After a massive 36 year gap, Tom Cruise returns as one of his most cherished characters in Maverick in Top Gun: Maverick. Cruise played LT Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the first Top Gun back in 1986 in which Maverick along with Iceman (Val Kilmer) has to fight to protect their ship which had drifted into hostile waters.
Reminiscing the Good Times
The first Top Gun was phenomenal, it featured an amazing cast, some genuinely breathtaking adrenaline-filled dog fights (plane battles) and have you ever heard of the song ‘Take my Breath Away’? Yup, it was from this exact movie.
The movie showed a glimpse of the glamourous lifestyle those air force pilots lived while also showing the brutal harsh realities people in forces have to suffer as we see Maverick’s best pal Goose die in a plane training exercise. All in all, ‘true cinema’ as Scorcese might say (or actually the meme says?)
Hollywood loves nothing more than a good comeback
So here is one for Maverick. Cruise returns as the charismatic ace fighter pilot in Top Gun: Maverick. The trailer shows Maverick has somehow dodged promotions and still is a pilot trainer even after 30 years of service in the Air Force. The plot is that Iceman who is now the Commander of the U.S Pacific Fleet puts Maverick in charge of the Top Gun students as the threat of an impending War.
Cruise and Hamm lead the charge
The movie features a stellar star cast. Cruise leads the line returning as Maverick. Batman actor Val Kilmer returns as Iceman and Baby Driver star Jon Hamm joins the crew as Vice Admiral Cyclone.
My hunch is that the most interesting character will be played by Whiplash actor Miles Teller who plays Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, a pilot trainee, and the son of Maverick’s late best friend and co-pilot, Nick “Goose” Bradshaw.
Hope For Genuinely Exciting Action
The highlight of the original Top Gun was the incredible dog fight scenes which were absolutely amazing. They were shot and choreographed so well to give us an immersive look at what goes on in a hostile situation. If Top Gun: Maverick wants to emulate the success of the first instalment, it has to deliver on the action. It is the main USP of this movie (aside from seeing Tom Cruise returning as Maverick).
But if the trailer is anything to go by, the action scenes look incredible. As camera technology has improved, sometimes it feels like filmmakers and studios use it as an excuse to put in minimal effort. And make some generic action scenes that are just a VFX induced mess, but this movie along with some others has a chance to show how amazing dog fight scenes would look with modern-day cameras.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy) and written by Peter Craig (The Batman) and Justin Marks (The Jungle Book), Produced by Mission Impossible director Christopher Mcquarrie, Top Gun: Maverick debuts on theatres on May 27th, 2022.
