Top Gun: Maverick

Review Time! Over 30 years since he showed he was the best of the best, Peter “Maverick” Mitchell has been called back to where it all began: TOPGUN. This time, Maverick must train a group of young pilots to execute a daring mission, involving snaking through a canyon and perform extreme dives and climbs, all the while avoiding enemy SAMs. Tensions flair between the students and even with Maverick himself, especially with Brad “Rooster” Bradley, the son of his late best friend and wingman, “Goose”. Maverick will now have to find a way to teach these pilots the necessary maneuvers in order for them to survive this perilous mission. Shouldn’t be too hard, for the Navy’s best pilot. Top Gun: Maverick is an impressively acted and written movie, with thrilling action sequences and surprising pathos. Given the B-film nature of the first movie, this film was far, FAR better than it had any right to be. Tom Cruise still has it, even after all these years, and Miles Turner, who plays Rooster, does an impressive job as well. While not all the cast is as fleshed out as possible, there are several standouts from the central flight groups and shows off each ones’ strengths and weaknesses, as befitting a well rounded team. What is a breath of fresh air, especially compared to films in this day and age, is that Maverick is still the same core character that he was in the original, but appropriately seasoned and wiser given how his life has progressed. He is not a totally different character for “reasons”, he is consistent which is hard to come by. It also is free of any heavy handed political messages, focusing instead on interpersonal relationships and the thrilling action we all expect. So if you haven’t seen it yet, go watch Top Gun: Maverick. But be warned: you’ll be flying right into the Danger Zone!