Tom Cruise reprises his role as test pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in one of this year’s most exhilarating blockbusters…
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly
Running time: 131 minutes
The original Top Gun was one of the most powerful forces of the Eighties – an absolutely huge film that cemented an up and coming Tom Cruise as a superstar and helped launch the career of one of Hollywood’s finest action directors. Underneath the militaristic plot and agitprop nature of the film itself (Navy enlistment rates skyrocketed on release), Scott crafted a pretty sombre and even homoerotic melodrama that didn’t feel overly interested in what was going on in the skies above.
Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy, Oblivion) has set about changing that for the sequel that hits theatres almost 36 years later. Cruise is a very different actor now than he was back then. Having since starred in films by Michael Mann, Stanley Kubrick and having done six Mission: Impossible films, he has set his sights on becoming the ultimate Hollywood stunt actor, pushing the limits of what the human body is even capable of while a camera is rolling. This does wonders for the newest iteration of Top Gun as all of the flying sequences are 100% practical, making the actors actually take off into the skies and reacting in real time to the dangers above.
However, like the original, the main focus of the film is not on a complicated plot like various other action films out there. Cruise plays the titular Maverick, a captain for the Royal Navy, who despite being one of the best pilots in the United States, has constantly rejected promotion. Maverick is sort of like a lone wanderer. He doesn’t have a family, no partner, nothing to hold him down and more importantly, mourn him if he dies. Alongside this, he still hasn’t been able to move on from the death of his former best friend and fellow pilot, Goose. Maverick is sent back to Top Gun to teach an elite team of pilots to train them in undertaking a mission to destroy a Uranium base built by an unspecified rogue nation.
That isn’t to say there isn’t any emotional arc within the film – in fact, there are two main relationships that Maverick has to navigate. First is the relationship with Rooster (Miles Teller), one of the students he is training who happens to be the son of Goose. He is still angry with Maverick over the death of his father and various other things, causing them to constantly clash with each other, and this delivers enough emotional intensity to feel rewarding but never overbearing. Secondly, we have Penny (Jennifer Connoly) who is Maverick’s love interest. With little background information given, the viewer has to sort of piece together the history between them, but their on-screen chemistry is pretty solid and acts as a great second plotline.
In a world where so many blockbusters are investing more in CGI and removing the physicality of action films, Top Gun: Maverick feels like a breath of fresh air
Of course, the action in the skies will be the main draw for most people, and in that area the film delivers in absolute bucket loads. In a world where so many blockbusters are investing more and more in CGI technology and removing the physicality of action films, Top Gun: Maverick feels like a breath of fresh air. Kosinski, along with cinematographer (Claudio Miranda, who has shot all of Kosinski’s work) create some absolutely dazzling spectacles. A real highlight is the editing, which manages to create incredible levels of tension in the dog fights but also uses some wonderful fades to deliver the emotional goods. Combine these images with some incredibly loud and immersive sound design and you feel like you’re right there in the skies.
Unexpectedly, Tom Cruise is on top form. He is one of the few actors that can successfully do drama, comedy and action all within the same scene without it feeling corny or jarring. There is nobody else in the film industry who is risking their lives as consistently as Cruise is to do some of these stunts. He might be the last true mega movie star left and it seems like he has absolutely no intention of slowing down. Alongside Cruise the rest of the cast is solid, no one else is giving a superb acting experience but no one is remotely bad either, and the chemistry between each character feels great. While the writing isn't going to blow anyone away, it does a good job of telling the story and can actually be quite funny.
If you were a fan of the original Top Gun – or even if you weren’t – you will almost certainly find something to enjoy here. In an age where legacy sequels are increasingly prevalent and range from deconstructing the original (The Matrix Resurrections) to relying on nostalgia (Star Wars); Top Gun: Maverick sits firmly in the middle. It never relies on nostalgia to carry its story but it doesn’t ask any particularly deep questions about the source material. What you get is a solid, thoroughly enjoyable and wildly entertaining action film that should be seen on the biggest screen near you.
Did you know? Director Joseph Kosinski estimated that a total of 800 hours of footage was shot for the film – more than the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. “Out of a 12- or 14-hour day, you might get 30 seconds of good footage,” Kosinski told Empire. “But it was so hard-earned. It just took a very long time to get it all.”
Top Gun: Maverick is showing at Savoy Cinema until Thursday 2nd June
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