Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
I’ve grown up on Top Gun. My dad is a single engine pilot and all my life I’ve been around planes and been told about planes. It’s our thing. On Thursday, we, along with my son, went to see Top Gun: Maverick, which is long overdue and totally worth the wait. Since the movie is still pretty fresh I’ll try my hardest not to give spoilers, but a few may creep through, so yeah, be warned.
The movie doesn’t so much open as launch. Tom Cruise as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is now a test pilot for the Navy and he’s all set to hit mach ten in a sleek new fighter plane. He’s still a rebel, too, of course, which both impresses and infuriates various commanding officers.
However, as Katharine Hepburn once said, while Maverick may always be the cake, he does not remain the frosting. His type of pilot will soon be obsolete because there will come a time when fighter planes won’t need pilots.
The movie takes us full circle when Maverick is assigned to Top Gun to prepare a group of pilots for a super-secret, super-dangerous mission. Theoretically, Maverick is now in a place where he isn’t the one pushing the envelope but creating it. He knows that these pilots are good but inexperienced at air combat, and he unnerves his charges with his trademark devil-may-care style.
The top is a lonely place to be at first; Mav finds himself outside looking in as the new generation carries on in the local bar. Maverick being Maverick, though, he will do his job in his own way. And he will always feel the need for speed.
One of the things I like about this new TG is that it doesn’t lay the fanserve on too thickly. The previous movie drives the story and the current movie pays tribute to the original, but it doesn’t seem to be ticking off boxes. It feels natural.
The film also has a culture of honesty and goodwill. Both generations of pilots are respectful of each other, with the I’m-the-younger-generation-so-I-always-know-better attitude getting discarded very quickly. It’s refreshing, because that type of approach isn’t typical of movies or culture in general today.
Say what anyone will about Tom Cruise, he does an amazing job here. I have mad respect for him as an actor. He does all his own stunts, whether it’s riding a motorcycle, swinging from one of the world’s tallest buildings, or flying a fighter plane, and the dude can run like no one’s business. He was born to go full throttle.
This naturally sets a pretty high bar, and authenticity was the byword in this film. The sound throbs, the motion feels real, especially when the characters are pulling the most g-forces. No green screen was used, which must have been incredibly stressful for the actors. Not even Tom Cruise can defy physics, although it may seem like it.
Another element that was beautifully handled was the relationship between Maverick and Iceman (Val Kilmer). Ice is Mav’s champion and best friend, but his health is failing, and he and Maverick have a touching face-to-face meeting in which they, in effect, say goodbye. Val Kilmer, as we all know, has just about lost his voice due to throat cancer, so most of his lines were typed or texted. His one spoken line is incredibly heartfelt and bittersweet.
Kilmer almost wasn’t in the film, though. According to the Los Angeles Times, Cruise lobbied hard for Val Kilmer to reprise Iceman, and it’s a good thing he did, because the movie wouldn’t have been the same.
The only part that I thought was a little weak was when another character seemingly takes over Mav’s job and tells the mission crew that they’re going to accomplish their task in the most dangerous way possible. Having seen Maverick’s training and knowing the particulars of the mission, it’s odd that someone would knowingly make the job harder for these pilots. Fortunately, the crew members don’t buy it and tell this individual so. Put it this way: Things right themselves pretty quickly and unexpectedly.
Other than that, Top Gun: Maverick more than hits the target, pardon the pun. Judging by the way the audience clapped and cheered at the screening I went to, we’ve needed this movie.
Top Gun: Maverick is currently in theaters. Rated PG-13.
My grade: A+
Principal cast: Tom Cruise, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Bashir Salahuddin, Charles Parnell
Directed by Joseph Kozinski
Screenplay by Jim Cash, Jack Epps, Jr. and Peter Craig
Finally saw this movie after all the hype.
Was skeptical (very) going in to it, but the movie (story, acting, directing, cinematography) quickly won me over.
This review is pretty spot on to how I felt about it.