‘Top Gun: Maverick’ review: Dir. Joseph Kosinski [Cannes 2022]

It has taken 36 years, no doubt multiple screenplays, and almost the entire career of Tom Cruise [to date] for a sequel to Top Gun to make it to the screen. As I type this atop the famous Palais des Festivals in Cannes where, just hours ago, the film received its European premiere with lots of fanfare, I am still visibly shaking and overwhelmed by the experience. In short, it has totally been worth that long wait as Cruise and co. have delivered not only the spectacle of the summer but one of the best action movies in years.

As the famous Paramount Pictures logo appeared in our screening, and that equally iconic Harold Faltermeyer theme chimed on the soundtrack, within seconds I was taken back to my teens…. and the tears of overwhelming nostalgia began to roll down my face. When you throw in that old Simpson/ Bruckheimer ident – seen most recently in the Bad Boys For Life as a hat-tip to late producer Don Simpson, and a title sequence almost identical to its 1986 original, we are clearly on the right path.

In fact, the only thing missing is Cruise’s name as the lead in the opening credits, Miles Teller seemingly getting top honours, which clearly says a lot for what’s to come.

Within minutes we are re-introduced to Cruise’s Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, now living in an old aircraft hangar on a US naval base where he’s still working as a test pilot. He’s a Captain, apparently refusing promotion or retirement – ‘I’m where I need to be,’ we hear him say later on. He’s currently testing a swish aircraft that has just had its funding pulled due to it failing to hit its targets – specifically hitting the stratospheric heights of Mach 10, so it seems. Ed Harris’ Rear Admiral is already on his way to the base to shut everything down, but, because ‘he’s not here yet’, Maverick opts to take the plane for one last spin. However, already up in the sky, a catastrophic incident results in him being pulled across the coals and sent back to Top Gun to teach the next generation, all at the request of Val Kilmer’s Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, who is now very influential over in Fightertown, San Diego.

Despite Jon Hamm’s leader Beau ‘Cyclone’ Simpson not too impressed to have Maverick back, he’s given a team of the latest ‘best of the best’ fighter pilots to bring up to speed for an important mission to take out an unnamed enemy’s plutonium stash in just three weeks’ time. Among them is Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw (Teller – looking more like 1980s Anthony Edwards than 1980s Anthony Edwards) ), son of Mav’s old fallen partner, Goose. There’s clearly a bit of history between them, not only Rooster blaming him for his father’s death but also because of Maverick hindering his progress into the Navy.

What follows is, quite frankly, two hours of some of the best mainstream cinema I’ve experienced in the near-twenty years of this site’s existence. Not only does it match the quality of the original, and then some, but somehow it surpasses it. There must be only a handful of films that have managed to do that, and it does so with utmost respect without paying too much fan service to what’s come before. What’s brilliant, is that Cruise, arguably starring in his best film for years, seems quite happy in passing the mantle to the new generation.

Of course, there are nods to what has come before, but everything is done subtly. In fact, the most glaringly obvious throwback to the ’80s classic is that blatant opening sequence and a rough and tumble, sunset-set, shirts-off game of football on the beach which, quite frankly, had they not included, this review would have possibly read quite differently. There’s also the love interest, this time played exceptionally by Jennifer Connelly, owner of a naval base bar who Maverick also seemingly has some unfinished business with.

Add in mentions of Meg Ryan’s character from the first film, which is completely made up of footage from the first movie, and a really touching scene purely featuring Kilmer and Cruise, and you have the makings of a perfect blockbuster.

All of this praise and not yet mentioning the stunning air sequences, all looking like they’ve been choreographed practically sparing only a little sprinkling of CGI when needed.

I’m not sure what more I’d have wanted from a Top Gun sequel, barring maybe Tony Scott at the helm, but Joseph Kosinski has done an exceptional job in bringing this to the screen. I cannot praise it enough. Though it will play to a certain generation more than others, it remains still an exceptional stand-alone event movie and goes to show that when you reach for the skies and have patience with a vision, it definitely pays off. One of those films that doesn’t want to set up sequels and will have you walking away completely overwhelmed and satisfied. Just, remarkable.