Top Gun: Maverick

Starring: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Monica Barbaro, Lewis Pullman, Glen Powell, Jay Ellis, Greg Tarzan Davis, Jon Hamm, Val Kilmer, Ed Harris

Director: Joseph Kosinski

More than thirty years after coming in second in the Top Gun Academy, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Cruise) refuses advancement of any kind and continues to fly for the Navy as a test pilot. His friend and old rival Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (Kilmer) brings him back to the Academy to train a group of young pilots to destroy a facility that houses enriched uranium, which is protected by SAM missiles and unique terrain. Maverick must use all of his skills as a pilot to both win over the skeptical young pilots and also make amends with Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Teller), who happens to be one of the recruits and the son of his late best friend Goose. As the date of the mission approaches, Maverick must navigate his relationships with the pilots and also Penny (Connelly), who runs the local bar.

I was very skeptical of this movie, as I don't really enjoy the original Top Gun or really think it had a story that was clamoring for a sequel. Not only did this film do a lot to rectify a lot of my personal complaints about the original, but it was much more emotional than I was expecting.

The film was delayed for quite some time due to the pandemic. Paramount and Tom Cruise did everything in their power to ensure the film didn't end up on streaming and would be seen on the biggest screen possible. Their reasoning, which has been the crux of a lot of their marketing leading up to release, was that the actors did a lot of the fighter jet flying themselves. Other than the extensive coverage, I have to give credit to the movie for not really calling attention to it. Knowing the fact that they were flying helped add some suspense and realism to the film and also helped elevate the movie above typical blockbuster entertainment.

The film really delivered on the action front, with the training sequences being a lot of fun. The final action scene, where Maverick must lead the recruits on their actual mission, is well done and goes out of its way to defy your expectations of how the story is going to end. Director Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy, Oblivion, and Only the Brave) does well to keep the story simple visually, which is something I wasn't quite expecting given the other films on his resume.

Tom Cruise does everything he can to ensure that the movie doesn't sink under its own ambition. A lot of the unlikeable character traits that were present in the original film are now gone, with the older Maverick having matured a great deal. His relationship with Teller is one of the selling points of the movie and they play off each other incredibly well. While a lot of the run time is spent on their relationship, I do wish we had been given more of a reason to care about anyone else on the team. There's a small part of me that wishes the movie had focused on the new recruits and kept Maverick as a side character. The only one who really gets more to do is Glen Powell, who gets to be the modern-day Iceman. Also disappointing is the romantic relationship between Connelly and Cruise. She is admittedly good in the role but it feels forced and doesn't add anything to the film. Val Kilmer also makes an emotional appearance in the movie. While this moment could be classified as fan service, and it definitely is, it is fan service done right and gives the film quite the emotional gut punch.

This raw emotion and some well-made action set pieces helped to alleviate my skepticism and allowed me to enjoy the movie more than I expected.

Grade: B+