By Gilberto Campa
Almost forty years after the release of the first installment which is widely regarded as one of the defining films of the 1980’s, Tom Cruise steps back into the cockpit as Pete “Maverick” Mitchel in Top Gun: Maverick. Cruise along with director Joseph Kosinski had been working on this film since 2010, mostly due to Cruise wanting the story to be worth coming back to, and the flight aspects to be up to speed. Later on, Christopher McQuarrie who has been a frequent collaborator with Cruise since 2015 signed on to co-write the screenplay and produce the movie along with Cruise and Jerry Bruckheimer. Just like many other films made before 2020 that were slated to be released that same year, it was unfortunately delayed due to the pandemic. It wasn’t all bad as the delays in part helped the producers really fine-tune the dogfighting scenes and overall made the best movie they could possibly make.
Two years later it is finally time for the sequel to take flight, and does it ever. Top Gun: Maverick feels both fresh and current and has that vintage charm that made its predecessor the beloved movie it is. Right from the opening credits that are almost identical to the first movie, you are immediately brought back into this world as “Danger Zone” starts blasting as the fighter planes make their accents. This movie is the perfect definition of an old-school blockbuster in more ways than one. you really don’t see movies made like this anymore. You are caught up to speed and are invested in Maverick and the amount of guilt and pressure he’s been put on since the events of the first movie. That’s when we are introduced to the new batch of Naval fighter pilots who all have something to prove and stand out in their own way. This is really where the story shines through as Miles Teller (Rooster), Glen Powell (Hangman), Lewis Pullman (Bob), Monica Barbaro (Phoenix) all bring their A-Game and deliver very good performances. There are also some great outings from Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, and a wonderful and emotional appearance from Val Kilmer (Iceman) that tears at the heartstrings. The writing in this film is very much the heartbeat of the movie and makes the INCREDIBLE action sequences mean even more towards the end, which makes you more invested.
The dogfighting and the camera work that was done in this is the reason you must go and see this on the biggest screen possible. When I tell you that I was on the edge of my seat, that was an understatement. You are fully enamored, engrossed, and practically in the cockpit with the pilots during those parts of the movie. If you aren’t convinced about the dedication and the amount of work that Tom Cruise puts into every aspect of the movies he makes, then I don’t know what to tell you. Cruise is pushing 60 and doing things on film that no other actor would even attempt to do. He demands nothing but the best from his costars and overall production team which may make him difficult to work with, but he truly loves and appreciates cinema as few other people do. If you still haven’t gone out to the movies because you feel that nothing is worth seeing, I HIGHLY recommend watching this. It’s a movie that the whole family can watch and everyone can learn something from the film. Overall, I had nothing but fun experiencing this and it was worth the two-year wait. Tom Cruise has done it again with a movie perfect for general audiences.