SPOILER REVIEW: Top Gun: Maverick

So if you've seen Top Gun, continue listening to this and we'll get into all the major plot points. Or if you just don't mind having a movie ruined for you, then keep listening as well. But I have to say this is probably the most requested spoiler review I've had. This is a movie I've seen people who haven't gone to the movie theater in a very long time, even pre pandemic, go out and make it a point to watch this movie. Even at the time of recording this,

almost two weeks that the movie has been out. Now I will see people going every weekend talking about going to see Top Gun, and that's exciting to me. As a movie fan. It's cool to see a movie have that kind of impact and have that kind of interest in audiences. Makes me feel pretty good knowing that I do a movie podcast, and it's just fun to see all different levels of movie fan collectively enjoy Top Gun.

So I feel like that's exciting to me to know that a type of movie like this can still exist. And at the time of recording this, it's made three million dollars in the US alone, about seven fifty million dollars worldwide, So that's just telling you. I think it's all because of the power of nostalgia. It came out at a really good time of the year and just had an opportunity to dominate. But also I feel like it's a movie that really adds to the value being

able to watch it on the big screen. So let's talk about this movie. An interesting thing that helped me like the movie even more, and I wasn't even expecting it was Tom Cruise coming on at the very beginning and giving a message to everybody in the theater of like, hey, thanks for coming to watch my movie. You know, we worked really hard on this and made it a point to be able to you know, be seen in the

theater and not go onto streaming. And I've only seen this from maybe one or two other movies where an actor or director comes on before, and I have to say that kind of helps a little bit. And I know he just filmed this and he's an actor, he's master the art of conveying a message through a camera. But it felt personal to me, and it's just a nice little touch that I would like to see other A list actors do a very subtle thing that just

makes me feel a little bit more connected. As I watched the movie, and then you get into it, and the movie had me at the opening scene whenever you hear danger Zone again and it's just kind of like bringing back all those old memories in my theater. Specifically, people clapped at just seeing top Gun Maverick on the screen,

which was an interesting thing for me. So and then you get into seeing Tom Cruise is Maverick again, and from that opening scene where he is there to prove people wrong and reach that mock ten level, I feel like that set the tone for the entire movie, mock Tennis ten And that's all I really needed to see to know that I was in for something that I was really going to enjoy, and it set all my expectations a little bit higher for the rest of the movie because my main thing of you know, not being

the biggest Tom Cruise fan, not even really being the biggest fan of the original one. I'm kind of surprised that the legacy has had over the years, But in that moment, my curiosity of will the action really be worth it? Will it really be a visual spectacle that I needed to be in this theater to watch that confirmed everything for me. It almost felt like an action movie met a sci fi movie because it almost looked like Tom Cruise was just in space and that whole

action sequence was just engaging and entertaining and fun. So I love movies with a great, big opening that's a really good hook, and I feel like they did such a great job at that and it looked beautiful. That was probably one of my favorite moments of the entire movie.

And the other part I thought they did really well early on in the movie was remind people of the things you needed to know from the original Top Gun because they realized that it's been thirty years since we've seen this, you don't necessarily have to go back and rewatch Top Gun one, you understand what's going on. It definitely adds to the value. And there are things in Top Gun Maverick that you feel more rewarded by, you feel more emotionally invested in after seeing the first one.

But you don't really have to know that movie because they do a pretty good job at showing flashbacks from the original movie. So I enjoyed that aspect to it. And why I really think even now that Top Gun two was better than one was the story overall, I felt was more concise and made more sense of Tom

Cruise back as Maverick. He you know, gets in trouble at the beginning, gets thrown back into Top Gun thinking he's going to fly, and instead they want him there to teach this new group of elite pilots, and I just love him more in that role of being the teacher, of being the person who is one of the best, and being able to fly in situations that no one

else can. I just felt like that made more sense and also helped to create a better sense of camaraderie among the entire cast, having the old school established characters but bringing in this new bunch of people you get to meet and it allowed the movie to go in places that the original one just couldn't go. I think my favorite action sequences were when Tom Cruise was training all the new pilots and training them to be on their toes and really pushing them to try and beat

him and the attempt of taking them down. And what I really loved is the tension that these action sequences created. Oh, they're always being a little sense of danger but also

having a little sense of fun. And then you have the relationship between Maverick and Rooster that's kind of bubble lying as the movie goes along and comes to four front later, but with him being the teacher, it was really able to create this this struggle between him and his past with Rooster's parents and attributed to the overall theme of him not being able to let go of the past, which was I think the overarching theme in Top Gun Maverick, and also why this movie just worked

so well and was able to hit all of the feelings that I wanted to get out of. This movie hit me on an emotional level, it hit me on this is a great action movie. And then there was also just some comedy in there that was a little bit more subtle, and it wouldn't have been a top Gun movie without the cheesiness. But I also felt like that was dialed back a little bit. They didn't really get into like all the old catchphrases and make it a point to be like, I'll remember this from the

first one. It would be funny if we did that again right now. It was just creating a new comedic style of its own that wasn't trying to make jokes per se, just building that camaraderie of a team. There were aspects of it that did feel fun and funny, and then I loved all of the inclusion of people from the original cast from Ed Helms. But of course

the best was Val Kilmer. And after watching Val Kilmer's and after watching his documentary last year called Vow, which is on Amazon, I really didn't know a whole lot about his life. I didn't know a whole lot about his battle with cancer, and that documentary was very moving to me. If you haven't seen that one, I did a review on it last year and it was one of my favorite documentaries of last year because he was able to document his entire life throughout all the movie

roles he did. He just had a video camera running the entire time, and you see his health diminish over time, and it documents how much cancer affected his life and how it has affected his voice and causing him now to really not be able to speak. So his presence in this movie was very limited, very ominous, of just

him and Tom Cruise communicating over text message. But then that scene of them together, it was a great moment, and I know Tom Cruise really fought for Val Kilmer to be a part of the movie, and I really

think it needed that moment. The sad part about it was that they did kill him off in the movie, and just knowing how much he has struggled in his real life, it almost feels like a weird plot point to have, although it's necessary, But for just somebody who is, you know, battled cancer to have a scene in a movie where he dies, it just almost made me think of him as the actual human being and not the

character in the movies. But it was necessary and proved a pretty big turning point of Maverick being able to let go of the past and being able to move on. That was kind of that last little element that needed to happen. And then at the forefront of the entire movie is them trying to train in order to pull off this very a tough mission to where there is

zero room for error. They have to fly so fast and so precisely that basically they think the only person for the job is Maverick, which later it ends up being he's the only one who can pull it off. But he gets them to that level in that combat scene, which is so exciting when they're trying to stay under the radar. They're all trying to operate now as a team, and they've gone through all the struggle of you know, it's not the plane, it's the pilot. You've had all

this build up and you're finally there. I haven't been that invested in the final act of a movie in a very long time, and I think it's because this movie felt so emotionally grounded, knowing that also there were so many practical effects used in this movie, and at that point, it was also just great to see Maverick's journey from the first movie and then all the way through this movie of being back in the role of fighting and flying with a mission, and it was so

suspenseful and also fun at the same time. To see him actually do it in under two minutes, But that could have been in That could have been the end of the movie, but it wouldn't a step further to hit you with Tom Cruise again trying to be a hero, trying to save his fellow pilots and risking his life, and that moment you think that Tom Cruise is dead in the movie, I was like, oh man, they're really going to go there, Like that would actually be a great way to end this movie of they're being real

consequences in Maverick Dying. I think that would have been a very impactful thing. But of course they were also banking on this movie being a success, and if you kill off the star of the movie, that sequel isn't going to happen. But that would have been a great plot point. I wish they would have went there, and if they did go there, I would have rated this

movie even higher. But of course I think it was more important for him to survive the crash and Rooster going back to save him, and then being able to and work through all the issues they've had and then they're in that situation to where how do we get out of this? And that part of the movie became

it became fun. It almost became like an action comedy, and it actually worked really well of them going onto that base, stealing and F fourteen, which was a real F fourteen, and it's a call back to the original Top Gun and that whole sequence of them stealing the plane taking off thinking they're the biggest problem is getting back to the base, but then being chased by the other bad guys, and then you find them in that situation of thinking they're not going to get out of this.

This could be how the movie ends, instead of just Maverick dying, both Maverick and Rooster dying. But then you have that heroic, cheerable moment where Hangman comes and saves the day and he finally redeems himself after being quite the jerk out of the entire movie. Which I think that was important about this Top Gun movie is that it had really good villains that you didn't like in the movie, from Hangman to John Hamm's character Ed Harris. Because you have that good guy bad guy vibe, the

authoritarian figure over the reckless rock star pilot. It felt very eighties but modernized at the same time. And at the end of the movie. It just had everything you really wanted out of a summer blockbuster, really just any movie in general. All of the excitement, all of the highs and lows, the callbacks, even Rooster singing Great Balls of Fire, dressed and looking just like his dad did in the original movie. I thought all of that was

just the perfect way to do this movie. And I still stand by my rating of four out of five helmets, and I think that's because this movie did have a level of cheesiness to it, which was expect it. I don't go into this expecting Oscar worthy acting, but given that, I could only rate it so high based on the acting performances. There were moments of the movie that I was very aware that they were acting on a movie set, at least to me. I didn't fully buy into the

love story either between Tom Cruise and Jennifer Connolly. I felt like that was a little bit forced in there. You could have taken that out and the movie still would have been the same. I felt like that was all just a setup to have that unnecessary love scene, which I didn't really find that necessary to the entire movie. And while it was an improvement and an advancement, in the story of the original Top Gun. I don't think it did anything completely different other than modernizing the action

and the cinematography. But compared to other action movies, it's not like I did anything super novel as far as the plot and the characters, so it was maybe one seen away from it being ready just a little bit higher. I still think it will go down in history as one of the greatest action movies. It really cements Top Gun now as being this franchise that can last over generations. I still am left wanting more. I feel like this would be a perfect trilogy if they do one more.

Tom Cruise is about to be sixty. I don't think he has more than another one in him if he wants to do another one. Even though he did look really great in this movie, that could have been some cinema magic, some special filters in there, because he looked pretty ageless in this movie. So there you go. If you have any more thoughts or things you like didn't like about Top Gun, let me know I would like

to hear him. Hit me up on Instagram at Mike Destro or shoot me an email movie Mike d at gmail dot com and I will talk to you next time. Until then, go out and watch good movies later