Top Gun: Maverick finally arrives

We can finally put COVID behind us as it pertains to movies. 

Top Gun: Maverick is the last movie that had trailers out before the pandemic to get released. It would have been almost 2 years ago that this movie was released had it hit its summer 2020 date. And before some resorts it was probably coming out in 2019. So it's been a long wait. 

I like the original Top Gun. It is one of the most 1980s movies of all time. A lot of it comes off as almost laughably cheesy, but those moments somehow make the film better. It was one of the first big Tom Cruise movies. One of the first big Simpson/Bruckheimer films. One of Tony Scott's first films. And we never get the brilliant Hot Shots without it. 

Maverick is an almost across the board better film. Yet I probably enjoyed it less than the original.

The aerial action in the film is behind compare. There is some visceral, thrilling stuff in it. You can very much tell the parts where Cruise himself is flying. The whole film is centered on this one mission (which seems...impossible) and they build it up very well. The last act is very exciting and manages to go one extra step of craziness that a worse film would turn into a joke. 

Cruise, always a very underrated actor, has more chances for real dramatic acting here than he ever gets in a Mission Impossible film. But he wisely lets the ensemble shine too. There's a whole crew of younger pilots and many are very memorable. Miles Teller is excellent. Glen Powell aces the part as this film's douchebag. And Monica Barbaro, hello! More of her in everything please.

There is a scene that brings back Val Kilmer that is so genuinely emotional and bittersweet that I was stunned.

The movie wastes Jon Hamm as this movie's version of the stock authority figure who hates the hero yet we know will eventually come around. And while Jennifer Connelly (who actually smiles in a movie for once) is okay as the love interest, that whole story thread feels like a big waste of time and it bugged me how a film that never passes up a chance to reference the original basically acts as if Kelly McGilis never existed. And there is no "Take My Breath Away" to help sell the romance.

The film is very predictable but it hits the beats you want it to and hits them very well. 

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