Top Gun: Maverick

 

Top Gun: Maverick is the long awaited action sequel to 1986's Top Gun. The film stars Tom Cruise reprising his role as Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. He’s now a test pilot that has managed to stay in the military while still pushing the envelope for the last three decades. But not everyone wants him to succeed so as a final straw he is sent to the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program aka "Top Gun", where he must train a group of younger, top in class pilots, for a highly dangerous top secret mission, while also coming to terms with his own past.

Rarely is a sequel, which is made 30+ years after the original even close to as good, but this was an exception to the rule. I was pleasantly surprised with this film. It was the perfect way to bring in the nostalgia of the original in the soundtrack and in parts of plot while also giving a refreshing new story. The film was full of high action sequences and the script was funny but also at times quite emotionally charged. The themes around forgiveness, growth and moving on were also prevalent throughout.

I thought that Tom Cruise did a great job leading this cast which was a mix of seasoned actors and new comers. He picked right up where he left off with Maverick, which was kind of a disappointment that his character hadn’t evolved much over the last 36 years. He was still struggling with letting things go in his past and a lot of his decision making was still career stunting. He and Miles Teller played well off of one another. I have seen Miles in a couple of movies now and can see the range he has. He brought in a quite leadership while also having this underlying anger and trauma of past. He was the perfect casting for the role of Rooster. The character development for Maverick and Rooster was strong and you really felt connected to and wanted to root for them. The rest of the characters in the cast weren't as developed with the majority of them being one dimensional. I would have liked to see a deeper dive on the 10 or so actors that were supposed to be the important pieces to this Top Gun class. Additionally, there was a descent amount of diversity with the extras but the main characters were all white and mostly male. It would have been nice to see a wider difference in ethnicities and genders for the main cast.  

Even with those critiques, Top Gun: Maverick was still one of my favorite movies that has come out this year. I would definitely recommend this film for all. I’d also suggest bringing some tissues as there were quite a few teary moments. And if you haven’t seen the 1986 classic, I would just suggest watching that one first, so that you could fully appreciate all of the call backs from it.