Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Director: Joseph Kosinski, Paramount Pictures.
“In this life, it’s not what you hope for, it’s not what you deserve — it’s what you take!” Tom Cruise has persevered and after 36 years he’s brought a sequel to life.
Top Gun: Maverick is an edge-of-the-seat thrill ride. Rely more on your heart than your eyes because there are not many who have ever looked finer in a cockpit. Cruise (Rain Man, A Few Good Men, Mission Impossible franchise) reprises his starring role as hotshot US Navy pilot Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell from the hit 1986 film Top Gun.
Watching Maverick is immensely enjoyable, largely because Cruise himself treats his role with much pleasure.
After more than three decades of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. He has forestalled promotions to senior positions such as Admiral for a lowly — “but much decorated” — ‘Captain’, to be able to continue doing that.
Challenging orders, he pulls another one of his stunts and gets packed off to the Top Gun academy (which he once famously attended) to work as an instructor in charge of training a new generation of pilots for an extremely risky mission.
The emotional core of the film comes in the interactions between Maverick and one of the pilots in the mission training group, Lieutenant Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw (Miles Teller, Whiplash, The Divergent Series), who is the son of Maverick’s late best friend, Nick ‘Goose’ Bradshaw (played by Anthony Edwards in Top Gun).
Maverick’s new love interest is Penelope ‘Penny’ Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly, A Beautiful Mind), a single mother, a bar owner and the daughter of a former admiral.
The cast also includes Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Val Kilmer, Ed Harris and Monica Barbaro.
Cruise insisted on filming the aerial sequences with real planes, and no digital effects. It’s exhilarating watching the movie in the air because you feel as if you’re right there riding along with them in the cockpit!
Director Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy, Oblivion) adds exuberance with wittiness as we see a fearless test pilot against the familiar backdrop of Kenny Loggins’ Danger Zone.
Slaying them in that bomber jacket, Cruise masters the skies, burns the roads and still commands some serious cash. Although age shows in close-ups, those pearly whites still shine brightly!
It’s worth the wait, as Maverick is still the Top Gun. Cruise corroborates his famous quote from the original: “I feel the need, the need for speed.” It’s an entertaining ride … as the sound barrier is smashed again!
- Top Gun: Maverick is screening in cinemas
