2022 – Top Gun Maverick
I have to admit, when this movie was first nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, I had really low expectations. After all, I remember watching the first Top Gun film way back in the day, and I was not all that impressed. That bias was only reinforced when I re-watched that 1986 movie, just so I would have a better context with which to understand Top Gun: Maverick. The original wasn’t a very good movie. The script was juvenile, the soundtrack was ridiculously repetitive, and the acting was, in some cases, barely passable.
But I was so incredibly wrong about Maverick. This was a good movie that had depth, character development, a plausible narrative, very good acting, and a thrilling climax. This is one of those cases where I was quite happy to be proven wrong. Not only was this a great film, it is one I wouldn’t mind seeing again. So, to be sure, this was a sequel done right. It took the main character from the first film, and developed him, moved him forward in his arc, and made him more experienced, more mature. The drama was good, and the action was exciting!
First off, I have to talk about Tom Cruise. That isn’t usually a name I associate with Oscars, though he certainly isn’t a stranger to the Academy Awards with movies like Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire. Let’s face it. Despite what you might think about Cruise as a celebrity or a personality, he’s just a darn good actor. When he plays a part, no matter what the part is, he commits to it one hundred percent. He gives each character everything he’s got, and it shows.
And that’s what he did here. One thing that many action films fall short in is drama, but Cruise took the juvenile character of Maverick and gave him a sense of maturity that naturally comes with age, all-the-while staying true to the character. He was fantastic, proving that he still has what it takes to be a leading man.
Here they paired him with Jennifer Connoly, who is a talented actress in her own right. She played Penny, his love interest, who is also a single mom, and the woman waiting for him to come home from his dangerous mission. She still looks incredible, and she had great chemistry with Cruise on the screen.
And of course, we are introduced to the new generation of daredevil Top Gun pilots, all of whom are mostly referred to by their call signs. There was Glen Powell as Hangman, Lewis Pullman as Bob, Monica Barbaro as Phoenix, Jay Ellis as Payback, Danny Ramirez as Fanboy, Greg Tarzan Davis as Coyote, and others. And lest we forget, the upper brass who continually waffle back and forth between trusting and not trusting Maverick over the course of the film. There was John Hamm as Cyclone, Maverick’s main adversary, Ed Harris as Hammer, Val Kilmer reprising his role as Iceman, though now he is an admiral, Charles Parnell as Warlock, and Bashir Salahuddin as Hondo.
And the most important new pilot was actually in the first Top Gun film, at least the character was. Goose, who was originally played by Anthony Edwards, died in the first movie, and his son, Bradley, is now grown up, and is one of the best fighter pilots in the Top Gun School. His call sign is Rooster, played by Miles Teller. Part of the drama of this new movie was how neither Maverick nor Rooster had been able to get past feeling the guilt of losing Goose all those years ago. And in order to protect Rooster, Maverick held back his training by several years, claiming he was not ready for the prestigious training school.
But let’s not forget that though Top Gun Maverick had some pretty amazing dramatic content, it was, first and foremost, and action film. The amazing aerial flying sequences were phenomenal! This movie made stunt piloting look cool again! And from what little reading I have done about the making of the film, I have learned that virtually all of the flying sequences were real, not CGI. The actors were actually in real airplanes that were piloted by professional Navy pilots. They experienced all the g-forces that real pilots have to deal with, adding to the realism of the action sequences. Let’s hear it for those practical effects!
The main drive of the film’s action sequences was a mission to destroy an unnamed country’s underground bunker, in which traces of uranium are detected, indicating the production of nuclear weapons. The had to speed their way through a winding canyon at a very low altitude, scale a steep mountain, flip over its peak, and dive-bomb a small target in two waves, and then perform a ten-g ascent, after which, they are vulnerable to attack from anti-aircraft missiles and technologically advanced enemy fighter jets. It was a thrilling ride, and exciting to watch!
So yeah, I can see why Top Gun: Maverick was praised so much by both audiences and critics alike. It was just a good movie, and an incredible sequel. And as I said, it was a sequel done right. It didn’t rely on the tropes and plot points of the first film. It advanced the characters and the story. And yet, it remained true to the spirit of its predecessor. In fact, it was so successful, I read that in certain circles, another Top Gun movie is being discussed, following the character of Rooster. If that ever gets made, it is sure to be just as thrilling as Top Gun: Maverick.