Called back to Top Gun academy to train a batch of top graduates for an impossible mission – Rooster (Miles Teller), the son of former wingman Goose, amongst them – Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell must contend with incredulity from his superior officers and the ghosts of his past is he has any chance of succeeding and getting his pilots out alive.
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Jon Hamm, Monica Barbaro & Val Kilmer
Watch it now in cinemas
1986’s Top Gun was a huge deal for Tom Cruise, catapulting his fame into the stratosphere as he truly proved his chops as a bankable, endlessly charismatic leading man. Whilst the Tony Scott directed film remains a high point for its lasting cultural resonance – and hear us out here – it isn’t all that great as some might make it out to be, existing as a relic of its time with some laugh-out-loud corniness by today’s standards. Now thirty years later, Top Gun: Maverick changes all that, bringing the same campy 80’s energy and infusing it with an emotional, impactful character study of a man unable to let go of his youth, along with stunning cinematography of its patented fighter plane battles.
The subtitle here is apt, this is undoubtedly Maverick’s film and Cruise gives a layered performance as a man struggling to understand his limits and forgive himself for past mistakes. In a way it acts almost as a meta commentary on Cruise’s career trajectory, with characters constantly discussing Maverick’s incessant need to top himself and go bigger and fast each time he gets in a plane. It’s a thoughtful examination of how we view Cruise today (his Mission: Impossible franchise has become renown for topping the last film’s big action set-piece) and brings to the forefront just how game he is to make some of the most entertaining films today.
Nowhere is that more obvious than the action scenes. It is no secret that Cruise was adamant about flying his own planes, even going so far as to instruct the rest of the cast in operating a plane and filming themselves doing so. It makes for a far more immersive experience, with less of the janky shaky camera trickery of the original and more genuine responses from the actors operating these planes. Sure sometimes it becomes difficult for these actors to act whilst operating this kind of machinery, but those little authentic touches like a joyous “woo” or nervous glance make for some uplifting, if nerve-wracking details that add to the experience.
When the stunt pilots take over the action truly soars, with terrific, and one can imagine extremely complex, flight choreography that clearly delineates between the heroes and enemies (a simple touch the original never managed to achieve) amongst the madness of the dogfights. Make an effort to find a screen with a good sound system and you will be rewarded with the seat-shaking, bone-rattling roar of the engines adding another layer to suck you into the action.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Maverick is its story. It actually has one for starters – something of a feat when you consider the meandering, low stakes narrative of the first film – and is much more focused around the few characters at its centre; building the dramatic tension between Rooster and Maverick’s shared history and transferring it into the stakes of the mission facing the graduates at the end of their training. This common goal goes a great way towards bonding the group and adding stakes for the character’s that we don’t spend as much time with. Rooster and Maverick might get the bulk of the screen-time here, but we care just as much about Glen Powell’s Hangman or Monica Barbaro’s Phoenix in the heat of these intense battles.
As iconic as Anthony Edwards’ Goose was in the original, his character never got to do much outside of mothering Maverick through the academy. It is amazing then, just how emotional the film gets in exploring the impact Goose’ death had on not just Maverick but his son as well. Miles Teller is brilliant in conveying Rooster’s anger and admiration for a man who was once like a father to him, building on the foundation of the original film in ways that the campy nature of that film suggest couldn’t be done. That isn’t to say that it’s all serious drama though; fans of the original will be pleased to hear there is another extremely oily, extremely masculine beach scene and Kenny Loggins’ iconic “Highway to the Danger Zone” rears its head enough to remind you that the need for speed is very much still present.
Top Gun: Maverick might be the pinnacle of Cruise’s action resurgence so far; deftly taking a campy hit from his past and turning its sequel into one of the most entertaining and thrilling action films of his entire filmography. He might not be climbing the Burj Khalifa or leaping across buildings but the dogfights here are shot immaculately, the commitment to the craft of filmmaking evident in every last frame. To take a film like Top Gun and bring real weight and emotion to the characters within those planes is easily one of the biggest surprises of the year, ensuring that Maverick will be remembered for its quality and depth, rather than a sweaty volleyball game. Turn and burn baby.
