Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

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1. 

   baraka92

   That’s what I’m talking about!
   
   I saw Top Gun for the first time, less than 24 hours before Maverick. Didn’t like it and I still managed to get goosebumps (pun intended). It hits all the right marks. Definitely one of the best sequels in recent memory.
   
   You can call the plot predictable but it’s all in the execution

   As someone with almost zero suspension of disbelief, my mind was telling me “of course Maverick isn’t dead” but at that exact moment I was like “NOOOO!!!”

   . And the action… well, Tom Cruise is in it, so you know what to expect. Amazing stuff! Do yourself a favor and see it on IMAX.
   
   The 80’s cheese and the propagandistic tone of the original are gone but at the same time (thank God) there’s no cynicism or self-aware approach towards it; aside from a few “Tom is getting old” jokes, I guess. Yes, there are nostalgic beats that are expected in a sequel like this, but they never feel forced. Every callback to the first film serves the story. This is less like The Force Awakens and more like Creed. And in terms of the new, all the actors that play the young pilots are very likeable, even Hangman

   who gets his shining moment at the end. Another predictable thing that got me excited.

   
   
   Above all, the thing that ties the movie together is the theme of the human spirit rising above any effort to tame it ("It's not the plane, it's the pilot"). It’s inspiring and gets you pumped. There's a lot of heart inside the screen and behind it; I believe that's the key. I haven’t left the theatre after a blockbuster feeling this satisfied since Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Cruise is on his own league. Thank you, Sir.
   
   Edit:
   The movie is also an allegory for Cruise's life. Legend; analogue champion; written off as a relic; lots of controversies; does things his own way; "refuses to die" ;

   and in the end saves the day/earns a billion at the box office.

   It's all in the scene with Ed Harris.
   Going further with this (I know it might be a stretch), I believe Tom is trying to tell us something. Yes, riding planes (inside or outside), hanging from cliffs or the Burj Khalifa is cool, yet it seems he's yearning for something more grounded. Pay attention to all the appereances by Jennifer Connelly's daughter; how Maverick looks at her, overhears her conversations with her mother and what they're about. Just normal-everyday stuff. Also, the moment Rooster tells nobody would mourn him. Is he projecting the rocky relationship with his daughter? As the documentary Tom Cruise: An Eternal Youth points out (watch it on Youtube), it seems that Cruise puts a lot of himself onscreen. More than most would notice. The doc takes a dark tone but just like Maverick, ends up humanizing Cruise and adds another layer to his filmography. The way it frames Eyes Wide Shut, Magnolia, War of the Worlds and the Mission Impossible franchise is very interesting. Even if I'm crazy this movie still rules. 2 years 4 months ago
2. 

   Siskoid

   The original Top Gun was a cheesefest. Iconic, but something easily made fun of. Top Gun: Maverick is something else. It's first, best idea was to focus on a single, difficult (not to say suicide) mission. Yes, it's a mission that's right out of Star Wars, but it gives the movie a direction the original didn't really have. And despite seeing all the training, it still surprises and thrills when it's go time, and leads to as suspenseful and rousing a finale as you're likely to see in an action flick this year. Part of the trick, of course, is how real it all feels thanks to madman Cruise requiring all the cabin shots to be, in fact, real. The actors are in the air, pulling Gs, and if there's CG in this thing (I'm sure they didn't really destroy planes), it becomes impossible to see the difference. Even beyond the stellar action, this is a good-looking movie, purposefully paying tribute to Tony Scott - the anamorphic lens, the perpetual golden hour, sweaty bodies glistening, even the synthy score. It's nostalgia, but well done nostalgia, and in a way, fits the theme of this story about a man who hasn't been able to let go of the past. Maverick is stuck in place and has no upward mobility because of his insubordinate attitude, but emotionally too, having never recovered from the death of Goose. The heart of the picture is his difficult relationship with Goose's son Rooster (Miles Teller) who he is trying to shield, but also holding back. While satisfying on that emotional level (with additional counterpoint by Jennify Connelly as his first age-appropriate love interest in a long time, and Bashir Salahuddin as his ground crew sidekick), the movie is also frequently funny, making fun of Maverick himself as a guy who's really too old to be pulling this kind of crap. Has Cruise finally decided to allow his screen persona to age? This really is the complete entertainment package 2 years 3 months ago
3. 

   Earring72

   Exciting popcorn movie. Really watch this in the cinema. Yes, it's predictable and nostalgic but a LOT of fun and the flying sequences are really great and exciting. Cruise is THE man!!!!! 2 years 3 months ago

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