Cruisin’ back into The Danger Zone
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Written by: Peter Craig & Justin Marks. Screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer,
& Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and some strong language
Release Date: May 27, 2022
Runtime: 2:10
This review may contain spoilers
It was the summer of 1986
The sun rose slowly on the deck of a busy aircraft carrier. Bells tolled with a background synthesizer as crew chiefs scramble back and forth. Naval jet engines hummed to life, drowning out the control tower’s loudspeakers. Loud guitar riffs rock the scene suddenly as the afterburners rev up. Kenny Loggins’ immortal “Danger Zone” introduced audiences to Top Gun, which made Tom Cruise a superstar and boosted Navy recruiting numbers.
36 years later, Cruise brings the Danger Zone back to audiences with Top Gun: Maverick.
Back to the Danger Zone
Three decades after Top Gun, Maverick (Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible films) is still in the Navy, now as a naval testing pilot. He is called back to the Navy’s Fighter Weapons School, better known as TOP GUN, for an important mission. An unsanctioned plant is stockpiling uranium in an unspecified country (although given current the world events, I have a few ideas), and the Navy is tasked with destroying the plant before it’s operational.
With only two weeks to train the chosen pilots, Maverick is struggling with personal problems during the training. One of the pilots, Rooster (Miles Teller, Whiplash), is the resentful son of Maverick’s late navigator, Goose. The pilots struggle to work together to successfully accomplish Maverick’s difficult training plan. Despite having Maverick in charge of training, mission commander Cyclone (Jon Hamm, AMC’s Mad Men) is trying to ground him for good (in other words, take away his flying status) after a lifelong career of breaking the rules.
I’m going to refer to most of these characters by their pilot call signs. The movie does it enough, and I never remember Maverick’s name without looking it up. So there.
Top Gun
So, for those unfamiliar with Top Gun, it’s an 80s classic that originally didn’t get many great reviews yet became a big commercial hit. In 2015, Top Gun was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. The film was founded to be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Also, just being an epic film from the 80s.
Can you imagine the reaction from the professional film critic who wrote a bad review only to find out it’s now preserved by the United States Library of Congress?
So 30-plus years later, Top Gun gets a sequel, and it’s way better than the original. It works nostalgia into an original story while dealing with military changes and self-reflection. Yeah, a lot is going on in this movie. However, it’s all put together fluidly. In a way, it really shows how much is on Maverick’s deck in his life.
Tom Cruise is no stranger to playing long-term roles; he’s been playing Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible for years. But there’s something more to seeing Cruise back as Maverick. It’s like seeing someone you haven’t seen in years and yet who is exactly the same. Maverick is still the rebel pilot who disobeys orders. The film literally starts off taking off in a new experimental jet after hearing the top admiral cancel the test.
It’s also appropriate that Top Gun is the film that really made Cruise’s career, and now Maverick is Cruise’s biggest, top-grossing film of his career.
Iceman
While the cast is mostly all new characters, Val Kilmer (The Doors) returns as Iceman, now a 4-star admiral commander. Kilmer has been dealing with throat cancer since 2015, although that hasn’t stopped him from acting in films. Kilmer’s Iceman also has the same condition and talks to Maverick often through text messages until showing up in person for a heart-to-heart talk.
Tom Cruise’s intro
Cruise also has a video that plays before the movie. In it, he explains how the cast and crew made it “the most immersive, authentic, and entertaining cinematic experience.” It’s a short video, but he has time to explain that they did as much filming with real F-18 jets as they could, including stunts. You can tell this film meant a lot for Cruise to make, and he is an actor dedicated to his craft.
The message ended with “Hope you enjoy. We made it for you.” And damn, if that’s not a great way to sell viewers even before the film starts.
Realistic immersion
Part of the immersion that Cruise is implying is that the film used as little green screen and CGI aerial shots as physically possible. The film used real in-flight shots for cockpit close-up sequences through many jet action scenes. This also required most of the cast to undergo extensive G-force (gravitational force) training sessions to withstand the demanding G-force pressures in the flight scenes.
The film explains G-force quite a bit, but here’s a quick explanation. According to skycombatace.com, extreme acceleration (or deceleration) causes your body to get heavier or lighter and forces blood to drain from your head, causing blackouts.
Enjoy our movie; Join the Navy
When the first movie came out, there was a reported 500% boost in Navy aviator recruiting. With Maverick being a huge success, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Navy (and other branches) saw boosts in recruiting again. The sequel shoots the flying scenes in awesome, realistic sequences with the same exciting feel of how cool it would be to be Maverick or the other pilots. I can’t recall many military movies lately, so Top Gun may open the way for more recruiters to get excited fans to join the military.
You can’t have Top Gun without a shirtless sports scene
In the first film, it was all of the male pilots playing shirtless volleyball to Loggins’ “Playing with the Boys.” Yeah, I know how it sounds. Just roll with it. In the sequel, Maverick arranges a shirtless (the females wear sports bras) football game on the beach to build team-building skills. Yet, no Loggins for that scene, but has OneRepublic’s “I Ain’t Worried.” Good song, but it’s hard to beat classics like “Playing with the Boys.”
Quick question: did anyone else think that it was “Hanging with the Boys” instead of “Playing with the Boys?” I’ve been singing the wrong words this whole time…
Maverick is on top as summer’s biggest movie
Maverick came out in May and is still reeling in box office money. Theaters are still filled to the last seat, even a month after its release. Not only is the sequel seeing more money and more positive reviews, but it’s also stomping out competing big-name movies this summer. Even Jurassic World, Minions, and two Marvel movies fall short of Top Gun: Maverick.
Since writing this, the film has grossed $1.2 billion and is still the top-grossing film of 2022.
Wow! Just wow!
Top Gun: Maverick is an awesome movie, and is a great theater viewing experience. Not only does this bring in strong 80s nostalgia, but it also works on the changing of times and Maverick finding where his place is with the change. Cruise excels at the role that made him a superstar and the film delivers a tense final act once the real mission starts. It took me a while to get to finally see this one, and it was well worth the wait. I’m ready to see it again.
