Synopsis:
After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of TOPGUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose”. Facing an uncertain future and confronting ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.
What We Thought:
Top Gun: Maverick is a ton of fun. I enjoyed the heck out of it. Like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it takes the nostalgic feel of the source material, adds in some new characters and combines it all to make a major summer blockbuster. Seriously, this movie is going to make bank.
I’ve been looking forward to this sequel for years. Because of delays from Covid, we are finally getting Tom Cruise as Maverick on the big screen once again and it not only lived up to expectations, I damn near loved it. I saw it on an IMAX screen and walked out wanting to watch it again. It has the original Top Gun vibe of cool people in the Navy, but despite being almost 60 years old, Tom Cruise does even more in this sequel. Since the first film Cruise has become an even bigger action star because of films like the Mission: Impossible franchise and Edge of Tomorrow. You can see he ramped up the stunts for this one and I wouldn’t be surprised if he did a lot of the flying himself. Say what you will about the man, but he is committed to being a top-notch action star and he may be a little nuts.
What the film does right is keeping the timeline realistic. Cruise’s Maverick is age appropriate. He still has his killer smile, but he’s the veteran here. When he pisses off the wrong person once again he gets his wings clipped and is forced to teach a new group of graduates for a mission. He hasn’t earned the promotions he should have at this point because of his behavior and here he is paying the price once again for being the “Maverick”.
The new group includes Miles Teller who is playing the son of Anthony Edwards’ Goose, Glen Powell, Monica Barbaro, Danny Ramirez and more. As great as the cast is and as necessary they are to the story, the film still very much belongs to Cruise. He clashes with Ed Harris. He clashes with Jon Hamm. He has an age appropriate love interest in Jennifer Connolly. He is the teacher, but he’s not quite done yet.
Top Gun: Maverick opens with a fantastic action sequence letting you know Tom Cruise still 100% has that “it” factor. It introduces us to the new characters, throws in some footage and music from the first film and has a little homage scene of good looking people in ridiculous shape (including Cruise) playing a game. It’s funny. It’s highly entertaining and intense. It’s even quite emotional with a cameo I won’t ruin. It’s what you expect from a Top Gun sequel and Tom Cruise. Audiences will go absolutely crazy over it and it’ll make well over a billion dollars world-wide. I hope to see it again on the big screen soon because it deserves to be seen on the big screen. If you have a need, a need for speed and you’re ready to enter the Danger Zone then Top Gun: Maverick is…
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Directed By:
Joseph Kosinski
Cast:
Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connolly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Charles Parnell, Bashir Salahuddin, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Greg Tarzan Davis, with Ed Harris
The Nerds Templar 