and Christopher McQuarie (Jack Reacher), Top Gun: Maverick presents the perfect blend of drama and action, with the stake in both worth buying into and then some, resulting in a film that soars above any expectation placed on it.
