Serving as both a throwback to the old school, high-octane blockbusters of the 80s, and an update of the format, Top Gun: Maverick may still play with a lot of the classic tropes of the genre, but it delivers a final act quite unlike anything that’s been committed to the big screen before.

Premise: Reassigned after once again disobeying orders, fighter pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is sent back to the “Top Gun” US naval flight academy – but this time, his assignment is to train a team of elite Navy pilots how to survive a dangerous mission into hostile territory to destroy an illegal uranium enrichment facility. Maverick’s new role also forces him to face his past, including Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly), a former flame, and Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s former co-pilot, Goose.

Review:

To set the context for this review, I have to confess that I’m not really a fan of the original 1986 Top Gun movie. I found Maverick in that film to be quite an obnoxious character for the most part, I didn’t enjoy the (frankly inappropriate and unprofessional) relationship between him and his instructor Charlie (Kelly McGillis), I wasn’t invested in the ego-driven competition between the pilots in the Top Gun class, and as a child raised on the X-Wing versus TIE fighter dogfights from Star Wars, I found the aerial action sequences a little underwhelming. So when they announced that they were making a (very belated) sequel to Top Gun, my reaction was an eyeroll and my expectations were low.

The reason I say all of this, is that I want to make it clear that Top Gun: Maverick is a really enjoyable film, even if you haven’t seen or (in my case) didn’t particularly like the original film. Not only have all of my issues with the first film been fixed in this sequel, but Top Gun: Maverick also takes practically-shot action cinema to new heights (pun intended).

“…Maverick has far more emotional depth & character development…”

It perhaps all starts with Tom Cruise and his evolution of the character of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. Although they have retained the rule-breaking rebellious streak that arguably personified the character in the first film, here it’s directed with less self-centred intent. For example, the opening incident of insubordination that results in Maverick being reassigned back to Top Gun isn’t a case of Maverick disobeying orders for his own egotistical reasons, but rather, he’s potentially sacrificing his career for the sake of others. In this sequel, Maverick has far more emotional depth and character development than he ever had in the original film, and it makes him a far more rounded (and likeable) character as a result.

The second improvement over the first film is the love story, which is perhaps better simply because it arguably isn’t really a “love story”, it’s a story of emotional reconnection. The name “Penny Benjamin” was mentioned in a throwaway line in the first film, but in Top Gun: Maverick, she’s finally brought to life by the always-brilliant Jennifer Connelly. If I’m being totally honest, the role is perhaps a little underwritten in this sequel, but an actress as good as Jennifer Connelly is able to add depth and layers to her character even with limited screentime. The easy and familiar chemistry between Jennifer Connelly and Tom Cruise in this film does a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of establishing their history as on-again-off-again lovers, and because this is a relationship based on reconnecting over a shared past, it feels very different from the Pete/Charlie dynamic in the original film.

“…the relationship between Maverick & Rooster forms the emotional core of this sequel…”

The rest of the cast is also universally fantastic, from the veterans like Jon Hamm and Ed Harris, to the newer faces like Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Monica Barbaro and Bashir Salahuddin. But I wanted to take a moment to single out a couple of the cast members: firstly, Miles Teller is totally convincing as the son of Nick "Goose" Bradshaw, Maverick’s co-pilot who was killed in the original film. The relationship between Maverick and Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, who has followed in his father’s footsteps to Top Gun despite Maverick’s attempts to stop him, forms the emotional core of this sequel, and Miles Teller is great at playing both the larger moments in the relationship, and the quieter, more introspective moments.

Secondly, this film features a very touching appearance by Val Kilmer as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, Maverick’s former Top Gun rival, now an admiral and Maverick’s guardian angel in the US Navy. As some of you may know, Val Kilmer has stepped back from acting in recent years after his battle with throat cancer reduced his voice to a rasp, but Top Gun: Maverick not only weaves his character into the film as a constant offscreen presence, but it also brings him back for a genuinely emotional scene with Tom Cruise, which could potentially be Val Kilmer’s final big screen appearance (and if so, it provides him with a very poignant send-off).

“…the final act has to be seen to be believed…”

But as good as the cast all are, let’s be honest, you came here for the action, not the character development – and on that level, Top Gun: Maverick delivers in spades. Director Joseph Kosinski, who previously worked with Tom Cruise on the underrated Oblivion, has taken big screen arial photography to a whole new level, with pilot POVs, real-life cockpit footage showing the actors zooming over the terrain, and impressive exterior shots of fighter plane dogfights, all putting the audience in amongst the action with the pilots themselves. I’m sure there are CGI elements, but the sequences feel so real that you’ll swear they filmed the whole movie practically. And while the training missions at Top Gun are pretty impressive, the final act focusing on the actual clandestine mission to destroy the illegal nuclear facility, has to be seen to be believed.

But it’s not just the action footage that elevates the film, it’s also the welcome touches that Christopher McQuarrie (working from a screenplay written by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer) brings to the script. As anyone who’s seen Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission Impossible films knows, McQ is great at playing with and undermining movie tropes and audience expectations, and his influence on this film is felt strongly, particularly in the final act. But even before then, he injects moments of unexpected levity alongside the emotion, and he fundamentally gives the plot real stakes (training for a dangerous covert mission into an unnamed rogue state to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons), rather than it just being the same d**k-measuring ego-contest that the first film was centred around.

“…the awe-inspiring final act delivers action sequences unlike anything you’ve seen before…”

That’s not to say that Top Gun: Maverick isn’t without its flaws: like Jennifer Connelly’s role, Jon Hamm’s character is arguably underwritten, and the film is littered with cliches and genre tropes. There are also bits that are undeniably cheesy or predictable – but these “flaws” don’t detract from the enjoyment of the movie, in the same way that the nutritional shortcomings in comfort food don’t necessarily diminish their appeal. In that respect, Top Gun: Maverick is like the best kind of fast food – it takes a familiar formula with all your favourite “guilty pleasures”, and while it doesn’t necessarily turn it into fine dining, it does bring enough new inventive touches that it creates something that is far better than the sum of its parts. So while there are still some elements of the movie that feel like a throwback to the bombastic blockbusters of the 80s, the awe-inspiring final act delivers action sequences unlike anything you’re likely to have seen before.