Synopsis
After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him.
The Need for Speed….Again
36 years ago, Top Gun flew into cinemas and proved that homoerotic volleyball was very much the ‘in’ thing at the time. With a banging 80s soundtrack that opens with Kenny Loggins’ ‘Danger Zone’ as we see F14 Tomcat jets taking off and landing onboard a naval vessel docked at sea, it is the ultimate feel-good film and, to this day, one of the highlights of Tom Cruise’s career.
So how does the sequel match up?
They’re Called Orders, Maverick
Top Gun: Maverick was another film plagued by the COVID 19 pandemic. It was originally scheduled for a July 2019 release before being moved back to June 2020, and so on and so forth. Its opening is an exact duplicate of the first film, as once more Kenny Loggins’ ‘Danger Zone’ vibrates your seats (especially in an IMAX theatre) as, this time, we see F18 Tomcats soar into the air and descend to safety onboard a naval aircraft.
Maverick is holed up in an air hanger working on a pet project, having remained a US Navy test pilot and avoiding promotion to continue to do what he does best. His current project – Darkstar – is about to be shut down but before that can happen, Maverick takes his scramjet on a test run, breaking hypersonic speed in the first of the film’s many amazing shot sequences. As he takes off overhead, a very disgruntled rear admiral Chester “Hammer” Cain begrudgingly forced to watch, Maverick blows the roof off a nearby hut in the process.
For his recklessness Cain wants Maverick grounded, but instead he’s shipped off to become a TopGun instructor at the request of the commander of the US Pacific Fleet, his old friend Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer). The others at the academy aren’t shy in making their disapproval known, including Vice Admiral Beau “Cyclone” Simpson (John Hamm). Maverick’s orders are to train an elite group of Top Gun aviators in preparation for one of the most daunting missions ever undertaken. This elite group includes the son of Maverick’s late friend Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, who was tragically killed in the first film.
Achieving a Miracle
Throughout the course of the film, tensions rise between not only the candidates but between Maverick and Goose’s son Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, as training for this mission becomes intense and, making matters worse, Bradley has never forgiven Maverick for his father’s death.
As the film progresses, at one stage we’re treated to another homoerotic scene, which again mirrors the classic but this time it’s American football and not volleyball. When questioned as to why Maverick is out here doing this instead of training his team, he insists that this is what’s needed to build a team: participating in a team sport.
I’ll avoid spoiling the rest for those of you who have yet to see it but simply put Top Gun: Maverick is the reason IMAX screens exist. The cinematography and sound design are exceptional, and this is one of those films that is deserving of an admission fee (as let’s be honest IMAX tickets aren’t cheap). It’s a big budget blockbuster of epic scale with the visuals, storyline, acting and soundtrack to back it all up.
In my opinion, Spiderman: No Way Home was the first big spectacle post COVID to get bums back on seats, whereas Top Gun: Maverick is the first big summer spectacle in 3 years and the first of this year to show that cinemas (and to quote Phil Collins’ autobiography) are not dead yet. It’s amounted a massive profit since its release and is Tom Cruise’s biggest ever film to date.
Also, if you thought Cruise had any intention of slowing down think again, as he’ll be back on the big screen next year for part 1 of the finale to the Mission: Impossible series entitled Dead Reckoning, which is sure to be another summer hit.
Verdict
Overall, this is a 5-star film that exceeds the original, much like Blade Runner 2049 before it.
Written by James Oliver | BanterFlix Contributor