Top Gun: Maverick

This review may contain spoilers!

 

Top Gun: Maverick is the direct sequel to the 1986 hit, Top Gun, and focuses on Maverick's return to the Top Gun Academy. In this feature Maverick is tasked with training some of the best young pilots to fly a bombing run that has a narrow margin for error and is likely to result in death for those running the mission. I loved how this film built on the story of the first one, even utilising familiar narrative beats, and then crafted beyond that. This is a feature that takes apart the character of Maverick and really rebuilds him into something nobler than I ever imagined him to be. This is a man who is still quite broken after the death of his former wingman, Goose; and more than this, he feels he has failed to be a surrogate father for Goose's son: Rooster. From the very opening of the film we see Maverick risk his life in service of others, but he is still pushing limits dangerously beyond this just to prove he can. But when Maverick is brought back to train at Top Gun and is confronted with training Rooster? Well it is like watching the man sober up immediately. He turns into a mentor that his students need, extremely unconventional but willing to guide them to survival by any means. I found seeing Maverick as a teacher to be something quite revelatory, it provided this whole new sense of meaning to the role that I had never seen in the first feature. Watching the man desperately trying to reconcile with Goose's son or promise Penny to be a committed partner shows just how much the role has matured over the years. Seeing Maverick run the simulation is one of the greatest scenes in the film, you see him fighting for his place in the air and for the lives of his students. The final act of the feature is the type of cinema filmmakers aspire to, it's a moment where the craft becomes art immortal. From a narrative perspective I never stopped feeling tense on the behalf of our protagonists, I was literally perched on the edge of my cinema's recliner chair. Every second cranks the pressure up and ultimately seeing the team swarmed by SAM missiles right after their death-defying climb? Well that was terrifying, quite simply put. The joy of seeing both Maverick and Rooster put their lives on the line for one another as a means of reconciliation was extremely heartwarming and the ensuing push by Maverick to exfiltrate and save Rooster carried this further. This film really evolves the character of Maverick while pitching the audience through a pulse-pounding narrative that will enchant audiences for as many years as the original did.

I also need to take a big moment to applaud the cinematography. I knew going in that so much of the aerial shots of/in the planes are practical but that didn't prepare me for how good this looked. The motion of these machines, how the intense G-force looks on the performers and even the intensity once we move into an aerial stunt is simply inspired. I loved the test flight footage we get at the start of the feature, it's possibly my favourite visual sequence of the whole thing. If you appreciate practical effects or fine camerawork in film then seeing this movie should be a no brainer. The work they have done here is a huge win for what we can do practically in cinema, not just develop digitally in post. Speaking of, beyond one sequence in the film I found the editing to have impeccable timing; the pacing on this film is sharp and I found it hard to believe I'd been in my seat for nearly two and a half hours. The score for the film is really powerful, Lorne Balfe crafts an epic that adds to the tense sequences while providing a more tender sound for those key emotional story beats. The soundtrack for the feature has some perfectly placed nods to the original film and the 80s in general.

 

Val Kilmer, who played Adm. Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky, gives a grade A performance in spite of his health problems at the time of filming; Kilmer and Cruise have such a deepfound respect for one another onscreen that I found their moment together one of the best in the film. Jennifer Connelly, who played Penny Benjamin, had some electric romantic chemistry with Cruise onscreen; seeing her as this bold single mother who took no nonsense made her such a compelling character to watch. Bashir Salahuddin and Charles Parnell, who played Wo-1 Bernie 'Hondo' Coleman and Adm. Solomon Warlock Bates respectively, are too Navy figures that provide a little more levity as a reaction to Maverick's antics; I liked that Salahuddin portrayed more of a caring friend to Cruise while Parnell was the stoic yet likeable military figure. Jon Hamm, who played Adm. Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson, was the stern exacting military figure Cruise often came up against; I loved seeing the grudging respect grow between these two men playing polar opposite characters onscreen. Monica Barbaro, who played Lt. Natasha 'Phoenix' Trace, is a real tough character is the face of a testosterone heavy environment; I enjoyed seeing Barbaro give no slack around any other character while also portraying a genuine friend to many of her co-stars. Lewis Pullman, who played Lt. Robert 'Bob' Floyd, is one of the funnier figures in amongst all of the trainees; I enjoyed watching the friendship between him and Barbaro's character grow. Glen Powell, who played Lt. Jake 'Hangman' Seresin, is one of the performances that really steals the show; Powell crafts a real arrogant yet undeniably talented pilot that you will love to hate. Ed Harris, who played Radm. Chester 'Hammer' Cain, is a genuine force of authority in his brief time onscreen; Harris wields his beauracratic power with an iron fist over Cruise's protagonist. 

However, the best performance came from leading protagonist, Tom Cruise, who played Capt. Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell. Outside of the occassional parody here and there it has been well over 30 years since Cruise presented the character Maverick. I don't really know how it just came back to it so effortlessly while also lending carefully constructed new facets to his character. The maverick we meet at the start of the film is intensely familiar, he's very cocky and willing to break the rules for the greater good or just because he plain wants to prove something. In a lot of ways Cruise paints Maverick as a figure who is still heroic but caught in a painful loop of old bad behaviour. Yet seeing this role take on training the aviators of Top Gun was fascinating; he has little give and flys in the face of what would be expected from a traditional instructor. I loved watching the pain and hurt Cruise shows Maverick carrying around over Goose's death and his percieved failure towards Rooster. The romantic chemistry between him and Connelly is superb, and the genuine honest way he comes to love is probably one of the more defining moments of maturity for Maverick. I also enjoyed the bond Mav still shares with Iceman, seeing the incredible sense of respect between this pair and the ultimate grief from our protagonist is powerful. One of the best performed scenes in the entire feature is when Maverick runs the bombing run simulation in service of his students, to prove it's their best chance of staying alive. It is a fierce selfless moment that defines the growth this role goes through. What Tom Cruise accomplishes in this film is impressive, he takes one of his most famous roles of all time and makes it better than anyone could have ever imagined.

This film does have a glaring issue that often rears its head in the first and second acts, it doesn't bridge time between the first Top Gun and this sequel very well. I think they needed to make the history between Maverick and Rooster a little more clear, the sense of loss around Rooster's mother needed to be established far sooner than it was. Stringing it out for dramatic impact wasn't a good enough excuse to craft hazy tension. More significantly I found the introduction of Penny to extraordinarily abrupt. In the first Top Gun she's mentioned in a throw away line as one of maverick's exes, beyond that we never get more of her than that. Yet in this film they talk about an established history constantly and past events as if we should know or understand what happened between them. If Cruise and Connelly didn't do such an impeccable job portraying the relationship I think this whole subplot would've been on thin ice.

Miles Teller, who played Lt. Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw, is just poor casting both as Goose's son and as an aviator; watching Teller play a more comedic version of his role in the final act was like watching a whole other performance from what he'd given up until that point. Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez and Greg Tarzan Davis, who played Lt. Reuben 'Payback' Fitch, Lt. Mickey 'Fanboy' Garcia and Lt. Javy 'Coyote' Machado respectively, were some of the more leading student aviator ensemble that just felt like background roles; their moments with other members of the main cast just fell short of being noteworthy. Lyliana Wray, who played Amelia, didn't feel like an important addition to the Penny/Maverick romance subplot; Wray's role is treated as more of a plot device to keep Maverick honest than an actual role.

I never used to get the love for Top Gun, but after this? I get it, I get it now. I would give Top Gun: Maverick a 9/10.