How do you describe the sequel to a film that released 36 years ago, but has its lead actor playing protagonist in the second installment too? And a testosterone-fueled, high-flying action-hero, at that? That conundrum pretty much sums up Top Gun: Maverick. It is as much a tribute to the original Top Gun (1986) as it is a hymn to the magic of Tom Cruise’s eternal youth.
For a start, calling Top Gun: Maverick a nostalgia trip would be gross injustice to the inimitable nostalgia-riddled voyage the film is. It opens with the familiar voice of Kenny Logins singing 'Danger Zone' as a montage of F/A-18 Super Hornets taking off from an aircraft carrier fire up the screen — a lovely nod to the exact opening montage in the 1986 film.
There are other nostalgia elements that have withstood the test of time. Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell (Cruise)’s famous biker jacket makes it back after 36 years, as does his proclivity for superbikes on a navy base. There’s the adorable romance between Maverick and Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly is brilliant and beautiful) taking place with the pretty yet familiar California sunset in the backdrop.
Admiral Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky (Val Kilmer) reunites with foe-turned-friend Maverick too, in what can only be described as an on-screen tearjerker especially for the Top Gun fandom.
Then, there’s also the template that made Top Gun (1986) an iconic film staging a comeback in this movie: there are bare-chested fighter pilots playing beach volleyball, boozy parties over the honky-tonk piano at the local dive bar, Maverick’s crisp white t-shirts, and the one admiral (Jon Hamm as Beau ‘Cyclone’ Simpson is an imposing presence on screen) that everybody ends up annoying. Top Gun: Maverick is Top Gun (1986) with newer fighter jets and some younger actors. We aren’t complaining.
The plot is a bit like this: Top Gun: Maverick takes off (pun not intended) three decades after the events of the first film. Maverick doesn’t fly fighter jets anymore but is a daredevil test pilot who keeps pushing aeronautical limits. He gets called back to the prestigious Top Gun navy school to train a young batch of fighter pilots for a mission that many deem near-impossible. It involves low-altitude flying, commendable military skill, a deadly dogfight and a human body that survives multiple G-forces.
While he’s at it, Maverick meets Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw (Miles Teller with a moustache steals the show), the son of his former co-pilot, Nick ‘Goose’ Bradshaw, who died on a sortie with Maverick by his side. Still plagued by the trauma and now beset by understandably paternal instincts, Maverick must do his best to protect the son of his slain co-pilot, even as he battles resistance from Cyclone when it comes to his own breakneck methods.
Along the way, Top Gun: Maverick introduces us to some really cool military tech. Remember the iconic F-14s from the first film? They’ve made way for the modern F/A-18 Super Hornets. The blackened Russian MiGs from Top Gun have gone away and fifth generation Su-57s have taken their place, serving as the faceless antagonists that Maverick and team must fight off. The film has plenty of drama, emotion, and — you guessed it — more nostalgia.
Photographs, songs, camera shots, even some resemblances in Top Gun: Maverick are gentle and classy throwbacks to their source material from Top Gun (1986). Rooster even looks a lot like his dad from three decades ago!
Needless to say, when a vast majority of the film involves scenes shot in mid-air with plenty of dogfighting to boot, camerawork ends up being the determinant of your cinematic experience. It is precisely here that Claudio Miranda (the eye behind the lens of Life of Pi) triumphs. From volleyball games and golden sunsets to the Mojave Desert and dogfights to the death, the genius cinematographer resurrects the spirit of the original film.
Top Gun: Maverick is witty, well shot and comes with an engaging script and screenplay. It also features a cast of great-looking actors led by the best-looking one of them all in Cruise. If you haven’t watched the 1986 original, make sure you do, to understand and appreciate the nostalgia trip that the 2022 film is all about. And then get set for one hell of a flight.
First Published: May 27, 2022 1:54 PM IST
