Top Gun: Maverick is a pretty terrific film. Let’s just start with that. And, yeah, there’s no doubt some of that old nostalgia in that opinion. And, even though Top Gun is far from my favorite 80’s flick, I got a little verklempt at the opening BONG over the Paramount logo. But, trying to put that baggage aside, I think there’s enough genuinely cool content that this film can stand alone.
Tom Cruise’s Maverick is back as a Top Gun instructor for a bunch of young hotshots. There’s an objective this time… a mission for these flyboys and girls… that has them needing some old school flight instruction from an old school flyboy. Maverick has to deal with ghosts of his past and prove humans are still needed in the cockpit.
The film is largely a jungle jim for Tom Cruise to play in. To put his Xenu-loving butt in a bunch of cockpits and have fun. And if Tom Cruise wants to ride a motorcycle at speed without a helmet because he did that 35+ years ago and he doesn’t swallow a bug, more power to him and Lord Xenu.
To be fair though, part of the film’s theme is about Maverick being a bit of an old-timer, a dinosaur. And Cruise, to an extent, leans into it while still allowing his hotshot character to rebel at the idea of being put out to pasture. Maybe he’s not exactly showing his age, but he’s showing his seniority at the very least.
It’s unfortunate that neither Kelly McGillis nor Meg Ryan are back for the film… and they added Jennifer Connelly as Maverick’s love interest. I could theorize why they went this way but that’s a sticky wicket to tap dance around. I’ll just say that I dig Jennifer Connelly just fine… it’s just that the nostalgia isn’t there.
The rest of the young cast of hotshots are fine but largely unremarkable. Miles Teller plays the key new pilot and it makes sense why they cast him, but I just don’t think he has half the charm and cockiness this type of role calls for. I did like a couple of the other characters, especially the female pilot.
The final aerial battle sequence in the film is pretty great all around. Real arm-wrest-gripping fun and excitement. And it’s nice that it’s a very different style of action scene than we got in the first film.
The original film’s nebulous enemy is back and just as vaguely-defined as ever. Our hotshots have to be able to fight someone credible, even if we have to make them up. And this flick does an amusing job of creating handicaps for our pilots so we can pretend they are the underdogs. They even mention Fifth Generation fighters… 5G comin’ to get us after all! Heh.
I sure hope it’s not the film’s (somewhat restrained) nostalgia bombs at work here. They really could have gone harder once you get past the opening ten minutes… I think enough of the film feels original and sends our hero through a new emotional crisis that the film – yet another decades-later sequel – stands enough on its own. I really enjoyed this one.
Score: 90