9/12 ForReel Score | 4/5 Stars

Top Gun: Maverick has been a long time coming. Not only is this sequel reviving a hit action film from over 30 years ago, but its release was among the slew of blockbuster delays caused by the pandemic in 2020. With every highly anticipated film that’s been delayed, it’s easy to wonder why we couldn't get this film sooner. Why not just release it on streaming? Think whatever you want about other delayed blockbusters. Top Gun: Maverick is not a film to watch on a standard home entertainment setup. This is a movie that begs to be experienced in a theater with booming sound, an enthusiastic audience, and a big screen. While the film plays it safe on the narrative, the experience as a whole comes with plenty of heart, nostalgia, and the thrilling, fast-flying aerial sequences we expect from entertainment bearing the “Top Gun” name.

Top Gun: Maverick finds the notorious Captain Pete Mitchell (yes, only a Captain 30 years later, but a highly decorated one), played of course by Tom Cruise, still pushing the boundaries of aviation in the Navy, and still pushing his luck with his rule breaking tendencies. After achieving Mach 10 against the wishes of Radm. Chester 'Hammer' Cain (Ed Harris) whose interests lie in investing into unmanned aircraft technology, Captain Pete Mitchell, otherwise known by his call sign, Maverick, is summoned back to the Top Gun flight program - not to fly, but to teach. Twelve of the best pilots in the Navy have been assembled to take out a hard to reach target and Maverick has been tasked to train them, choose the six he thinks can accomplish this impossible mission, and attempt to get them all back home alive.

Maverick has to confront a number of internal conflicts caused by this scenario. Though he has matured, his unorthodox method of problem solving remains at odds with strict Navy policies and protocols. He feels he’s better as a pilot, and is highly concerned that he’s not suited for teaching. And to make matters even more complicated, Goose’s son Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw is among the team of trainees, and it’s clear that even beyond the death of his father in Top Gun, he and Maverick do not have a rosy history with each other. With egos, resentment, and power struggles keeping the team woefully disjointed, the success of this critical mission hinges on Maverick’s ability to earn everyone’s trust and somehow pass his innate instincts on to this new team of pilots.

This premise - harrowing even on paper - is nothing short of exhilarating on the big screen. Grand IMAX cinematography of fighter jets soaring, tumbling, and careening around each other often makes the experience feel as though you’re on a Universal Studios thrill ride (though this is a Paramount film, for the record) rather in a movie theater. Wide shots of the pilots in their cockpits offer audiences stunning views of what’s happening both inside and outside of the jet. And the stunts these aircrafts pull off, from tightly banked turns to mid-air stalls, make for sensational action sequences.

Top Gun: Maverick pulls out all the stops to make this moviegoing experience an absolute spectacle. Beyond the stunts and action sequences, even the cast - from the new team of young fit twenty-somethings to the returning Top Gun crew - all serve as high definition eye candy. The premise, the planes, and the people all serve to bolster director Joseph Kosinski’s approach to sexy cinema.

And while Top Gun: Maverick bakes comedic moments into its storytelling recipe, the third act offers a promising glimmer of a buddy comedy dynamic between Cruise and Teller that, though short lived in this film, could serve as a refreshing springboard into the arc of Maverick “passing the torch” to Rooster, so to speak. Teller proves with a handful of standout moments in Maverick that he is as capable at leading future Top Gun stories as his character, Rooster, is at being a Top Gun pilot, and it’s fun to speculate where the franchise might go from here with that potential.

“Fun”, after all, was certainly a priority for this production, but ultimately, “nostalgia” is the name of the game for Top Gun: Maverick. So much of the film harkens back to memorable moments and aspects of the original Top Gun, with periodic shots of photographs of the original Top Gun team and iconic lines like “Talk to me, Goose” recurring throughout the film. Even the opening sequence that is a remake of the Top Gun opening sequence.

This is a film that knows its audience. It’s self-aware filmmaking at its finest, embracing the campiness and unabashed hokiness of the original in a style that is accessible to most audiences while being designed especially for the Top Gun fanbase. Which makes it no surprise that Top Gun: Maverick can often be cliché and predictable with how the narrative plays out. The fate of Maverick is often tested, but never subjected to permanent consequences. The film actively passes on opportunities to address or make a statement on topics like family drama, mental health, and toxic work culture and environments. And a number of all-hope-is-lost moments in the third act resolve in ways that fail to build any real suspense.

This is the sacrifice Top Gun: Maverick makes to achieve its crowd pleasing nature. But in the end, why argue with it? Event films have been few and far between over the past two years, and Top Gun: Maverick, superficial as it may be, serves as the perfect kickoff to our first unrestricted Summer Blockbuster season since the start of the pandemic. Are you thinking about heading to the theater to give Top Gun: Maverick a watch? As Maverick himself would say: don’t think, just do.

MOVIE REVIEW: "Top Gun: Maverick" Is Top Notch Fun