Top Gun: Maverick Review - A Sequel Better Than An Already Iconic Original
Following a two-year pandemic delay, Top Gun: Maverick is finally arriving in theaters — and the wait has been well-worth it. Directed by Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy and Oblivion), Maverick harnesses everything that worked in Tony Scott's original movie and turns the volume up. The result is a film that simultaneously nods to nostalgia, honoring the Top Gun legacy (beloved characters and storylines, as well as admiration for the 1986 film itself), while blasting open the series mythology by introducing new heroes as well as modern blockbuster effects that deliver an emotionally rich and pulse-pounding ride. Arriving 26 years after the first film, Top Gun: Maverick is a rare sequel that is not only better than the original but retroactively makes Top Gun's story altogether deeper.
Set three decades after LT Pete «Maverick» Mitchell (Tom Cruise) and LT Tom «Iceman» Kazansky (Val Kilmer) overcame their rivalry to save the SS Layton, Maverick sees the titular hero summoned back to the Naval Fighter Weapons School at Naval Air Station Miramar — aka Top Gun — to prepare a squad of talented but young fighter pilots for a highly-dangerous assault on a heavily-fortified uranium refinery. Maverick's unorthodox approach to teaching (along with his penchant for disobeying orders) puts him at odds, as usual, with his superiors (most notably Vice ADM «Cyclone,» played by Jon Hamm). However, Maverick's biggest challenge isn't the upper brass or the mission ahead, it's navigating a complicated and tense relationship with LT Bradley «Rooster» Bradshaw — a stick jockey chosen to train for the attack and the son of Maverick's former best friend LTJG Nick «Goose» Bradshaw (who died training with Maverick).
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