Note: This review discusses the author’s views and opinions of Top Gun: Maverick. Minor spoilers ahead.
After 36 years, the sequel to the seminal action flick Top Gun is here. Top Gun: Maverick is the sequel you never thought you needed. Yet, through sheer force of will, the movie has taken off and landed.
Here, we find Tom Cruise as Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the twilight of his career, still pushing boundaries and the buttons of superior officers. Due to a threat to international security, he is recalled back to the eponymous Top Gun to train a squadron of the best pilots in the Navy to perform an impossible mission. Among these pilots is Lt. Bradshaw “Rooster” Bradley (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s partner who accidentally got killed in the first movie.
Forget about names and ranks here — you’ll refer to everyone by their call signs. Some standouts are Hangman (Glen Cambell), who has the world’s smuggest grin but is somehow endearing, and Phoenix (Monica Barbaro), who could have been the token female presence but manages to take the limelight away from the excess of masculinity in the movie. Jennifer Connelly has an outstanding turn as Penny, who acts as a gentle foil to the still ever-cocky Maverick.
Don’t get us wrong, the real star of the movie is still Tom Cruise. If you thought this was to be a passing of the torch to a new set of hotshots, you’ve got another thing coming. Cruise dominates every scene he’s in, whether it is flying circles around his trainees, to death defying hi-jinks, to quiet, intimate moments that showcase his humanity (a cameo will make you cry here).
Maverick turns from a caricature of a movie trope, to one of the most fully realized characters in moviedom. Cruise cements himself as not just one of the best action stars of this generation, but the BEST action star ever.
Everywhere is the cheesiness of a 90s movie. There’s a hefty dose of nostalgia that permeates the whole movie. All this punctuated by one of the best third acts you will ever see. The sheer ridiculousness of everything that transpires in that final 30 minutes adds to the mythos of Top Gun.
It’s the movie you never needed, but somehow it satisfies you like no other thing in the world. It’s everything you wanted and more. Top Gun: Maverick is a triple cheese pizza leftover from yesterday’s party. You pop it in the microwave, and dig in. What you find is inexplicably delicious.
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