It’s rare for a movie to outdo the original in almost every way. Top Gun is a classic 80s movie with a lot to like three decades later. However, with a 78 on Metacritic, Top Gun: Maverick is looking like the superior film. Is it though? That opinion comes down to fans.
The debate could go all day long but it doesn’t matter if Top Gun: Maverick is technically a better movie. What it does do well should be celebrated. There is plenty to love in this long-awaited sequel. There will be spoilers in this rundown to better emphasize the best parts of the movie.
6 The Humor
Top Gun was not devoid of humor. However, that was not the focus of the film. There are plenty of great quotes from it but most of them are more serious or thought-provoking. Top Gun: Maverick has some of those types of memorable quotes too, but some of the sequel's best lines are comedic. This isn’t a comedy by any stretch but the cast goes a long way to inject some humor into even the darkest situations.
Bob, for example, is an underappreciated character in the movie without a callsign which he gets mocked for. He uses that mockery to get back at Hangman with the line, “See you in the afterlife Bagman.” The camaraderie between Maverick and Rooster toward the end is also great with Rooster throwing a lot of Maverick’s quotes back at him. Those are just a couple of brief examples.
5 The Callbacks
The callbacks begin right away in Top Gun: Maverick. The sequel opens with “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins as a bunch of jets land on a Naval carrier. The scene is briefer in this film but it’s a callback all the same to set the mood. Another song, “Great Balls of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis, also appears in the sequel.
Goose plays it alongside his family in Top Gun. Rooster, his son, plays it like his father would have if he were still alive in the sequel. It’s kind of random but it’s touching all the same. There is also a beach sports moment. It doesn’t involve volleyball this time as the game of choice. A game of beach football is close enough though. None of the callbacks feel too out of place which is important when making a nostalgic sequel like this.
4 The Iceman Returns
Val Kilmer has not acted in much since he had throat surgery in 2015. This was for a battle with cancer which has left him almost unable to speak on a normal basis. Fans going into Top Gun: Maverick might have been confused by the fact that Iceman does return, but barely says anything. This tidbit about the actor should help now.
He speaks to Maverick mostly through phone texts or texts he places on his computer for Maverick to read. Even though Iceman’s part is small in the grand scheme of this sequel, it’s great that Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise made the effort to get this reunion on film.
3 The Training
Most of Top Gun: Maverick’s plot revolves around Maverick returning to the Top Gun program to train a new set of pilots for an upcoming mission. Maverick is still regarded as the best of the best even though he is a loose cannon. Even though these officers graduated from Top Gun with honors as well, there is still a lot they need to learn.
The idea of a training segment in this sequel is like another callback to the original movie. There is even a moment where Maverick flies over a student’s jet, upside down. It’s a great way to showcase Maverick is more than an ace pilot. He’s a good teacher too. It just takes a while for him to realize that.
2 The Mission
The training segment leads up to a good 45-minute chunk of the movie involving the main mission. For action fans, it was surely worth the wait. The intensity caught on film during these jet fights is unlike nothing caught on film before.
There is no other way of describing it other than to call the final act a rush of pure adrenaline. Everything is filmed so well. The lack of CG, or at least the hiding of what little CG there was, also helped make this segment feel more real. That was seemingly Tom Cruise’s goal with Top Gun: Maverick. He pretty much says so before the movie starts as he thanks the audience for returning to the cinema. He wanted to create an immersive experience for all.
1 A Quick On Foot Diversion
As great as the jet fighting is in Top Gun: Maverick, there was a surprise on the ground mission as well. Maverick and Rooster get shot down behind enemy lines in this final mission. They then have to infiltrate the enemy compound to try and find a way out of there safely. They find only one jet that wasn’t destroyed in the Navy’s bombardment.
Coincidentally, it is an F-14 which is the same model Maverick and the other pilots used in Top Gun. This stealth mission is a short one compared to all of the air battles, but the diversion was appreciated. It might make fans think of some of Tom Cruise’s other movies like Mission: Impossible.