Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Title:  Top Gun: Maverick

Year: 2022

Genre: Action  | Drama |

Runtime: 130 min

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Starring:  Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm

8.3/10

After more than thirty years of service, military awards, medals, and decorations for extraordinary heroism in combat, distinguished US Navy Captain Pete Mitchell, call sign Maverick, finds himself exactly where he belongs: pushing the limits as a top test pilot. Having spent years avoiding promotions after the events of Top Gun (1986), Maverick must now confront the ugly past and an uncertain future while tasked with training the next generation of elite fighter pilots for a nearly impossible suicide mission. 

CRUISE DOES CRAZY SHIT,

 THE REST REACTS TO IT

Tom Cruise’s role often in action films often is men who ignore the rules, do dangerous stunts, and gets the girl in the end. That’s often a winning concept with an actor like Cruise. He is the pilot, the motorcyclist who does whatever needs to be done if that’s the case.

Top Gun: Maverick is not an exception. It’s a sequel that throws a callback to the original a couple of times. Time; the film brings it up all the time. A time that has passed, time to let the past go, and time before the mission starts. At 70 minutes it’s clear that the plot follows the type of miracle hole-in-one hit of a target, similar to what George Lucas pulled off in A New Hope.

Beyond the mission, there’s a lot of emotional drama. Even when death is present, it projects that Maverick can’t hold back his inner instincts. For doing his job he’s grounded. Tom Cruise’s efforts pay off in this film. It comes off naturally and he is not all over the place like he usually is. It’s a toned downed role and if you wanna see Maverick doing things he shouldn’t do. Problem is that Jon Hamm doesn’t feel like the boss like Ed Harris, who sends Maverick to Top Gun. 

Tom Cruise is surprisingly good in this. He’s an inspiration to the rest of the team and once he sacrificed his life in thought, he does it with braveur. Miles Teller as Goose is decent and doesn’t bring any impressive performance but still a solid effort. Seeing Val Kilmer returning for a minor role as Goose makes it all personal for the character. We can then get why he ends up the way he does. The music stands out and the sound editing elevates the performance. It’s wonderful to see the scenes between Cruise and Jennifer Connelly together.

The editing of the movie keeps the story engaged and doesn’t filtrate over the overtime. It has a good pace and has emotional value with the use of interesting angles. The cinematography is not revolutionary but good enough to make it interesting. The same goes for visuals.

It’s a fun, memorable film with good character development and intriguing plot points. The action scenes with no CGI-implemented add to the story. It is what a sequel should do without the politics involved or distractions, a pure clean movie with good story elements and characters.