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So I finally got a chance to watch Top Gun: Maverick (2022) on Blu-Ray last night. Excellent film. It’s not the sort of movie I would normally review for a science fiction / fantasy blog, but it’s just so much fun.

I haven’t seen the original Top Gun (1986) since it was in VHS in the late 1980s (yeah, I know) and I remember almost nothing about it. I was worried that would cause me to have problems understanding the current film, but that wasn’t an issue.

After all, the movie had to appeal to young audiences who had probably never seen the original. There were enough cues to point back to the first film and make plain how those events were attached to what’s happening in the “present.”

Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is apparently living in a dilapidated aircraft hanger endlessly repairing a vintage P-51 Mustang. He’s also test piloting an experimental aircraft as a contractor for the Navy, a plane that’s supposed to be capable of flying Mach 10 (roughly 7672 mph/12348 kph).

He’s only supposed to test the craft at Mach 9 on that day but the project is about to be scrubbed by Admiral Cain (Ed Harris) who wants to divert funding to an unmanned experimental aircraft.

Maverick, out to save the project, launches and achieves Mach 10 over the Admiral’s orders, but then exceeds that speed and destroys the aircraft. Apparently, he’s able to bail out without dying (this movie frequently violates the laws of physics), and before Cain can ground Maverick, new orders come in for Mav to return to the Top Gun naval aviation school we saw in the first movie.

This is thanks to his friend and former wingman Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer) who uses his influence to get Mav an assignment teaching a fresh group of Top Gun grads for a special mission to destroy a nuclear weapons facility.

I should say that the identity of the enemy was kept deliberately vague, although the middle east isn’t known for its snowy mountainous forests. I suppose the filmmakers didn’t want to antagonize anyone.

Mav reunites with a lost love Penny (Jennifer Connelly) who, as far as I can tell, never appeared in the original film. I guess Kelly McGillis was unavailable to reprise her role as Charlotte “Charlie” Blackwood. I should say that Penny is referred to by name in the first movie and identified as an Admiral’s daughter but never appeared on screen.

Among the crew of young pilots Mav is supposed to train is Lt. Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), son of Mav’s former partner and best friend Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards). Goose was killed in an accident while flying with Mav in the first film. “Rooster,” as a young child was depicted in that movie and later, Mav says he tried to be the father that the boy had lost. That didn’t work as Rooster has grown up to deeply resent Mav, blaming him for Goose’s death. To make matters worse, Rooster’s Mom (played in the first film by Meg Ryan) makes Mav promise to pull Rooster’s orders, setting him back four years in the Naval program in the hopes of keeping him from flying.

Jon Hamm is great as Mav’s C.O. Vice Admiral Beau “Cyclone” Simpson. The same is true for Charles Parnell as Admiral Solomon “Warlock” Bates. Two terrific supporting roles.

Eight pilots are recruited to train for the mission but only half will be chosen. Rooster is in direct competition for the mission leader position with Lt. Jack “Hangman” Seresin (Glen Powell). While Hangman is an all out daredevil with the reputation for leaving his wingman “hanging” out to dry, Rooster, while a good pilot, is too cautious, probably not wanting to take the chances his Dad did and dying.

So Rooster has as battle on two fronts, one with Hangman and the other with Maverick.

Throughout the movie, Mav is constantly confronting the sins of his past. Even Penny’s daughter Amelia (Lyliana Wray) warns Mav not to break her mother’s heart again as Mav and Penny rekindle their old relationship.

I guess I should say although Mav and Penny end up in bed together, there’s almost a total absence of flesh seen on the screen. That could be because Connelly was nearly 52 when this film was released and Cruise was 60 (Wow! Really?). Proof though, that the old folks can still “get it on.”

This brings up a time continuity issue. In 1986, Goose’s son is maybe four or five. In 2022, 36 years later, 35 year old actor Teller is playing Rooster. Wait a minute. I guess that’s close since Rooster would have to be around 40 or so, but these are all supposed to be pilots in their early to mid-twenties, at the prime of their professional lives. I guess pulling Rooster’s orders and setting him back might account for this.

For comparison, actor Lewis Pullman playing Lt. Robert “Bob” Floyd was just under 30, but Glen Powell (Hangman) is just over 30, so is Monica Barbaro (Phoenix), and Danny Ramirez (Fanboy) was 30. I should note that the star of the currently reimaged SciFi TV show Quantum Leap Raymond Lee plays Lt. Logan “Yale” Lee, but he appears on screen so briefly, I only thought I recognized him until I looked up the cast.

The most touching moments of the film revolve around Mav’s meeting with Iceman. In real life, Val Kilmer suffered from cancer resulting in the loss of his voice. During his on screen performance, he mostly “speaks” using a computer to type text on a screen. When he’s required to talk, his voice was supposed digitally recreated by a software program. In fact, he used his actual voice which was digitally altered for clarity.

In the film, Iceman dies and Mav is almost crushed by his loss and even though Kilmer’s still alive and working, it was as if we were watching not only Iceman being buried but the actor as well.

The mission parameters seem impossible and the only way for Mav to prove his team can do it is to fly the simulation himself. He succeeds proving it can be done. It also forces Adm. Simpson to appoint Mav as team leader as the only way to destroy the target.

As predicted, Mav chooses Rooster as his wingman and along with Phoenix and Bob in one plane and Payback and Fanboy in another, they assault the nuclear plant.

The mission is straight out of “Star Wars.” The planes have to fly through a narrow canyon at high speed to avoid missile launcher, climb over the lip of a mountain, into a crater, and hit a very small target. The first team blasts off the cover and then does a high speed vertical climb out the other side while the second team puts a missile inside, destroying the facility.

Darth Vader isn’t there so they miraculously succeed but during the 10 G climb out, they go above enemy radar and super-advanced enemy fighters attack. Fortunately, there are only two since missiles already took out the nearby airfield.

Maverick saves Rooster’s life but is shot down in the process. Bailing out and on the ground, Mav is almost killed by an enemy gunship when Rooster, disobeying orders to return to the carrier, blows up the helicopter. Rooster’s also shot down and the two stranded pilots finally make their peace.

They manage to steal and escape in an old F-14 at the enemy base, and in spite of Mav’s incredible flying and shooting down two vastly superior aircraft, is nearly splashed by a third. Hangman finally is given a chance to prove what he can do and this cements his friendship with Rooster.

At the end, we see Mav and Rooster working on the Mustang. Penny and her daughter were supposed to be on a sailing trip, giving the audience the impression that she had broken off the relationship. But they show up at the hanger. Mav and Penny literally ride off into the sunset (fly off, actually) in their old WW2 airplane.

There’s a reason this movie blew everyone away and made a ton of money when a whole bunch of other movies in 2022 and today, blockbusters all, are going “toes up.”

I guess it’s possible to make a 1980s style movie in the 21st century and have it be really good and absolutely what audiences want and need.

The movies that have been tanking at the box office often suffer from the same problem. The people creating the films are social justice activists first and filmmakers/storytellers second (if at all).

While you could say the movie has “representation” given that many to most of the supporting characters are women and people of color, all of the principles are white. That can’t be helped since they were white in 1986.

To give you an example of its success, according to Headline Top Gun: Maverick’ Flies By $800M Worldwide; Becomes Tom Cruise’s Biggest Movie Ever.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 469 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.20/10. The website’s consensus reads: “Top Gun: Maverick pulls off a feat even trickier than a 4G inverted dive, delivering a long-belated sequel that surpasses its predecessor in wildly entertaining style.”

And while at 60, Cruise may be getting a little long in the tooth for these movies, according to Screenrant, Miles Teller Open To Top Gun: Maverick Sequel Involving His Character. ET reports, “Miles Teller Says He’s Had ‘Conversations’ With Tom Cruise About Possible ‘Top Gun 3’ (Exclusive)”.

Top Gun: Maverick has shown the world including the world of Hollywood, all their writers, directors, producers, and actors, exactly the kind of movie the public wants and the kind of film that will be wildly successfully in terms of profits and popularity. Now all Hollywood has to do is pull its head out of its “arse” and make the kind of entertainment we all want.