Review | Top Gun: Maverick movie review – Tom Cruise is back for stunning sequel to 1986 aviation classic
- Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly and Miles Teller star in this long-awaited sequel that sees ‘Maverick’ return to his old base to tutor a new generation of pilots
- With music by Lady Gaga and Hans Zimmer, incredible aerial scenes and Cruise flaunting it in a white naval uniform, it’s Top Gun dialled up to Mach 10
4.5/5 stars
A sequel as much powered by nostalgia as the latest aviation tech, Top Gun: Maverick has been a long time coming – it’s 36 years since Tom Cruise felt the need for speed in Tony Scott’s tale of US Navy pilots, playing the daredevil Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.
Since then, the film’s iconography has sunk into popular culture – the soundtrack led by Berlin’s Take My Breath Away, muscular military men playing beach volleyball, Kelly McGillis clinging to Cruise on his Kawasaki.
Top Gun: Maverick plays with all this, while acknowledging that its lead character is older. “You should be at least a two-star admiral by now,” says Ed Harris’ ball-buster, who soon ships Maverick back to his old base.
His task? To tutor a new generation of “Top Gun” pilots for a crazy-sounding mission that involves flying into a heavily fortified “enemy” valley and knocking out a nuclear site. Among the gang is Rooster (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s former flyboy friend Goose.
There are further callbacks, including the fleshing out of Maverick’s former flame Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly) who was only alluded to in the first film. Danger Zone, the Kenny Loggins jam first heard in the original, gets an airing.