‘Top Gun: Maverick’ is one of the best theatrical experiences we’ve had in we don’t even know how long.
Before we get into Top Gun: Maverick, I will dispel any mystery about my feelings toward this movie by saying I didn’t just like Top Gun: Maverick, but it’s now just one of my favorite movies. (TO the point I spent money on a poster. I never do that for new movies.) Not “of the year,” but ever. It’s literally one of the best theatrical experiences I’ve ever had. Put it this way: I saw Top Gun: Maverick at a press screening in a large theater with about 15 other people where everyone was pretty spread out because there was so much extra space. These are usually quiet affairs, no matter the movie. (Press screenings can get animated if they are crowded. When it’s just a few people, they are not.) I honestly can’t recall another instance, under these conditions, where people at this type of screening were applauding and cheering. But that’s what happened. This movie is infectious. It’s the definition of a crowd-pleaser. Honestly, Top Gun: Maverick kicked my ass. What a movie. Is the original Top Gun good? Look, I was 12 years old when that movie came out and it’s ingrained into my being. I, personally, think it’s awesome. Tony Scott created a vibe with that movie that is inherently its own thing. Criticisms of Top Gun aren’t necessarily wrong, they just don’t really matter. Top Gun is Top Gun. There’s really no other movie quite like it and there really couldn’t be. Top Gun kind of exists in a bubble that made Tom Cruise into a huge star and it became the biggest movie of 1986. Top Gun isn’t just part of popular culture, it is popular culture. (Strangely, Crocodile Dundee was second. 1986 was kind of a weird year.) Having said all that, if Top Gun: Maverick relied mostly on imagery – where the first movie thrived in the 1980s – it would be laughable today. Tom Cruise isn’t a cool young kid anymore. Top Gun: Maverick knows that and is a better movie than Top Gun. When the film opens, Pete Mitchell, call sign Maverick (Cruise), now (only) a Captain, is a Navy test pilot assigned to a remote outpost where his job is to fly planes as fast as they can go.
