Top Gun: Maverick
Paramount Pictures’s Top Gun: Maverick is playing in theaters at time of writing.
SCREENPLAY: A
Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is back at Top Gun, this time as an instructor. He’s got three weeks to prepare the latest young aces for a perilous mission.
This is a very predictable movie. It’s largely a duplicate of the original, but the writers make enough interesting and entertaining changes to make people say, “It’s an homage to the original,” instead of, “This is a cheap, money grabbing rip-off of the original!” No one involved in making this movie pretends that the story is the main attraction, and the film is phenomenally better off for it.
ACTING: A-
Tom Cruise has spent twenty six years as Ethan Hunt. The six Mission Impossible movies have (so far) made over $825 million. That’s an absurd statistic. Maybe a handful of actors can top that. If there were a Hollywood Hall of Fame, Robert Downey Jr. is going in as Iron Man. Mark Hamill is going in as Luke Skywalker. Despite MI’s success, Cruise would stroll into the building in his Navy pilot gear. This role delivers our most iconic movie star at his most iconic. He slips Mav’s helmet back on after 36 years more easily than most people brush their teeth. The performance seems simple, but it’s marvelously magical.
The young newcomers are all solid. Miles Teller is totally believable as Goose’s son. I particularly enjoyed Monica Barbaro’s and Lewis Pullman’s performances. Val Kilmer is utterly regal in his return as Iceman. His real life health issues are incorporated into the film seamlessly and powerfully.
CRAFT: A-
A lot of this movie is spent in the air. The camera sits right on the edge of the cockpit, which makes you feel like you’re sitting on the hood of the plane. A scary proposition in real life. A thrilling one in the movie theater. More than once I grabbed my armrests, thinking I was about to be thrown into the clouds.
The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” finds new life after CSI: Miami. It doesn’t matter how many times you go up against Mav; he will fool you again and again. It’s the highlight of an incredible soundtrack.
The filmmakers use a variety of tools to connect to the original on an emotional level. The best of these tools are the many black and white photos from the 1986 film hanging on people’s walls and sitting on tables. Mav and Iceman high five each other. Goose and Mav walk the tarmac, arms around shoulders and all smiles. Sure, they’re in costume. Sure, they’re conveying their characters’ emotions. But these are real human beings at the height of their powers as much as their fictional pilots are. One can’t help but believe the smiles and laughter are the genuine expression of knowing they’ve made one of the most successful films of all time. It’s like watching a replay of a classic, old football game. Except here the stars gather together to play one more time.
GOOSE’S GHOST (Elective Class): A+
Nobody would describe Top Gun as an emotional movie. But Maverick requires just a smidge of emotional heft. Too little emotion, and the movie’s going to feel like a cash-grab. Too much, and people will complain it’s changed too much from the original.
Like tasting an impeccably seasoned dish, the storytellers nail the emotional weight perfectly. They succeed by either ignoring Goose or downplaying his memory. Of course we hear, “Talk to me, Goose,” more than once. Rooster and Mav do talk about him occasionally, but they never get into it too deeply. The director, Joel Kosinski, keeps the focus on the ridiculous story. He knows that even though Goose never appears in this movie (except for a few old photos and one tear jerking flashback), Goose exists in every single frame. His ghost is everywhere, and it provides the perfect amount of emotional fuel to make this roller coaster of a movie soar.
FINAL COMMENTS:
The crumbling theatrical movie industry has propped up many movies since the pandemic to be “The One” to save all movies. Some have come close. Some should have saved the industry, but for some reason didn’t. Folks, this right here is the movie that will remind everyone what a MOVIE is. It’s a fun, ludicrous time.
There’s a repeated line in the movie: “It’s the pilot, not the plane.” Top Gun: Maverick is so great because we get both. Tom Cruise is the pilot in the absolutely perfect plane. Will we get another movie star like Cruise? I don’t know. Let’s enjoy his ridiculous talent while we can.