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Tom Cruise showcasing why he’s the best action movie star working today.
Let’s get this out of the way, straight off the bat, as crystal clear as possible: I really like 80s action movies.
Looking back at what we got in that decade of amazing movie after amazing movie which I discovered in the 90s as I became aware of such films formed the love for cinema that I have today.
Jackie Chan is numero uno as he did his own stunts – for better or worse – and proved he was the pinnacle of action heroism. But at the age of 68, there is an understandable reduction in risk of carrying out such actions.
Naturally.
You have Arnie, Bruce, Sly JCVD – basically the Expendables cast who fill out but stand out in a very packed movie genre. Each having stand out hits.
You would have never expected a guy with the name like Thomas Cruise Mapother IV to be this decades top action star – and at 58 – turning out hit after hit with his excellent Mission Impossible series which goes from strength to strength and now with Top Gun: Maverick but for very different reasons.
The sequel to the 1986 hit, which sees Pete “Maverick” Mitchell return after 30 plus years (I say that with a rough estimate as I’m not sure the dates line up perfectly with the ages of new Top Gun recruits – namely the returning Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw now played by the excellent Miles Teller in this follow up.) and takes control of one of best action sequels you will ever see.
It is that good. Stop reading this love letter and get to your local cinema but please, if you have opportunity to watch this in IMAX or in Dolby, do it.
This movie was shot in IMAX and it utilises every dollar it can muster to give you as real of an experience as possible.
And this is the key thing about Maverick, what you see in the majority of this movie is real with very little CGI from what I saw in my single screening. There is obvious fakery but it’s to gloss sequences rather completely fill what we see (Star Wars, Marvel et al are basically green/blue screen behemoths)
And when we talk about realness, then we require the actors to get in jets and experience the effects of fighter jets which pull at 5+ G force. The sudden acceleration, the pull as you dip, dive and dodge in a jet and how that shows in your facial muscles struggling to keep your jaw off the floor and eyes in the back of your head.
I really felt this, and seeing this in 4k with a Dolby sound system, puts me right damn smack in the middle of the dogfights.
The intensity of the action is breathtaking.
If you want your 80s feels – then this movie has you.
The excellent soundtrack comes back, the odes to the original, cheesy dialogue and romance. Heck! There’s a beach montage that is updated to 2022.
Granted I did think that the romance angle with Jennifer Connelly does seem a little forced it’s a damn well better situation that what happened in the original with a teacher hating and the falling for her student.
The main supporting cast have enough about them to let you know what they’re all about. Too much exposition is given to movies where they have to try and explain every little detail these days.
Let us just enjoy a movie without the need of carefully explained conversation.
Thankfully Top Gun: Maverick isn’t like that and it’s a true summer blockbuster, multiple viewing required, feel good and dare I say it, improvement on the original movie as you’ll ever see.
In conclusion.
Top Gun: Maverick has all the hallmarks to be your – and your Dad’s – favourite action movie over the last decade, if not longer. The lead man is on top form with a great supporting cast, especially Miles Teller. The direction, cinematography and sound is impeccable which means this movie needs to be watched in the biggest and best cinema screen available. The story has it all for everyone but it is the action, the white knuckle, pumped up delight of euphoria given after each G force manoveur and death defying twist and turn that is the key to Top Gun: Maverick.
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