Review: Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Top Gun: Maverick

Rating

Director

Joseph Kosinski

Screenplay

Peter Craig, Justin Marks, Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie

Length

2h 10m

Starring

Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Bashir Salahuddin, Jon Hamm, Charles Parnell, Monica Barbaro, Lewis Pullman, Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Glen Powell, Jack Schumacher, Manny Jacinto, Kara Wang, Greg Tarzan Davis, Jake Picking, Raymond Lee, Jean Louisa Kelly, Lyliana Wray, Ed Harris

MPAA Rating

PG-13

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Review

As the pandemic demonstrated, audiences are becoming less interested in seeing adult dramas on the big screen, waiting instead for their arrival on this or that streaming service. Top Gun: Maverick aims to blend the gung-ho, larger than life action set pieces that bring audience to the theaters with a traditional drama of the kind they used to make when the film’s predecessor was initially released.

Any child of the ’80s has a connection to Top Gun whether it be the film itself or the music that came out of it. That ’80s nostalgia still plays well at the box office, so it was no surprise that a sequel eventually made it to the big screen. Tom Cruise, the star of the original film, is back while Val Kilmer came back in a cameo. After this film, director Joseph Kosinski, who previously directed Cruise in Oblivion, makes himself an obvious choice for every potential blockbuster for some time thanks to his deft handling of a storyline that could have been as ham-fisted and obvious as the original.

Set decades after the the 1986 blockbuster, Cruise’s Maverick has been called up to help plan a crucial mission to blow up a uranium enrichment facility before it gets operational. He’s told he won’t be flying the mission himself, but that he must instead teach the best candidates from the Top Gun ranks how to carry out the mission, whether they come out alive on the other side or not. (Spoilers for the original for the rest of this paragraph.) Carrying the wounds of the death of his friend and co-pilot during the original film, Maverick must come to grips with his culpability while facing the consequences of his actions related to his late friend’s son (Miles Teller), now among the candidates to take on the task.

Cruise has always been an affable presence on film and that megawatt smile works wonders. While he does try to convey a different sense of world-weariness, it doesn’t always come off as believable. Jennifer Connelly is much better as a bartender and his ex-girlfriend who’s given far too little to do. The young pilots aren’t entirely interchangeable, but none of them stand out in any measurable capacity other than Glen Powell who comes off the best as something of a smug asshole, but one we don’t entirely hate. Additionally, Teller isn’t as grating as he has been in other purposes, which is a victory, though perhaps it’s the moustache doing the heavy lifting?

The film’s creative elements, from revolutionary aerial photography to tight sound control, creating a beautiful aural environment, are all tremendous and while the script has its weaknesses, there’s no doubt that Top Gun: Maverick is a popcorn flick in the best sense of the word.

As for those anti-diversity warriors who claim this film is anti-woke, they clearly don’t understand the concept. The film increased its diversity over its predecessor tremendously, adding more women and minorities to the cast. The original film was almost all white and all male. The only people they didn’t replace were Kilmer and Cruise. Further, the fact that they don’t specifically name the “enemy power” that they are targeting further supports the notion that the film is as woke as any other, it’s just less vocal about it.

Top Gun: Maverick is a little bloated at times and could have used a bit of trimming, especially in its third act, but there’s no denying the magnetic energy the film brings to the viewer. It’s a glossy, glorious dogfight experience that excites and entices the audience. It takes us back to a time when blockbusters could be both engaging and entertaining. While the original might not be a dramatic tour-de-force, its sequel certainly is.