Top Gun: Maverick (2022) Review

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Top Gun: Maverick follows Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, now a test pilot for the military, who is reassigned back at Top Gun at the behest of Iceman, to teach a new class of pilots ahead of a near impossible mission. 

Okay, don’t get me wrong, the original Top Gun is good, nothing crazy. Top Gun: Maverick though has no reason being as good as it is. Picking up over 35 years later, Maverick is exactly where we pictured he’d be, ever the rule-breaking, adrenaline junkie, chasing the ghosts of Goose and his father. Partly as punishment, after an exciting as all hell opening sequence, he’s sent back to Top Gun to train it’s best and brightest ahead of an impossibility dangerous mission. And with that, director Joseph Kosinski takes the threads of the original and spins them into an intergenerational dad movie of truly epic proportions, brilliantly tapping into nostalgia for the original, while aiming for new levels of emotional grandeur, by bringing together Maverick and Goose’s son, Rooster, who still blames him for his fathers death.

As well as a gripping story, damn if Top Gun: Maverick doesn’t also boast some of the most viscerally intense action ever put to film. Cruise and company were clearly very dedicated to providing the most authentic experience possibly and they delivered in every way imaginable. With every high speed aerial maneuver, every dogfight, every training sequence, it’s like you’re right there in the cockpit, feeling every bit of pull and drag and G-force as the actors (who were actually flying). Truly a case for doing things practically and providing the best viewing experience possible. 

We get a fantastic cast as well, starring Val Kilmer, Charles Parnell, Lewis Pullman, Jon Hamm, Monica Barbaro, Glen Powell, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, and Tom Cruise. I was quite impressed with Maverick’s new era of pilots, particularly Teller, who really surprised with a layered performance that brought the most out of Cruise, especially come their third act escape. 

Top Gun: Maverick, directed by Joseph Kosinski, is a masterclass in authentic, vertigo inducing filmmaking, far surpassing it’s predecessor in terms of story, visuals, and heart, in what is easily one of the most exciting films of the year. 

9.6/10