Top Gun: Maverick

 

WOW. I finally watched Top Gun Maverick after everyone told me to watch it for over a year. My new biggest regret is not seeing this movie in theatres when it first came out. I watched this movie almost three weeks ago and I am still raving about it and can’t stop thinking about it. Such a good movie to watch on the biggest screen you have. 



Going into this movie, I was like fine I’ll watch it I guess. Unpopular opinion, but I don’t really like Tom Cruise movies, but I also haven't seen the majority of his work. I also don’t really care about the US military, the Navy, or planes for that matter. It's definitely different from the types of films I typically watch. I also hadn’t seen the original film so all of that combined there was nothing really pulling me to go see this movie when it first came out. But wow was I ever wrong about this movie… I don’t think I have ever been so wrong, and I will admit that.



In preparation for this movie, I watched the original film with my family which was pretty good but it wasn’t the greatest movie ever. However, I do recommend watching the original before watching Top Gun: Maverick for background information. This way you better understand Maverick’s motives and how Rooster fits into his life and values. Without watching the original film I think you can still enjoy the film but I think Maverick would have a lot less depth to his character, Iceman's role in the film wouldn't be as significant, and I think you need to understand Goose and Maverick's friendship to really understand Rooster and Maverick's dynamic.  



Miles Teller is incredible in this movie. My favourite character is easily Rooster, who is such a fun character, but also has all these layers that we see through the death of his dad and his relationship with Maverick. Miles Teller is such a talented actor that I have seen in a variety of projects including Divergent, Get a Job, and Whiplash. I thought it was cool that during the "Great Balls of Fire" scene, Teller is actually playing the piano and that he didn't need a double. He did the same thing in Whiplash with the drums. 



I like that they let the actors pick their own call signs, I think it’s a very personal and fun touch to these characters. I like that there is a female pilot and that the female characters are not just there to serve as the love interest. With Penney, even though she is Maverick's love interest, she does not need Maverick, she has a life outside of her time with him. I also like that this love story does not take up so much of the plot as in the last film, because I absolutely hated the love story in the first Top Gun movie and it made me want to pull my hair out. 



What I love about this sequel compared to other sequels/remakes is that the story is very well developed and is not just a complete remake of the original film. The plot makes sense, the pacing is good, they make a lot of connections back to the original film, and they learned from the mistakes of the original movie. I like that they chose to go in the direction of Goose's son, this made the most sense to me given he was a child in the original film. They are able to explore his anger towards Maverick, and Maverick's grief and it allows both to heal and move on in a way that they weren't able to in the original film. 



My favourite scenes are the "Great Balls of Fire" scene, the beach scene of course, and any of the training scenes in the planes. The cinematography in this film is insane, I love that they actually went up in real planes instead of CGI everything. I love movies like this and Dune where they use real sets and don’t rely on CGI to create the scene. In my opinion, great directors use what they have in front of them and use CGI to enhance the film…not make it.



Something that was also really cool about this movie is that the film is shot on Sony Venice cameras "certified by IMAX" and not the regular IMAX cameras. This allowed them to put six 6K cameras in the cockpits of the F-18 planes. This was one of the first films to be released as a part of the "certified by IMAX" program. 



Overall, this movie is amazing and I should have watched it way sooner. If you haven’t seen it, go get a paramount plus subscription and watch it right now. If anyone from Cineplex is reading this and would like to put it back in theatres for me that would be great thanks.