Top Gun came out right around the time I was trying to figure out if I wanted to be an astronaut or a fire fighter when I grew up. Of course once I watched it, I immediately wanted to go down the road of being a fighter pilot. Obviously, things didn’t shake out that way, and I haven’t revisited it much since. The announcement of Top Gun: Maverick made me wonder if this was a situation of, “because nobody demanded it,” but the trailers were fun and got the hooks in me to go back to the world of Maverick, the US Navy, and jet planes. And I’m glad it did because as silly as the film is, it’s one hell of a ride.
Ever one to defy authority, we meet up with Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) as he continues his rebellious streak of ignoring orders which grounds him as a flight instructor on NAS North Island. His goal is to train a team of the best pilots in the Navy to attempt a covert mission that will require them to fly better than even he can. To complicate matters, one of the pilots is none other than Nick “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of old wing man Goose, who wants nothing to do with Maverick after being betrayed by him years earlier. With the timeline to launch the mission inching ever closer, Maverick has to figure out not only how to train these pilots to complete a suicide mission and return home but also discover a way to assuage his guilt over Goose and hopefully reconcile with Rooster.
Like I said before, I wasn’t sure if this was something anyone wanted or really needed, but I will admit when I’m wrong and, in this case, happy to be so. Top Gun always felt like an artifact from my childhood that I would look back on fondly, but not as something I enjoyed nearly as much as an adult. However, Maverick made me feel like a kid again. Fighter jets zooming all over the place, Maverick’s showing off as always with his trademark grin, and of course, the sensation of being in the cockpit with the pilots combined into an intoxicating vision that I couldn’t turn away from. Sure, it’s not high art, but how can you help from loving a jet going 600 knots and essentially doing a Death Star trench run to shoot a missile at a two-meter target in the ground? Hell, they even say, “Stay on target,” so they knew what they were doing. The movie’s ability to pay homage to what has come before and strike new ground to do its own thing, as well as not taking things too seriously means that it is nearly flawless.
Which isn’t to say it’s perfect. The romance between Maverick and Penny (Jennifer Connelly) felt a bit forced, and it occasionally tried too hard to evoke an emotional response at times that hadn’t earned it. Although when the feels did hit, it was a solid impact that landed hard (pun intended).
This is the epitome of a popcorn movie. It’s fun, has a laugh at itself, but stops short of being mindlessly stupid (I’m looking at you, Fast 9, no matter how much I love you). I couldn’t think of a better way to spend this upcoming holiday weekend than grabbing your friends and family and checking this out on IMAX. And if you’re like me and can bring along a buddy who has been dying to see this since it was announced, and you can sneak a peek to see just how happy he was watching it, well, that’s worth the price of the admission alone.