Review: Top Gun: Maverick

Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

Until the mostly solid reviews dropped recently, here's a twist I wouldn't have seen coming: "Top Gun: Maverick" is not only significantly better than the original film - of which I was never much of a fan, other than a few songs on the soundtrack - but it also probably the best summer blockbuster of recent memory. 

"Top Gun" was one of the first big hits to come out of the Jerry Bruckheimer/Don Simpson factory in the 1980s - and it was followed in the 1990s by "Armageddon," "The Rock" and "Con Air" - and the original picture had some of the same flashy style, macho dialogue, over-the-top chest-thumping patriotism and emphasis on spectacle over all else of those later movies.

The original film had its highlights - that Berlin song, some great moments of '80s cheese, some decent work by director Tony Scott and, perhaps, the most memorable volleyball scene of all time - but it was otherwise, in my recollection, not quite worthy of its massive success. It's not a film that I abhor, but rather it didn't leave much of an imprint.

So, it's pretty surprising that "Maverick" is not only a significantly better action movie, but it's also funnier, more engaging, at times genuinely warm and, in at least one scene, pretty moving. It also helps that Tom Cruise has turned up this movie star-ness to 11 in this film. 

Over the years, some people have tired of Cruise's persona - and forget that when challenged, he could take on difficult roles with aplomb, such as "Magnolia," "Born on the 4th of July," "Vanilla Sky" or "Eyes Wide Shut" - but there's no doubt when watching "Maverick" that he's a genuine movie star, and the film gets a lot of mileage out of it, especially at a time when people - that is, actors - are being overshadowed by concepts, content and extended universes. This is a summer blockbuster that is driven by a movie star delivering the goods - and, yes, some exhilarating stunts - and not marketing tactics.

As for the plot, it's pretty simple, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Cruise) is seen at the film's beginning making a Mach 10 test run that pisses off military brass when, as usual, Maverick doesn't follow orders. This explains why he has remained a captain and not moved up the military ranks like his old pal/nemesis Iceman (Val Kilmer, in a moving cameo performance).

The film follows the "one last mission" style of many action movies before it. Maverick is chosen by Iceman - much to the dismay of military leaders, especially Jon Hamm's Cyclone - to train a group of young recruits to fly a dangerous and seemingly impossible mission to take out a nuclear facility being developed somewhere across the world - Iran is mentioned, but there's little in the way of politics to be found in the picture. The twist is that one of the recruits, Rooster (Miles Teller), is the son of Maverick's old friend Goose, who died during a flight with Maverick in the first film.

Rooster is upset about Maverick's sudden presence in his life, especially after Maverick essentially helped to stall his career several years prior. The reason, of course, is that Maverick didn't want to see the young man meet the same fate as his father, and had promised his mother - Meg Ryan is sadly missing in this film - that he would do what he could to prevent that from happening.

So, much of the film follows these training exercises, which are exciting and fun, and it even includes a beach football scene that's an obvious throwback to the volleyball sequence, although less tongue in cheek. There's a nice moment when Maverick is sitting at a bar watching the young recruits bond over a game of darts, and he obviously recognizes that'll never be him again.

Also thrown into the mix is a relationship between Maverick and Penny (Jennifer Connelly), who was only referenced in the first film and now owns a bar near the Navy base. She's wary of his return, considering he once broke her heart, but their burgeoning romance in the film is oddly charming, considering that we're watching a "Top Gun" sequel. It's as if Cruise was channeling "Jerry Maguire" for that particular plot strand. 

The film still has some of the problems of the original - some of the macho dialogue among the young recruits sounds a little stilted and the film, much like the original, still feels like an advertisement for the Navy. That being said, this is a summer blockbuster with a surprising amount of heart, some incredible action sequences involving real stunts and a legitimate movie star cashing in on that persona in a successful manner. Regardless of what you feel about the guy, he delivers here.