Arriving two years late and right on time, Top Gun: Maverick proves nostalgia-fueled sequels can both live up to their predecessors and reach new cinematic heights. Returning to the role that made him one of the world’s biggest movie stars, Tom Cruise continues to prove he is the best of the best when it comes to adrenaline-rush action movies. Entertaining, intense, and surprisingly rich with emotion, Top Gun: Maverick is the perfect summer movie.
Cruise reunites us with Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, the oldest and most decorated aviator in the US Navy. In the 30+ years since we last saw him, Maverick has risen in rank from Lieutenant to Captain, though he is the only one unbothered by this. These days, Maverick tests experimental aircraft in the California desert. And he still lives up to his name with his unconventional ways and defiance of authority. Many romantics might have expected him to settle into a quieter life after his early antics, but his life in the 21st century shows a deeper understanding of who he always was.
Top Gun: Maverick opens on a familiar montage of fighter jets and ground crews, an aircraft carrier, and “Danger Zone” as only Kenny Loggins could sing it. Before long, Mav is once again about to be booted from the Navy — for good this time! — only to be saved by a last minute assignment only he can fill: at Top Gun. But this isn’t a typical teaching gig with the infamous program. Instead, Maverick has just a few weeks to prepare an all-star collection of past Top Gun winners for a top secret and exceptionally dangerous mission.
Monica Barbaro as ‘Phoenix,’ Lewis Pullman as ‘Bob,’ Jay Ellis as ‘Payback’ and Miles Teller as ‘Rooster’ in TOP GUN: MAVERICK from Paramount Pictures, Skydance, and Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Director Joseph Kosinski layers on the nostalgic elements and connections with precision. From the opening credits sequence, we move to the desert for a tour of a private hangar where actual memorabilia — photos, newspaper clippings — adorn the walls. Among them is a very old picture of Maverick and his best friend Nick ‘Goose’ Bradshaw, whose tragic death during a training exercise has followed the captain throughout his career.
In addition to photographs that are repurposed production stills from the original film, the sequel tucks in hints of Harold Faltermeyer’s original score, as well as some of the timeless songs that peppered the soundtrack. And, much like Tony Scott did with Berlin’s now-classic “Take My Breath Away,” bits of Lady Gaga’s new original song “Hold My Hand” are woven into the score of Maverick.
What particularly makes this sequel successful is that it uses familiar beats in much the same way we experience memories in our lives. They take us back to a time and a place. It’s more than just remembering something that happened. It’s about transporting us. Where many of these types of delayed sequels focus on littering the screen with Easter eggs, Kosinski and Cruise are more interested in conjuring feelings connected to a time and a place. They use this familiarity to give us a fuller picture of who Maverick always was and who he has become. And it is in that storytelling that the present day feels more important. This isn’t about dredging up the past to cash in on an old favorite. It’s about honoring the memory of Tony Scott by understanding one of his most enduring characters.
And it is with that understanding that we follow Mav back to Miramar. Sort of. Times have changed and so has the school’s location, but it’s still in the neighborhood. There we meet the modern Navy’s best aviators. The most celebrated is Hangman (Glen Powell), who possesses all the swagger and charm that made Iceman (Val Kilmer) a perfect foil in the 80s. The rest of the crew includes Phoenix (Monica Barbaro), Bob (a delightfully nerdy and underrated Lewis Pullman), Payback (Jay Ellis), Coyote (Javy Machado), Warlock (Charles Parnell) and Fanboy (Mickey Garcia). But there is one pilot Maverick isn’t quite ready to face: Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw (Miles Teller).
One of the many things they get right in this story is the strained relationship between Maverick and Rooster. The reasons for their bad relationship are so much more nuanced than Rooster simply blaming Maverick for his father’s death. Without giving anything away, let’s just say it is much deeper and more fulfilling than that tried-and-true story trope. Their shared history creates an honest and necessary tension between the two, one that adds a layer of complexity to a film that could easily rely on cool aerial stunts and pithy one-liners.
Much like in the original, the film itself centers around Pete Mitchell. His love interest Penny (a luminous Jennifer Connelly) gets somewhat of a life of her own. The single mother owns the local watering hole and is clearly well liked in their small community. Penny and Pete have a history together and watching them dance around romance manages to be sweet rather than tedious.
We get to see some moments of the rest of the pilots and their interactions, rivalries, glimpses of shared experiences. But the film isn’t really about any of them. Who they are, how they got here, and where they might hope to go next are not really relevant to the story at hand. And yet, the actors, aided by good dialogue, are able to convey fully formed people with real lives and pasts and futures.
Tom Cruise plays Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in TOP GUN: MAVERICK from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.
But the second biggest star of this movie is Claudio Miranda’s cinematography. With high-flying helicopters, planes, and drones, Miranda captures incredible images as the F-18s zip across the sky and perform impossible maneuvers. Cruise’s hallmark, of course, is his determination to perform his own stunts. While the rest of the cast weren’t expected to fly their own aircraft, they did learn how to operate their own cameras and capture their own performances. The result is a film that looks incredible from every angle, and launches the viewer into the middle of the action. Whether in the sky or on the ground, Miranda’s work makes this one of the most gripping films we’ve seen in a long time.
In this age of streaming, it sounds ever more elitist to say, but you deserve to see Top Gun: Maverick on the biggest screen possible.
