Rarely does a movie surpass the original in almost every way. Top Gun is a classic 80s movie with plenty to love three decades later. However, with a 78 on Metacritic, Top Gun: Maverick looks like the top film. Is it good? This opinion belongs to the fans.
The debate could last all day, but it does not matter if Top Gun: Maverick is technically a better movie. What he does well should be celebrated. There’s a lot to love about this long-awaited sequel. There will be spoilers in this recap to better highlight the best parts of the movie.
6 humor
Superior gun was not without humor. However, that was not the goal of the film. There are a lot of interesting quotes, but most of them are more serious or thought-provoking. Top Gun: Maverick also has some of those types of memorable quotes, but some of the sequel’s best lines are comedic. It’s not a comedy at all, but the cast does a lot to inject humor into even the darkest of situations.
Bob, for example, is an underrated character in the movie with no call sign he makes fun of. He uses this mockery to get revenge on Hangman with the line “See you in the afterlife Bagman”. The camaraderie between Maverick and Rooster towards the end is also great, with Rooster throwing back lots of Maverick quotes at him. These are just a few brief examples.
5 Reminders
Reminders start right away in Top Gun: Maverick. The sequel opens with Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” as a group of planes land on a naval aircraft carrier. The scene is shorter in this film but it’s still a reminder to set the mood. Another song, “Great Balls of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis, also appears in the sequel.
Goose plays him alongside his family in Superior gun. Rooster, his son, plays him as his father would have if he were still alive in the sequel. It’s a bit random, but it’s still relevant. There is also a time for beach sports. It does not involve volleyball this time as the game of choice. A beach soccer match is pretty close though. None of the callbacks feel too out of place, which is important when crafting a nostalgic sequel like this.
4 Return of the Iceman
Val Kilmer hasn’t acted much since undergoing throat surgery in 2015. It was for a battle with cancer that left him almost unable to speak normally. Fans walk in Top Gun: Maverick could have been confused by the fact that Iceman returns, but says almost nothing. This tidbit about the actor should help now.
He talks to Maverick mostly through phone text messages or text messages which he places on his computer for Maverick to read. Even though Iceman’s role is small in the grand scheme of this sequel, it’s great that Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise made the effort to get this reunion on film.
3 Training
The most of Top Gun: Maverick’s The plot revolves around Maverick returning to the Top Gun program to train a new set of pilots for an upcoming mission. Maverick is still considered the best of the best even though he is a loose cannon. Even though these officers also graduated from Top Gun with honors, they still have a lot to learn.
The idea of a training segment in this sequel is like another callback to the original film. There’s even a moment where Maverick flies over a student’s jet, upside down. It’s a great way to show that Maverick is more than a flying whiz. He is also a good teacher. It just takes him a little while to figure it out.
2 The mission
The training segment leads into a good 45 minute chunk of the movie involving the main mission. For action fans, it was surely worth the wait. The intensity filmed during these jet fights is unlike anything filmed before.
There’s no other way to describe it than to call the final act a pure adrenaline rush. Everything is so well filmed. The lack of CG, or at least the concealment of how little CG there was, also helped make this segment feel more real. That was apparently Tom Cruise’s goal with Top Gun: Maverick. He says this roughly before the film begins when thanking the audience for returning to the cinema. He wanted to create an immersive experience for everyone.
As great as jet combat is Top Gun: Maverick, there was also a surprise during the ground mission. Maverick and Rooster are gunned down behind enemy lines in this final mission. They must then infiltrate the enemy compound to try to find a way out safely. They find only one jet plane that was not destroyed in the Navy bombardment.
Coincidentally, it’s an F-14 which is the same Maverick model and the other pilots used in Superior gun. This stealth mission is short compared to all aerial battles, but the diversion was appreciated. This might make fans of some of Tom Cruise’s other movies think like Impossible mission.