Review: Top Gun: Maverick
Top Gun: Maverick, directed by Joseph Kosinski, tells the tale of Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise), a war hero now entering his thirtieth year as a U.S. Navy aviator. But just as he’s about to get comfortable, Maverick gets tasked by Vice Admiral Beau "Cyclone" Simpson (Jon Hamm), based on a recommendation from Mav’s old adversary turned wingman Admiral Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (Val Kilmer), to train up some new Top Gun graduates to undergo a dangerous mission. Among the young prospects is Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Mav’s late RIO and friend Nick "Goose" Bradshaw. It’s up to Maverick to make these pilots achieve the impossible and survive this deadly mission while mending the strained relationship with Rooster after doing him dirty in the past.
So here’s an unpopular-ish opinion: I thought the first Top Gun kind of sucked. I know it’s considered a classic in American cinema, and I really did try to enjoy it, but it’s a little too much 80’s cheese for my liking, and apparently a good handful of other critics agree. There were some good things to enjoy about it from the dogfight scenes to the iconic soundtrack, but that’s about it for me.
So needless to say this long awaited sequel marks a significant improvement over the original, but much like Maverick himself the film can’t let go of the past and be its own thing.
Narratively, Top Gun: Maverick almost plays out exactly like the first film, right down to the nostalgia fueled opening credits that’s almost a shot-for-shot remake of the first Top Gun’s opening credits. It takes some detours from the first film here and there but for the majority of the film I felt like I was watching a more polished Top Gun instead of an actual Top Gun sequel. The plot’s predictable as hell, nothing about the writing stands out to me, and most of the characters are generic caricatures of characters from the first film.
Cruise gives a much better performance this time around as Maverick, but it’s still Tom Cruise on cruise control; he doesn’t make this performance stand out when compared to his recent performances as of late. Miles Teller easily gives the best performance in the entire film while everyone else in the film is indistinguishable from each other. Val Kilmer is one exception; while I still find Iceman to be a boring character I do appreciate how they reincorporated him to this film in a tasteful manner, considering Kilmer’s recent battle with cancer causing him to lose his voice permanently.
The dogfights in this film were just as intense and fun as the first film, if not better. You can see the amount of care and detail they put into making the dogfights as real and thrilling as possible, and seeing this film in the biggest screen possible is a rewarding experience on its own. The cinematography is good, the editing is more focused and concise than the first film, and the CG is top notch.
Overall despite this Top Gun feeling like a more polished recreation of the first Top Gun, I did have some fun, so I guess that’s enough. I can see many people enjoying this film much more than me as a satisfying summer flick, and if you do love it don’t let me ruin your fun. I enjoyed the film enough to recommend it, but quite frankly it didn’t take my breath away.
Final Verdict: 6/10