Top Gun: Maverick (2022) movie review

Top Gun: Maverick

An admiral refers to Tom Cruise's navy aviator Pete Mitchell—call sign "Maverick"—as "the fastest man alive" in "Top Gun: Maverick," the breathless, gravity- and logic-defying "Top Gun" sequel that, despite arriving more than three decades after the late Tony Scott's original, somehow makes all the sense in the world. A similar sequence from "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation," in which Alec Baldwin's high-ranking Alan Hunley calls Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt "the living personification of destiny," also makes you laugh. Neither of these quotes from Cruise's co-stars specifically mention his fictional on-screen personas. Additionally (or rather, mostly), they are discussing Cruise the actor's enduring legacy.

Since he is one of the last remaining examples of genuine movie superstardom from bygone eras, our fearless and consistently handsome action hero deserves a warm round of applause for both assessments. These days, they just don't make them like they used to. In fact, I would contend that Cruise merits the same level of high-brow respect typically reserved for the fully-method types like Daniel Day-Lewis due to his consistent dedication to Hollywood showmanship and the insane levels of physical skill he insistence on putting on the table by insisting to do his own stunts.You will never forget why you go to a Tom Cruise movie, thanks in large part to his aforementioned enduring dedication, even if you manage to overlook the fact that Cruise is one of our most talented and versatile dramatic and comedic actors with credits like "Born on the Fourth of July," "Magnolia," "Tropic Thunder," and "Collateral" under his belt. How many other well-known figures today can make the claim that they will always deliver on "a singular movie event"?

In that sense, "Top Gun: Maverick," directed by Joseph Kosinski, will feel right at home. It's a funny adrenaline rush that lets its star producer be exactly who he is while raising the emotional and dramatic stakes of its predecessor with a healthy (but not excessive) dose of nostalgia. After the same title card that introduced us to the world of top-tier Navy pilots in 1986, we find Maverick in a role on the periphery of the US Navy, operating as an unflappable test pilot against the recognizable background of Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone." You won't be shocked when, in due time, he accepts a one-last-job assignment to serve as a teacher to a group of recent Top gun Graduates.Their task is equally enigmatic and politically absurd as it was in the first film. A flight plan that sounds crazy, a target that needs to be destroyed, an unknown enemy—call let's it Russia because it's undoubtedly Russia—some targets, and a strategy that will force all successful Top Gun recruits to fly at extremely low altitudes are all present. Can it be done, though?

It's a long shot, if the operation's specifics—which were described to the hopeful aviators in a "It can't be done" manner akin to "Mission: Impossible"—are any hint. You'll be startled to learn that the human drama that Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie co-write from a scenario by Peter Craig and Justin Marks is more compelling than the idea of the absurd mission in this instance. Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller, fantastic), the son of the sadly deceased "Goose," whose accident death still haunts Maverick as much as it bothers the rest of us, is among the group of prospective recruits.Despite Maverick'snull protective instincts towards Rooster, there are those who doubt Maverick's abilities. Jon Hamm's Cyclone, for example, finds it puzzling that Maverick's enemy-turned-friend Iceman (Val Kilmer, who is back with a heartbreaking role), insists on him as the mission's teacher. Maverick's erratic relationship with Penny Benjamin (a bewitching Jennifer Connelly), a new character who was heavily mentioned in the first film, as some may recall, adds to the complications. What a conundrum it is to have to protect one's country while also celebrating a particular type of American patriotism...

All the hullabaloo patriotism and haughty fist-raising in "Top Gun: Maverick" may have been borderline intolerable in an other context. But fortunately, Kosinski seems to understand exactly what kind of movie he is asked to navigate. His underrated and unappreciated film "Only The Brave" will hopefully find a second life now. With plenty of quotable zingers and unexpectedly heartbreaking moments, "Maverick's" tone finds a delicate balance between lighthearted vanity and half-serious self-deprecation in his capable hands.

Conclusion

In some ways, the themes of friendship, loyalty, romance, and, well, bromance, are what this film takes most seriously. Everything else that surrounds those ideas, such as patriotic egotism, feels like humorous winks and embellishments aimed at creating a classic action film. And because everyone in the cast is clearly in this mode—including a memorable Ed Harris who begs for more screen time—as well as the consistently excellent Glen Powell as the seductively arrogant "Hangman," Greg Tarzan Davis as "Coyote," Jay Ellis as "Payback," Danny Ramirez as "Fanboy," Monica Barbaro as "Phoenix," and Lewis Pullman as "Bob"—"Top Gun: Maverick" occasionally runs on its enthralling on-screen harmony at times. As addition, in a throwback to the original, a pretty erotic beach football sequence, filmed with crimson hues and seductive shadows by Claudio Miranda, serves as further proof of the intense, scorching connection between Connelly and Cruise throughout.