Nostalgic sequel “Top Gun: Maverick” hits new heights
Published 2:30 pm Wednesday, June 1, 2022
- Tom Cruise tends to his need for speed in a scene from “Top Gun: Maverick.”
Fueled by nostalgia and high-octane action, “Top Gun: Maverick” dares to up the ante of its 1986 predecessor and manages to speed past that original film, topping it in almost every way.
Star Tom Cruise is back and just as charismatic as ever, reprising his iconic role as Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, the rule-bending, top Navy pilot, only this time he’s a little older, a little wiser but no-less risky when it comes to flying. Cruise never coasts as Mav either; he is continuously present and recaptures the character’s youthful giddiness and peppers it with just a dash of aged wisdom. He keeps up with the newcomers in the cast and allows more emotional depth and gravitas to the slick aviator he created over 30 years ago. Not that this is an overly dramatic or touchy-feely movie; it’s still “Top Gun,” and a perfect popcorn-munching summer blockbuster that is bound to please fans of the first, and the newbies who are taking their first trip to the “Danger Zone.”
Before you ask, yes, Kenny Loggins’ seminal anthem is featured again. In fact, the entire opening sequence is nearly a shot-for-shot re-creation of the opener to the 1986 film, which in any other movie would be trite, but here it is a goosebump- and adrenaline-inducing montage that you can’t help but grin over. Again, the sense of nostalgia is strong here.
This time around, however, Maverick is working as a test pilot when he is called back to the Top Gun program at the request of his old frenemy Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer), now an Admiral, to train some top alumni from the program for a risky mission to destroy some uranium from some bad people.
While Mav would rather fly the mission than have to teach some young upstarts, when he realizes one of the pilots is none other than Lt. Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (the perfectly cast Miles Teller), the son of his deceased friend and old radar intercept officer Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, he agrees to take the job. Maverick hopes that he can keep Rooster (and the rest of the pilots) as safe as he can and make sure that he makes it home at the mission’s end. But Rooster has little respect for his father’s old friend and harbors more than a few unresolved feelings towards the veteran flyer, and this mission will take every ounce of effort and trust the young pilots have.
One of the biggest upgrades we get with this sequel is the action sequences. They are faster, more cleanly filmed and more heart-racing due in part to the sheer amount of practical effects they use. Yes, that means that the actors were really riding around in planes while filming, putting the audience squarely in the cockpit with them. The stunts are really worth shelling out the extra price for an IMAX ticket.
The soundtrack is also full of that nostalgia with needle drops from ‘70s and ‘80s dad rock classics, and only two exceptions to that, one of which is an original song from Lady Gaga that has all the hallmarks of an ‘80s power ballad.
The use of almost constant homages to the first film gets a little old after a while, and there is a B-storyline between Maverick and an old flame, Penny (Jennifer Connelly), that isn’t entirely necessary, other than to further follow the formula of the original. However, you can hardly blame director Joseph Kosinski and writers Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie (with story credits to Peter Craig and Justin Marks). They’re banking on that nostalgia hit with Cruise donning those aviators, riding that Kawasaki, flying fast and kicking ass to get butts in the seats — and it works.
Even if you roll your eyes at the thought of a sequel 36 years later to a film that frankly hasn’t aged that well (sorry, Gen Xers, it hasn’t), you can’t help but be caught up in the action-packed movie.
“Top Gun: Maverick” exceeds expectations, and if the early screening I saw was any indication, it will be the film to bring folks back to the theater in droves. Is it a masterpiece of cinema? No, but it’s not trying to be. So sit back and enjoy the ride.
“Top Gun: Maverick”
131 minutes
Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action, and some strong language.
3.5 stars