Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

I remember when Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) was released, and despite my lack of interest in the whole series, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Part of the reason for this was the fact that it was essentially a retreading of the original Star Wars film, A New Hope (1977), which is probably my favourite of the franchise, and it was done very well. Top Gun: Maverick is similar in the sense that it follows the original 1986 film (which is not a great film, but it’s certainly a cult classic with plenty to enjoy in it) almost beat for beat; you can probably guess most of the plot from the first sequence onward. It is a straight sequel though, Tom Cruise’s Maverick is sent back to Top Gun to train the ‘best of the best’ to undertake a potentially suicidal mission to blow up a uranium enrichment plant in a plan that supposedly requires not one but two miracles to be successful. The film isn’t subtle, much like the original, it’s laugh out loud funny at times and Maverick hasn’t changed his approach to life or authority. The thing is however, is that Top Gun: Maverick is absolutely fantastic cinema. Especially if you’re a fan of the original, you’ll (subjectively) be gripped from minute one. The fact that Tom Cruise is sixty this year adds to the astonishment that a sequel not far off forty years in the making is this good. The actions sequences are jaw dropping, the actors (old and new) embellish the spirit of the Top Gun world, and, possibly most effectively, the emotional heft of the film is superbly judged, making several sequences (including one with a returning Val Kilmer) genuinely difficult to get through without really feeling it. There was a round of applause towards the end of the film in the screening I was at, as well as several whoops; something I would usually turn my nose up at, but I couldn’t do anything but completely get on board with the reaction. What an absolute blast. 8.3/10