Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
RATING: 9.5 out of 10
CLASS: Must See Director: Joseph Kosinski
Cast: Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller 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. Genre: Action, Drama MPAA Rating: PG-13 Runtime: 2 hr 10 min Release Date: May 27, 2022 I've said it many times before, but it's worth saying once again--great sequels are extremely hard to come by these days. Even good sequels are hard to come by. Usually what we get are empty, CGI-overloaded cash grabs that don't hold a candle to the original much less surpass them in quality, which is incredibly frustrating in a 21st century that possesses pioneering visual effects.
Enter Top Gun: Maverick, the long-awaited sequel to the 1986 hit film about the U.S. Navy's elite flight school featuring the country's top pilots. The original film was good--it featured an in his prime Tom Cruise, great action sequences (especially for their day), and a straight-forward narrative that keeps you engaged enough, although there's still definitely more to be desired in it. A sequel arriving over 35 years later had a lot riding on it, and boy, does Maverick deliver. Top Gun: Maverick is in the same class of sequels as Blade Runner 2049 (which also coincidentally arrived about 35 years after the original--and was directed by Tony Scott's (original Top Gun director's) brother, Ridley Scott) as well as classic sequels like Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Aliens. To put it simply, Top Gun: Maverick is a sequel done right. It expands on the world of the original, further developing its main characters, while also delivering far superior cinematography, production design, and action sequences. The CGI is very limited here--Cruise was adamant about doing as many of the stunts in-camera as possible (something not surprising considering Cruise's affinity for doing his own stunt work). The lack of CGI is supremely refreshing to see in a film landscape that's replacing real stunts with digital effects. You feel the action, not just watch it. You feel the roar of the F-18 engines--they have a tangible weight to them on screen, and that makes a huge difference watching this film on the big screen. And that's another reason this film is such a success--seeing it in theaters as opposed to your 55" TV screen at home. Cruise was also adamant about this film NOT going straight to streaming, as he believed (rightly so) that the best way to experience this film was in theaters. And boy did it pay off. The film as of this writing has grossed $1.4 billion and is the highest grossing film of 2022, and only the second to cross the $1 billion mark post-pandemic. Releasing this film direct to streaming would've been a huge tragedy and disservice to everyone involved. But importantly, it's not just the incredible practical stunts and real fighter planes that elevate Top Gun: Maverick far above the original film. This has a good story to go along with it, with an aging Maverick feeling displaced and threatened with the idea that his kind will soon go extinct (a probable double entendre to this practical style of filmmaking that is dying as well). He has an internal struggle with that, as well as a conflict with Rooster (Miles Teller), the son of his deceased best friend Goose from the original film, as he pulled his application from the academy to try to keep him from becoming a pilot after what happened to his father. Maverick also bumps into his former girlfriend Penny (Jennifer Connelly), and they rekindle their relationship throughout the movie. As a whole, there's more substance and emotional pull here than in the original Top Gun, primarily stemming from Maverick's relationship with Rooster. There's also higher stakes, which makes for more suspenseful action sequences--which align perfectly with the superior practical effects. The last element that boosts Maverick is the music. The score was composed by Lorne Balfe, Harold Faltermeyer, and Hans Zimmer. A large portion is remixed from the main themes of the original film, but there's also new portions here, including instrumental bits from Lady Gaga's "Hold My Hand," which anchors the film's emotional beats perfectly. Music is always a huge part in the emotional attachment I have to a movie, and Maverick really brought out all the stops in that department. You care about these characters--they aren't one dimensional. When they're in danger or high stress situations, you feel stressed along with them, and you want them to make it out alive. That also makes a big difference in the success of a film's narrative and writing--simply caring about who is on screen. Top Gun: Maverick earns its place as one of the best sequels ever made, both from technological and story standpoints. Like the classic sequels mentioned, it expands on its predecessor in instrumental ways by developing its characters, making them have real internal and external conflicts, and utilizing breathtaking 21st century stunt work instead of relying on CGI to get by (I shudder to think how this film would've turned out in Disney's hands). There's a reason it made so much money--it turns out people will flock to see a movie that isn't a mindless, CGI-laden cash grab sequel. Other studios should drop what they're doing and take note, as this is how a proper sequel is done. Written by Anthony Watkins, September 4, 2022 |