'TOP GUN: MAVERICK' Offers Peak Blockbuster Thrills, Exceeding Original On Every Front

Cruise. Control.

A legacy sequel that could have easily been nothing more than unnecessary nostalgia bait, Top Gun: Maverick is instead a tour de force blockbuster that reminds us of the joys of watching movies at the theater. After two years of wondering what the future of in-person cinema would look like in a post-Covid era, the high-flying feature from director Joseph Kosinski (Oblivion, Only the Brave) recalls the aspirational magic of the theatrical experience by looking back at what came before while also graciously paving the path forward.

The last living movie star Tom Cruise returns as hotshot pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell after a 36-year hiatus from playing the character. His demeanor has changed about as much as his appearance. Which is to say: very little. As if chiseled from stone, Maverick, like Cruise, remains a timeless entity. Actively dodging the promotions that would ground the assured pilot, Maverick is only a captain in the Navy. While his friends and colleagues have reached much more esteemed levels of seniority, Maverick relishes the thrill of commandeering a cockpit and pushing the art of aviation to its next horizon.

In our reintroduction to the character, we see a man still risking life and limb to bust barriers. Cocky and self-assured but haunted by the ghost of his deceased former-wingman Goose, Maverick is a man seemingly stuck in full throttle. To come to Earth would be to confront the ghosts that haunt him. He stays – purposefully – afloat. A man in orbit. The film opens with Maverick planning to break 9Gs in an experimental hypersonic jet. When he learns that Admiral Cain (Ed Harris) intends to suspend the program in a plot to subsume its budget for his own purposes, Maverick breaks rank and takes to the skies anyways. 9Gs will no longer suffice to save the program – even though hitting the mark would make him the fastest man alive. He must hit 10Gs. Against Navy orders.

The sequence is a fitting encapsulation of the film as a whole. Though it all sounds a bit silly on paper, Kosinski approaches the scene with earnestness and more than a fair share of majesty. Cruise remains committed to the reflexible playfulness and somber interiority of Maverick, particularly in these sequences where it’s just him, a fighter jet, and the tremendous force of gravity. Claudio Miranda’s ozone-defying cinematography wonders at the wispy atmosphere zipping by as Lorne Balfe’s confident score reaches triumphantly towards the heavens. There’s something aspirational and moving about the scene that harkens back to America’s once-inspiring might as a world leader. Yearning for the lost generation when we built rocket that touched the heavens. To a time where we reached for the stars. The America of Top Gun is the elusive greatness that we chase as a country. Perhaps it only ever existed on film. Whatever the case, it exists here. The scene is both thrilling and laced with emotion with Tom Cruise doing an impressive amount of character work snapped into a fighter pilot helmet. Yes, he does the same thing in just about every movie. No, it does not get old.

Zooming out, writers Peter Craig and Justin Marks challenge the concept of trying to move forward while looking back when Maverick is booted from the hypersonic program and sent packing for Fightertown, USA – home to the Top Gun Academy that he trained at so many years ago. Assigned to instruct a detachment of fighter pilots, he takes on the mantle of teacher. Given three weeks to plot, train for, and execute an extremely dangerous mission into (purposefully vague – again) enemy territory, Maverick must distill his skills, tame his insubordination, and lead by example.

The trouble is Goose’s son Bradley, aka “Rooster” (Miles Teller), is amongst his flock. Maverick’s sense of responsibility to protect Rooster and a need to let go and allow the aspiring pilot to make his own decisions – and mistakes – come to a head in emotionally solvent ways. This thread across generations means the film is in constant contact with its predecessor bit is careful to not go overboard on nostalgia for the sake of nostalgia. Yes, “Danger Zone” makes an appearance. But only once this go around.

Where that former 1986 box office hit struggled to define the adversarial plot machinations (the geopolitics in that movie are an absolute mess), Top Gun: Maverick lays a very clear mission: an elite detachment of Top Gun grads must infiltrate an enemy encampment to destroy a cache of enriched-uranium. The plot is straight-forward with very clearly defined stakes, which helps keep things clipping at mach speed towards a thrilling climax, with just enough emotional complexity hedged in to keep the movie involving on a character level as well.

Top Gun: Maverick could have been a movie flying on cruise control. Instead it relishes in the Cruise of it all while remaining in full control of the audience. By the electrifying third act, we are putty in Kosinski’s capable hands. It might be considered sacrilege for certain segments of the nostalgia-obsessed fandom but Top Gun: Maverick is a sequel that is superior to its predecessor in every imaginable way. The character work is more refined. The action sequences are infinitely more breathtaking. The plot actually makes sense. That 80s hit may hold a place in many people’s heart but this 36-years in the making sequel is a legitimately terrific blockbuster from nose to tail.

CONCLUSION: ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ is precisely the type of old-school action blockbuster that Hollywood no longer makes – feel-good and utterly thrilling, with edge-of-your-seat stunt work and mesmerizing star power in the form of Tom Cruise. The legacy sequel doesn’t lean too much on nostalgia for its own sake, packing plenty of emotional heft and boasting pitch-perfect pacing that keeps audiences pumping their fists and celebrating as if they too were flying high in the skies with the Top Gun grads.