Summary
Feeling a compulsion to go fast? It might have taken the better part of four decades to get back up to speed, but here’s a film that manages to feel classic and fresh all at once.
In the 36 years since Tony Scott’s original Top Gun, the name has become synonymous with the 1980s action blockbuster formula. With its slicked hair, oiled bodies and roaring engines, it took the model of the sports movie and gave it a meaty splash of explosive Cold War era jingoism.
Now, almost four decades later, the trademark names of Jerry Bruckheimer and the late Don Simpson reappear on our screens to a familiar opening theme and we’re instantly transported back in time. While part of this visceral enjoyment may come purely from nostalgia value, especially given that much of the music and story beats are lifted from Tony Scott’s 1986 picture, director Joseph Kosinski and Cruise have delivered something that is every inch the throwback blockbuster we needed this to be.
When we are reintroduced to Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise), he’s almost trapped in amber since his glory days. Steadfastly refusing promotion, he pushes the limits of his body and his authorities as a test pilot. Following a rule-breaking incident, it’s only the intervention of old frenemy Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazansky that saves him from dishonourable discharge.
Instead, Maverick is sent back to the Top Gun academy as an instructor. He must train the elite pilots to go on a mission with impossible odds against planes that are a generation ahead of what they are flying. One pilot is Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller) — the son of Maverick’s late friend ‘Goose’ — who still holds a grudge against Maverick for holding his career back. Meanwhile, Maverick rekindles a romance with old flame Penny (Jennifer Connelly), who now runs the local bar.
Joseph Kosinski and Cruise have delivered something that is every inch the throwback blockbuster we needed this to be. Hell, it could even act as a standalone, taking what it needs from the 80s (right down to sweaty beach games and dangerous zones) and transplanting it seamlessly into a contemporary setting. Indeed, many of the key moments are identical to the original, although this is only when the film is at its most indulgent.
For the rest of the pacey running time, TOP GUN: MAVERICK never feels anything less than fresh. Maintaining the sports formula, the dogfights are nothing short of spectacular, especially during the sequences in which Maverick schools the cocky young-uns. The last 30 minutes will have you white-knuckling all the way to the credits. Even when it threatens to topple into another movie entirely, the core question of pilot versus plane is never far from the surface.
Yet all of that would be hollow if it weren’t for some excellent character work in Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie’s screenplay. In a brilliant stroke, Maverick becomes a hybrid of Kelly McGillis and Tom Skerrick characters from the original. Clashing with the recruits, there’s some wonderful unspoken moments between him and Teller. More than this, the occasionally problematic relationship with McGillis is replaced with one where Maverick can meet Penny on a relatively equal footing.
As audiences step breathlessly out of the film, that overwhelming feeling is probably one we haven’t collectively felt for a while. Wisely held over until cinemas returned to pre-pandemic levels, this is the kind of film you need to see on the biggest screen possible. Peppered with heartbreaking cameos, it’s a little sliver of unrestrained 80s action has returned, but it has done so by finding the union of old and new. That’s a rare beast indeed, and a hell of a blast.
2022 | USA | DIRECTOR: Joseph Kosinski | WRITERS: Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie | CAST: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer | DISTRIBUTOR: Paramount Pictures | RUNNING TIME: 131 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 26 May 2022 (AUS), 27 May 2022 (US)
