TOP GUN: MAVERICK REVIEW

 *MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

Released in 1986, Top Gun, which starred Tom Cruise in one of his earliest roles as pilot Pete Maverick and directed by Tony Scott, was a success at the box office, making over $357 million. Normally, because of this impressive response from audiences, a sequel would be released within a few years, however, Cruise quickly became a big star, following his appearances in films such as Days of Thunder, which was also directed by Scott, Rain Man and Born on the Fourth Of July, which were both Best Picture nominees, with the former winning in 1989. For three decades, fans of Top Gun have been waiting for a sequel to the action packed film, with Cruise confirming the news of a follow up j  2016. Filming began for Top Gun: Maverick in May 2018 and was scheduled to be released in summer of 2020, unfortunately, like a lot of films affected by the recent pandemic, Top Gun: Maverick’s release was postponed numerous times. Now, thirty six years later, the long-awaited and much-anticipated sequel, Top Gun: Maverick has finally been released, however, is it worth the wait?

After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose”. Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.

When it comes to sequels, the main reason why they fail to leave as much of an impression as their predecessor is because they lack original ideas and feel like a direct copy of the first film. As a result, they feel pointless and are a disappointment. That’s certainly not the case with director Joseph Kosinski’s follow up to Top Gun, which is named Maverick after the main character. Because it tells a more meaningful and compelling story and features exciting high flying sequences, Top Gun: Maverick is a sequel that is an improvement over its predecessor and is certainly worth the wait.

Top Gun: Maverick is entirely worth watching on the big screen just for the exhilarating action sequences, which sees the actors, including Cruise, flying the planes themselves. Most action sequences are created using computer generated imagery, unfortunately, this can result in them looking artificial and failing to impress. This definitely isn’t the case with Top Gun: Maverick. Because the actors are actually flying the planes, the sequences are exciting to watch. Cleary a lot of hard work has gone into making the high flying sequences as realistic and as exciting as possible and that hard work has certainly paid off. While many people may have their doubts about going to the cinema, especially after they were closed for most of the last two years, Top Gun: Maverick is a film made to be experienced on the big screen. 

Another aspect of Top Gun: Maverick that’s an improvement over its predecessor is the acting, especially by Tom Cruise. In the original Top Gun, Cruise portrayed Maverick as cocky and not the most likeable of characters, however, now the pilot has since matured and is still grieving over the loss of his wingman and best friend, Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, who tragically died in the first film. To make matters worse, Maverick is forced to train Nick’s son, Bradley, who still blames him for the death of his father. As a result, there’s a major conflict between Maverick and Bradley. As well as Cruise and Teller, strong performances are provided by Glen Powell, Monica Barbaro and Lewis Pullman as the new pilots being trained by Maverick. The rest of the cast includes Ed Harris, Jon Hamm and Jennifer Connolly who provide supporting roles, with the latter sharing chemistry with Cruise as Maverick’s ex-girlfriend, Penny Marshall. While Connolly is perfectly flirtatious and likeable as Penny, she isn’t given much to do as she’s just Maverick’s love interest. This was the case with Kelly McGillis’ Charlotte Blackwood who isn’t mentioned, despite her and Maverick driving into the sunset on the latter’s motorbike at the end of the first film. Top Gun: Maverick features a deeply moving appearance from Val Kilmer who returns as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky. In real life, Kilmer has throat cancer and struggles to speak with his illness being written into the script. The scene shared by Maverick and Iceman represents the most touching moment in the sequel.

While the first Top Gun mainly focused on Maverick training at the titular pilot school and his rivalry with Iceman, the sequel has a more serious tone. The mission Maverick is training the young pilots for is dangerous, with the tension building every time they take to the sky. The mission could easily go wrong if they make a mistake. As Maverick says at one point, “If you think, you’re dead.” This means that if the pilots waste a single second thinking about their actions, they could lose their lives. The climatic action sequence is intense as it focuses on Maverick and his fellow pilots taking on his mission.

Because the director of the first Top Gun, Tony Scott tragically passed away in 2012, the sequel needed a skilful filmmaker in order to replace him and capture the high flying action. The chosen director was Joseph Kosinski who previously worked with Cruise on Oblivion, which was a thrilling sci-fi that was released in 2013. However, many may be surprised to learn that Top Gun: Maverick isn’t the first long awaited sequel that Kosinski has made as, in 2010, he directed TRON: Legacy, which was a follow-up to Disney’s technological adventure, TRON, which was originally released in 1982. Unfortunately, TRON: Legacy wasn’t best received by critics as, while the visuals were dazzling, they found the story to be predictable. Because of this, a lot of people were unsure about the choice of Kosinski, however, Top Gun: Maverick is a long awaited sequel that doesn’t disappoint and represents the most impressive work he’s done as a director. Kosinski succeeds in providing audiences with fast paced and exciting high flying action sequences but also a compelling story and interesting characters. 

When Top Gun: Maverick was first scheduled to be released in the summer of 2020, I will admit to being skeptical as the first film didn’t impress me and I found it to be nothing more than a cheesy 80s action film. Fortunately, Top Gun: Maverick is an improvement over its predecessor and is worth watching just for the exhilarating action sequences.

8/10