Top Gun: Maverick Movie Review: Better Than Ever Before
Rarely does a sequel top its predecessor (and to stack the odds even more, a classic and iconic one to begin with) but "Top Gun: Maverick" handily outflies and outguns "Top Gun" in every way imaginable. This was a thrilling ride from start to finish with a lot of tension, a lot of entertaining action, and most importantly a lot of heart.
Thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators has not been kind to Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise). Constantly causing trouble with his higher-ups, Maverick is now on his very last post. And if he fails, he will be retired for good. With the help of his old wingman Iceman (Val Kilmer), he gets one last but great shot to prove his worth as he is brought back to Top Gun to train a detachment of graduates for a specialized mission. This is easier said than done as Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), who is the son of his late close friend Goose. Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is determined to train these young pilots as best as he can to prevent anymore deaths on his watch.
Thirty years seemed on paper a long time to get a sequel to "Top Gun". But we have to disagree with our original apprehensions because "Top Gun: Maverick" was just wildly awesome and surprised us mightily with how well it actually was. "Top Gun: Maverick" was a showcase on how film technology has evolved so much through the decades. With high definition visuals, better effects, and in-your-face camera work, the dogfights were convincingly real and with it the tension was through the roof in these sequences. It helped a lot that the faces, the breath work, and the struggles that the actors made while doing flying maneuvers felt authentic especially when Tom Cruise was at the pilot seat. If there's one aspect that the film perfectly captures, it would be its action.
Another positive note for the the film was its writing. Fans of the original film will appreciate the callbacks to "Top Gun" but for those who are experiencing the franchise for the first time, "Top Gun: Maverick" is pretty inconsequential and was as great of a watch as a standalone film. But we must admit that the film struggled to develop all of its minor characters. Outside Maverick, Rooster, and Hangman, the other young pilots in the program could have been totally scrapped and the outcome would have been pretty much the same. Admittedly, this setback is already scraping the bottom of the barrel. You'll be having so much fun that you probably won't even notice it. Overall, "Top Gun: Maverick" blew us away with how entertaining it was. We never imagined it to reach the heights it was able to achieve and this is one blockbuster film you shouldn't miss.
Rating: 4 and a half reels
Why you should watch it:
- the dogfights were wildly in-your-face and tension-filled
- its story had drama, action, even comedy all rolled into one neat package
Why you shouldn't watch it:
- with its huge cast of characters, a lot of the supporting cast were left out
Top Gun: Maverick Movie Review: Better Than Ever Before
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