TOP GUN: MAVERICK - Andy's Review

[AndyDursin]

Nearly 3 years late -- was this movie shot in 2017-18?!? -- I just bought my ticket. Splurged for the ear-drum rattling "XPlus" premium experience and got my voucher for the free sunglasses!!!

[Monterey Jack]

Splurged for the ear-drum rattling "XPlus" premium experience and got my voucher for the free sunglasses!!!

You can ride my tail anytime, Andy.

[Eric W.]

I hope it's good.

[AndyDursin]

Interesting:

[AndyDursin]

9/10

It might be an overstatement to call Tom Cruise “The Last Movie Star,” but it's hard to argue in 2022 there's an actor still working today who commands a project, and the screen itself, the way Cruise still can. It's a commendable feat that's no small accomplishment when you analyze the constrained marketplace that is the U.S. box-office in these post-pandemic times – an era in which movies where teenagers aren't the central demographic have become a nearly extinct species, dominated instead by super-heroes and recycled “Intellectual Properties” owned by massive corporations.

TOP GUN: MAVERICK is still, obviously, a revisit of one of the all-time '80s blockbusters, but it's been produced with so much skill and soul that it scarcely resembles the generic sequels and comic book films taking up residency in our nation's multiplexes in the 21st century – a programming shift that could be felt before COVID came along, as ticket sales were on a downward trajectory even prior to 2020.

This long-gestating project, which was once planned for release in 2019 but held onto by Paramount (wisely, as it turns out), is as good as any “reboot” Hollywood has attempted over these last several decades – likely because Cruise personally took on this project and has spent years fine tuning every element. The final result, clearly, shows.

“Maverick” tweaks the original “Top Gun” formula but finds an older, wiser – but just as fiery – Pete “Maverick” Mitchell called back to the elite Top Gun flight training school in San Diego. There, much to the chagrin of the Vice Admiral (Jon Hamm), Maverick is placed in charge of the latest graduates from the elite Navy program, with an upcoming mission to shoot down a uranium facility (in the movie's major concession to foreign box-office revenue, the offending nation is not named) as his central focus. Among the new “Top Guns” is “Rooster” (Miles Teller), the son of “Goose” – Anthony Edwards' character from the original, who of course perished in a tragic accident – who was kept out of the Navy by Maverick himself years before. Rooster has never gotten over it, and this dramatic conflict becomes one of several plot threads – along with Maverick's rekindled relationship with local bar owner Jennifer Connelly – that credited writers Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Cruise favorite Christopher McQuarrie utilize to put some twists on its 1986 predecessor's formula.

Ultimately, the movie doesn't stray too far off the beaten path, though there are some surprises in the final half-hour that are effectively handled by director Joseph Kosinski, who between this movie and the under-appreciated “Tron: Legacy,” seems to have a firm grasp on helming contemporary reworkings of movies from the 1980s. Visually, as you'd anticipate, the film is a trip – the aerial sequences are outstandingly edited and easier to comprehend than those in the original “Top Gun,” with Cruise occasionally flying on his own, in footage you can tell hasn't been doctored by modern CGI.

The sound design, editing and effects are just expertly handled on every front – but lurking underneath it all is an emotional undercurrent absent from the original. Cruise wells up a couple of times in a performance that replaces the actor's youthful cockiness with more of a world-weary eye reflecting his life experience – Cruise's scene opposite a frail Val Kilmer manages to include some of his finest work, wrapped up in a well-oiled machine of a movie that doesn't have a wasted scene within it.

So much of today's programming is “more of the same” that to rave about a modern sequel revisit that likewise gives you “more of the same” seems like it could be overstating its virtues – but I'd argue that's not the case with “Top Gun: Maverick.” This picture goes above and beyond in terms of entertainment value, coming off as a celebration of not just its predecessor but every reason why we go to the movies in the first place. This picture's ending had me fighting back tears (I ended up losing that battle) no matter I knew exactly what was coming – and that entirely speaks to Cruise, Kosinski, and the production team getting nearly everything right, from its story and characterizations, sense of humor and dazzling action, all the way down to the undeniably effective hodge-podge soundtrack (is it Harold Faltermeyer, Lady Gaga, Hans Zimmer or Lorne Balfe? Does it really matter when it works so well?) that swells with emotion at just the right moment. At least for this weekend, there's a reason to go back to the movies again.

[Monterey Jack]

I'm not even that huge of a fan of the 1986 original (it's emblematic of its era and all, but is only solid), but Maverick had me smiling throughout. Superb storytelling and thrilling action. Worth the extra XPlus surcharge at my theater to have the sound so seat-rattling.

[AndyDursin]

I did Xplus which just appeared here and it was fun for the extra surcharge. Probably will just pick one of the other two larger auditoriums most of the time, but I might do Xplus again for a certain movie that really cranks it up like this one.

[Eric W.]

This sounds like everything I could have realistically hoped for. Good deal.

[AndyDursin]

Yes high rate of confidence in recommending this Like MJ I'm not even the biggest fan of the original movie but you don't need to be to enjoy

[AndyDursin]

Went a second time with Joanne and Theo. Enjoyed as much on repeat viewing. Nice use of Gaga's song as the love theme throughout. I don't care for her song in the "single" edit but the film version has orchestral underscoring that Zimmer or whoever must have "sweetened". They need to get that film arrangement out there, it's so much better than the track they released. I'd even buy it.

Personally I like this score much better than the original 86 soundtrack. That Berlin song never did much for me!

[Monterey Jack]

This is actually COMING BACK to my local theater this Friday, with four showtimes per day. For a movie that came out almost six months ago.

[Eric W.]

Probably the best movie that's come in years from mainstream Hollywood if we really get down to it. No agendas, no BS, and relatively clean enough that you could bring in a wide age group. It's just about entertainment and having fun and it works in spades. Imagine that. As burned out and tired of prequelitis and "way after the fact/too late/depressing sequelitis" I had to eat crow big time on this movie. If you insist on doing the late sequel this is the right way to do it and even then I wouldn't want to many of them.

In short: This movie is a cosmic anomaly.