He was a movie star then, and he’s a movie star now, but with age, the stakes for his character are higher. Loud and proud, it wears its superficiality on its sleeve in an old-fashioned, last century style that is unabashed fan service.īut what really sets the new and old films a part is Cruise. Unlike other recent 1980s and 1990s reboots, it salutes the original in tribute. Still, as an exercise in nostalgia, complete with callbacks to the original, and an emotional appearance by Kilmer, “Maverick” works because it blends old and new in a crowd-pleasing way. It’s a recipe that echoes the events of the first film to the point of déjà vu. “Top Gun: Maverick” screenwriters Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie keep the story simple a splash of romance, a dash of remorse, some shirtless volleyball and a mountain of eye-popping, aerial action. Of the 12 recruits, half will make the cut, one will be the leader, if Maverick can teach them the precision and “don’t think, just do” attitude needed to come home alive.
“I’m not going to make the same mistake.” Rooster holds Maverick responsible for his father’s death and is resistant to Maverick’s training. Most dramatically, one of his students is Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s late best friend, “Goose,” played by Anthony Edwards in the first film. It places him in the vicinity of on-again, off-again girlfriend Penny (Jennifer Connelly), a new character, referenced in the first film as the daughter of an admiral. “You fly for Top Gun or you don’t ever fly for the Navy again.”Ĭyclone is obviously disdainful of the arrogant Maverick, but acknowledges he is the best person to train 12 of the brightest and best recent Top Gun graduates for a dangerous mission to locate and destroy an underground uranium enrichment site.įor Maverick, the job comes with baggage.
Called back to Top Gun, the United States Navy training program where he learned fighter and strike tactics and technique, Maverick is presented with a last chance for glory.