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Top Gun: Maverick
Tom Cruise returns to the role that made him an official superstar 35 years ago in the 2022 epic Top Gun: Maverick, an ambitious and unnecessary sequel to the 1986 hit that suffers from predictability and WAY too much dependence on the legacy of the first film.
Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is still the navy fighter pilot he was at the conclusion of the '86 film and that, despite being decorated pilot, hasn't progressed in the navy at all in 30 years, unlike Ice (Val Kilmer) who is now a retired admiral. Maverick is initially flattered when he thinks he's been chosen to fly a new and important mission, but is not happy when it' revealed that he is to teach a bunch of new young Top Gun school graduates how to fly the mission. Maverick is further distressed about the mission because one of the pilots he's training, Rooster (Miles Teller), is the grown son of Maverick's pal Goose (Anthony Edwards) who died in the first film.
To be fair, it should be stated that this reviewer always thought the 1986 film to be severely overrated and hopelessly dated five years after its release. The idea of revisiting this film 35 years later seemed as unappealing as Bill and Ted's return to the screen in Bill and Ted Face the Music, 29 years after they first hit the screen. My fears regarding this sequel were quickly realized when bombarded with images and characters that were taken directly from the first film with little attempt to disguise them. Remember the famous shirtless volleyball game in the first film? Well, it's recreated here, except they're playing football instead of volleyball. The character of Hangman (Glen Powell, who steals every scene he's in) is pretty much a duplicate of the Ice character in the first movie. He even does the famous chomping of the pen that Ice did.
Though this does lead me to the film's loveliest scene, which almost made this film worth watching all by itself. Cruise and the company found a way to include Val Kilmer into the story as Ice, despite the fact that he is in remission from throat cancer and can barely speak. We first observe Maverick and Ice texting each other, finally leading to a brief scene with Cruise and Kilmer, that just destroyed me.
The idea of pairing Maverick off with Goose's son was a good one, but the screenplay was a little confusing about how much they both knew. We learn that Maverick made a promise to Rooster's mom (Meg Ryan in the first film) to keep Rooster out of the navy, but we're not sure if Rooster knows exactly how Goose died, which made a lot of their scenes together a little contrived.
Cruise appears quite comfortable slipping back into this character, even if he might be getting a little too old for these action roles. Miles Teller was a little one-note as Rooster, but I loved Powell as Hangman, Jon Hamm as Maverick's commanding officer, and the classy cameo by Ed Harris at the opening. Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly made the most of her thankless role as the obligatory love interest for Maverick, but this manufactured romance just slowed the film down, but I have to admit that the final air battle with Maverick and Rooster facing the bad guys alone was a winner. Production values are solid, I just wish a little more originality had been put into the story. Lady GaGa's song during the closing credits was great.
Tom Cruise returns to the role that made him an official superstar 35 years ago in the 2022 epic Top Gun: Maverick, an ambitious and unnecessary sequel to the 1986 hit that suffers from predictability and WAY too much dependence on the legacy of the first film.
Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is still the navy fighter pilot he was at the conclusion of the '86 film and that, despite being decorated pilot, hasn't progressed in the navy at all in 30 years, unlike Ice (Val Kilmer) who is now a retired admiral. Maverick is initially flattered when he thinks he's been chosen to fly a new and important mission, but is not happy when it' revealed that he is to teach a bunch of new young Top Gun school graduates how to fly the mission. Maverick is further distressed about the mission because one of the pilots he's training, Rooster (Miles Teller), is the grown son of Maverick's pal Goose (Anthony Edwards) who died in the first film.
To be fair, it should be stated that this reviewer always thought the 1986 film to be severely overrated and hopelessly dated five years after its release. The idea of revisiting this film 35 years later seemed as unappealing as Bill and Ted's return to the screen in Bill and Ted Face the Music, 29 years after they first hit the screen. My fears regarding this sequel were quickly realized when bombarded with images and characters that were taken directly from the first film with little attempt to disguise them. Remember the famous shirtless volleyball game in the first film? Well, it's recreated here, except they're playing football instead of volleyball. The character of Hangman (Glen Powell, who steals every scene he's in) is pretty much a duplicate of the Ice character in the first movie. He even does the famous chomping of the pen that Ice did.
Though this does lead me to the film's loveliest scene, which almost made this film worth watching all by itself. Cruise and the company found a way to include Val Kilmer into the story as Ice, despite the fact that he is in remission from throat cancer and can barely speak. We first observe Maverick and Ice texting each other, finally leading to a brief scene with Cruise and Kilmer, that just destroyed me.
The idea of pairing Maverick off with Goose's son was a good one, but the screenplay was a little confusing about how much they both knew. We learn that Maverick made a promise to Rooster's mom (Meg Ryan in the first film) to keep Rooster out of the navy, but we're not sure if Rooster knows exactly how Goose died, which made a lot of their scenes together a little contrived.
Cruise appears quite comfortable slipping back into this character, even if he might be getting a little too old for these action roles. Miles Teller was a little one-note as Rooster, but I loved Powell as Hangman, Jon Hamm as Maverick's commanding officer, and the classy cameo by Ed Harris at the opening. Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly made the most of her thankless role as the obligatory love interest for Maverick, but this manufactured romance just slowed the film down, but I have to admit that the final air battle with Maverick and Rooster facing the bad guys alone was a winner. Production values are solid, I just wish a little more originality had been put into the story. Lady GaGa's song during the closing credits was great.