The Nostalgic Brilliance Of TOP GUN: MAVERICK

Top Gun: Maverick moves at lightning speed, opening with confidence, collision, and a golden hue – and as a film, it surpassed all expectations. Crash-landing onto the big screen in 2022, this sequel to the 1980’s cult classic was a phenomenal success. Raking in almost $1.5 billion worldwide, it was among the highest-grossing films of 2022. The success of Top Gun: Maverick was a remarkable feat and one that took many critics by surprise, particularly since the film was postponed and re-shot multiple times, which lowered expectations even further. But against all odds, Top Gun: Maverick blew audiences away with its kinetic action and compelling drama.

Riding High on Nostalgia

There’s a lot to like in Top Gun: Maverick and it’s arguably one of Tom Cruise’s best films in recent years. The key to its wide appeal and its success as a blockbuster sequel is the juxtaposition between the past and the present, which sees Maverick (Cruise) reflecting on the passing of time. Right from the outset, it offers a slice of nostalgia with scenes of Cruise in an arial jet, soaring the skies, using stunning aerial cinematography, as well as flashbacks from the original movie that remind modern audiences of Maverick’s glory days, moments with friends and the ghosts of his past. Top Gun: Maverick serves as a warm welcome home for the fans of the original while paving the way for a whole new generation.

As a sequel, Top Gun: Maverick isn’t narratively ground-breaking, but instead it continues a story that started in 1986, focusing on Cruise’s protagonist as he struggles to move forward and let go of the past. While serving as a call back to the original, it still plays out as a standalone story that revolves around a one-last-job type of mission. Maverick, after 30 years of service, has become a mainstay in the US Navy, working as a test pilot. He’s reluctantly called to take the lead of a young group of pilots, including Rooster (Miles Teller), the son of Goose who served as Maverick’s wingman in the first movie – and unsurprisingly the pair clash, with the past coming back to haunt Maverick in more ways than one.

There’s a compelling human drama in Top Gun: Maverick, but the film is at its stunning best when Maverick is in the air. Plenty of action blockbusters have produced iconic air sequences, but few can match the visceral scenes of Cruise sitting in the c*ckpit of an F-18 fighter jet. Cruise, himself, is a certified pilot and his recent cinematic outputs have seen him push himself to his physical limits. From climbing the Burj Khalifa to skydiving out of a plane in the Mission Impossible franchise, Cruise has established himself as one of the most daring Hollywood actors. However, despite the audacity he’s shown in other movies, Cruise doesn’t actually fly the jets in Top Gun: Maverick, with professional Navy pilots taking control in the air – but the actors performed everything we see in the c*ckpits. Regardless, it all looks absolutely real. What director Joseph Kosinski and his team accomplished in Top Gun: Maverick, using practical effects instead of solely relying on CGI, is mightily impressive and gives the film its ferocity.

The Action Hero

Top Gun: Maverick opts for a gritter and more intricate approach to action filmmaking, like in many of the newer action films, a trend which arguably began with Doug Liman’s The Bourne Identity, released 21 years ago. That film made a massive impact on the genre due to its ground-breaking action which was all focused around realism and practical effects. Since then, cinema has given birth to a crusade of action movies that deliver raw, realistic action sequences and stunts. For example, the performance of Keanu Reeves in the now-iconic John Wick franchise has cemented audiences’ appetites for frantic action, as well as Tom Hardy’s robust turn in Mad Max: Fury Road, which tells the story of a post-apocalyptic road warrior trying to survive in a desert wasteland. This demand for realism was supplemented even further by Charlize Theron in the bone-jarring Atomic Blonde, a Cold War spy thriller based on a graphic novel.

It would be fair to say a new standard for action movies has been set over the last decade, in which the stars need to train for the physical elements to capture the realism of the stunts as closely as possible. In the duration of Maverick’s naval pursuits, one could argue it all seems like a fight against mortality and the inevitability of ageing, underpinned with an emotional core that compliments a rather simple story. The film subscribes to the “Don’t think, just do” mantra, demanding we live in the moment and Top Gun: Maverick succeeds by relying on pure entertainment. In the film, Maverick must overcome his own emotions in order to complete the mission and protect the young pilots, both of which become the driving force of the narrative.

Conclusion:

Ultimately, Top: Gun Maverick preserves the atmosphere of a timeless era and places it in the modern-day, harnessing an infectious energy that keeps the drama soaring high, and it remains an absolute blast to watch. There are all kinds of dangers and challenges in the film that leave a long-lasting impression. What we have in Top Gun: Maverick is a film that’s terrifically conceived and near-perfectly executed – a memorable addition to an ever-growing collection of action movies.

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