Even as you see all the plot twists coming, Tom Cruise’s charms and the spectacular aerial action still take your breath away.
Tom Cruise had his breakthrough moment in 1983’s “Risky Business” and planted his flag as an A-list headliner with “Top Gun” in 1986, and he’s never NOT been a major movie star (with a carefully cultivated image) ever since. Now comes the much-delayed, highly anticipated “Top Gun: Maverick,” and the 59-year-old Cruise proves he can still hit all the familiar and crowd-pleasing notes, from his willingness to throw his very being into a role to knowing just when to flash the pearly whites to the Tom Cruise Hug—you know, when he hesitates for just a moment and then comes in for the bro-embrace, complete with a dramatic shutting of the eyes and balling up of the fists, and you’re thinking: Great hug, Tom Cruise.
“Top Gun: Maverick” picks up the story some 35 years after the events from Ridley Scott’s pop culture touchstone event-movie, and while it’s even slicker, bigger and more action-packed, it’s also a greatest-hits tribute, starting with the opening sequence that is virtually a shot-by-shot re-creation from the 1986 film, from the opening strains of Harold Faltermeyer’s theme to the sounds of Kenny Loggins’ “The Danger Zone” as an aircraft carrier support crew prepares planes for take-off. If it weren’t for the A-6s and F-14s being replaced by F-18s and F-35s, you might wonder if you’ve accidentally wandered into a revival screening of “Top Gun” instead of the sequel. This is the kind of movie where you feel like you’ve seen it before you’ve even seen it, and you’d be right, as there are no surprises in “Maverick” and many of the new characters are screenplay doppelgangers for figures from the original film, and we can see the big action twists and emotional reveals coming two scenes in advance—but that’s all good.
