I’m getting to this Reaction late, so the narrative has already been written for Maverick. It’s a hit. Not just a hit: a sensation. It’s a strange success in that, going in, there were as many reasons to expect it to flop as there were to become a genuine blockbuster. First of all, Top Gun was a long time ago. It’s hard to find a gap between sequels that led to great box office numbers. Then there’s the delay. It was originally set to release summer of 2020. Obviously, COVID delays pushed it back, but it’s the most delayed of any blockbuster due to COVID. Most studios took a chance and released their films sometime last year. I certainly worried that Maverick waiting this long meant that Paramount wasn’t as committed to it. Tied to that is the fact that older audiences have been slow to return to the cineplex, and surely Maverick needed to soar on the backs of boomers and elder Gen-X to succeed. On the other hand, the original Top Gun was the highest grossing film of the year it came out. It has maintained a high reputation. Tom Cruise has used the Mission: Impossible movies to keep his career as successful as ever. So, going into that first weekend, I didn’t know what to expect from the film or the box office.
Now we know older audiences finally returned to theaters, Tom Cruise is as big a draw as ever, Top Gun’s reputation precedes it, and there’s no stopping Maverick at the box office. But is it any good? The short answer is yes. So, I might as well get into the how and why.
This is Tom Cruise’s second movie that could be best described as a video game. His first, of course, is Edge of Tomorrow, which is the best on screen depiction of playing that same level in a game over and over until you finally beat it. Maverick is very similar to that. First, you choose your character. There’s the wily veteran (Cruise) whose stats are all maxed out, including disobedience. Or maybe you pick the hot-shot young pilot with off the chart skill but horrible teamwork (Glen Powell). How about the technically stellar pilot with low mission aggression (Miles Teller)? If you are really feeling frisky, you could pick the two-man crew of the timid but intelligent gunner (Lewis Pullman) and the pilot who is, in fact, a woman (Monica Barbaro). And because these are video game characters, don’t worry, they all have incredibly exaggerated features, like they’re straight out of Street Fighter. There’s even a cut scene of them playing beach football where they all look superhumanly fit. Now that you’ve selected your pilot, it’s time for your mission. You have 2:30 minutes to race through a canyon, avoid anti-aircraft missiles, fly up a mountain, hit a tiny target (twice) to destroy a uranium plant, and escape in a dogfight against superior forces. Here’s the catch. You’re on your last life, so you only get one shot at this. You do have two weeks to play the practice course at many times as you want to get it right though.
And that’s basically Maverick in a nutshell. Capt. Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell (Tom Cruise) has a storied career since his days at Top Gun, but his rebellious streak has kept him from ever rising up the ranks the way his accomplishments should’ve. After his latest stunt, he’s sent back to Top Gun as an instructor to prepare a group of the top Naval pilots for a nearly impossible mission. In that group is the son of his best friend, Goose, who died in the first film. The son is played by Miles Teller, and he has a very legitimate gripe with Maverick. Because this is Top Gun, there’s an uptight authority figure played by Jon Hamm who has no patience for Maverick’s shenanigans and there’s an old flame played by Jennifer Connelly who owns the bar where all the pilots hang out.
The plot really is as simple as it sounds. The villain, hilariously, is left unnamed. Rather than hurt any potential global market for the film, the enemy with the Uranium plant is only referred to as “the enemy”. We only see their pilots under helmets with every inch of skin covered. Their planes are devoid of any flags or emblems. Initially, I was cynical of this decision. Like, just have the courage to piss off Russia or China. The more I thought about it though: Sure. Why not leave the enemy generic? The mission is the point, not the enemy or larger global context. Putting a North Korean flag on an aircraft has absolutely no impact on my enjoyment of the film. I’m not watching this for realism. It’s a funny decision, but I just don’t care.
Besides, the action is the focus, not the combatant. And the action in this is pretty spectacular. I’m so glad that Hollywood eventually figured out that CGI is best used to amplify not replace. I’m sure Maverick is filled with invisible special effects that I didn’t realize were there, but it shines because the foundation is a lot of practical effects and stunt work. It’s just cool to see fighter jets zipping around on screen. The film spends a long time playing up the stakes and difficulty of the mission, but by the time we get to the real thing at the end, director Joseph Kosinski delivers a tense and exciting sequence.
It’s a pretty pitch perfect cast too. Tom Cruise is in his element. He’s cocky without ever being villainous. Maverick knows he’s the best. The movie knows it. The other pilots eventually figure it out. Perhaps there’s a movie in the future about Tom Cruise reaching his limits and passing the torch, but this isn’t it. Cruise is the singular star of this movie, but the rest of the cast gets enough to do here to book future gigs in franchises. Glen Powell seems determined to drip with charisma in every shot until someone finally makes him top billed in something. Miles Teller is less of a lead than I expected, but he’s in a sweet spot of clearly being an adult but carrying himself like a hurt kid. I was flippant earlier about Monica Barbaro as the only female pilot. I’m not going to pretend that she’s a multi-faceted character with a rich back story. None of the pilots are. They are all types but they play them well. The same goes with Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, and Jay Ellis too. Maybe Barbaro is the token female pilot in the casting, but she’s treated like just another pilot in this. Jon Hamm and, in a quite small role that I wish would’ve been bigger, Ed Harris are solid authority figures. Jennifer Connelly is absolutely lovely in this. It’s a super-thin character, not really befitting on an Oscar winner, but I’d rather see Jennifer Connelly inject life into a thin character than get no Jennifer Connelly at all. Besides, it’s been a treat seeing a younger generation discover how insanely attractive she’s been for nearly four decades…Dammit. Am I going to have to watch the Snowpiercer series?
I’ve gone on long enough about a movie that most people are seeing anyway. Top Gun: Maverick is a massive crowd-pleaser that delivers all the things a reasonable person should hope for going in. Tom Cruise is still a goddamn movie star. Planes are still fast. Kenny Loggins still rips.
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
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