Taking your breath away, again

Picture: Paramount Pictures

Looked at from a cynical angle, Top Gun: Maverick is something of a corny knock-off of the 1986 original and chock-full of not-so subtle references to the iconic Tony Scott blockbuster. But looked at from an objective, Friday-night-at-the-pictures punter's point of view it is literally breathtaking.

Just like the original, there were plenty of holes that you wouldn't have to be a pedant to spot: for the 1986 film plane spotters like me couldn't help noticing that the ‘aggressor‘ planes used by the Top Gun school combat instructors were exactly the same as the jets used by the unnamed foreign adversary (i.e. American F-5s). In this long-awaited update things are a little more plausible, albeit with generous amounts of licence to let the undoubted star of the show look ridiculously good.

Picture: Paramount

And he is. It's not clear what Tom Cruise does to remain Tom Cruise, but apart from a few lines around the eyes, he is - and I am speaking here with nothing but envy - insanely unaged. Yes, the teeth, yes, that grin, yes, the helmet-free motorbike riding while wearing the white T-shirt/leather jacket/jeans/Aviators combo.

Like I said, you can waste time grumbling about the obvious nods to the original (the music cues, the set-up shots, etc) but that detracts from the sheer enjoyment of it all. Any review you read should - if not will - comment on the flying sequences, which are the best I've ever seen in any film depicting aerial combat. But there is also plenty of genuine, proportional emotional heft, particularly in the quasi-parental relationship between Cruise’s Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell and Miles Teller’s Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw (I’ll let you work out why), and the brief but poignant appearance of Val Kilmer as the-now Admiral Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazinksky, with art tragically imitating life, if you've been following the actor's medical plight.

As you might expect, almost everyone else in Maverick who isn’t Tom Cruise is a supporting player, but you kind of expect that as you walk in through the door. Without giving too much plot away, Maverick is charged with teaching ‘the best of the best’ navy flyers to take on a daring mission in an unnamed “rogue state” with nuclear ambitions (take a guess - somewhere on the eastern coast of the Eurasian landmass...). Here Maverick is given a group of cocky pilots with call signs like ‘Hangman’, ‘Phoenix’ and, er, ‘Bob’, with a sceptical boss (somewhat inexplicably played by Don Draper himself, Jon Hamm), whom he mentors into piloting their F-18 Hornets to the absolute edge of capability for an operation of geo-political significance. And, of course, there is the obligatory love interest - Maverick has managed to remain unmarried, apparently into his late ’50s - provided by Jennifer Connelly, providing a grounding foil as San Diego bar owner Penny.

Which brings me to contemporary events. The protracted timing of Top Gun: Maverick’s release is the result of the  pandemic, but it arrives in a world with a very real war taking place, which makes for some uncomfortable points of reference on the screen. Early in the film Maverick is lectured by a superior (a typically steely-eyed Ed Harris) on the future of combat aviation being unmanned and without the need for thrill jockeys like Maverick. In Ukraine, drones have made the difference for both sides, with Russian air force jets notably less involved than would be expected. Thus, the sight of a fleet of cruise missiles being launched from a warship brings the film disturbingly close to events taking place right now in Eastern Europe.

Picture: Paramount Pictures

Again, though, disbelief requires suspension for the two-and-half-hour duration. Of course, no one (still) on a US Navy captain's salary would own a vintage P-51 Mustang (the plane happens to be Cruise’s own) or a hangar in the Mojave Desert full of classic motorbikes. But that is and always was the Top Gun vibe: the mixture of testosterone, stiff-necked military order, and a touch of the Southern Californian lifestyle. It’s entertainment, after all, and not a documentary. 

Nor is it a cartoon. Top Gun: Maverick exists in a genre all of its own, which is what makes the original an icon of ’80s cinema. It may well be something of a remake, but Maverick moves the genre on enough for fans of the 1986 film to enjoy afresh, and provide something utterly edge-of-the-seat compelling for those not even born back then.