Top gun: Maverick Review (no spoilers)

My Bonnie Bride and I went to see Top Gun: Maverick recently, so I am going to open my review with – if you haven’t seen Top gun (1986) recently, take the time to watch it again first as there is mention of a character who, although didn’t appear in the original film, was mentioned twice, and plays a prominent role in Maverick. Hopefully that won’t count as a spoiler, as I do want to try and keep my review spoiler free.

Photo by my Bonnie Bride at the theater

The film opens with Tom Cruise providing a bit of commentary, stating the film used real F-18s and real Gs (as in G-forces). After that, it becomes a wild ride of high speed aircraft and aerial maneuvers that are better than any thrill ride you could hope to find at Disneyland. Top Gun:Maverick is worth seeing for all of the aviation footage alone. The film has a lot to offer in addition to that: Drama, romance, adventure, humor, reconciliation and redemption.

Tom Cruise is in the driver seat of the production as Star and as serving as one of the film’s producers, along with Jerry Bruckheimer (who co-produced the original film), Christopher McQuarrie and David Ellison. Val Kilmer is the only actor from the original film to return, reprising his role as Iceman, now an Admiral. Although Kilmer’s role in the film is short, he plays an important role in the story.

Let’s talk about the rest of the cast, starting with Miles Teller who portrays Rooster, Goose’s son, now fully grown, in the Navy, and a top Gun graduate. Where the heck did they find a guy who looked a lot like Anthony Edwards (Goose) to play Rooster? Maybe the mustache helped? I don’t know, but the resemblance was good, and Teller turns in a fine performance in the film.

Jennifer Connelly plays Penny Benjamin – she is a single mom, daughter of retired Admiral Benjamin (again, no appearance, only mentioned) and owns a bar on or near North Island, and is Maverick’s love interest (I hope that doesn’t count as a spoiler). I am sorry to say I am not very familiar with Connelly’s work except for The Rocketeer, which, by the way, is a heck of a fun film. Putting it on the list to watch again.

Overall, this is a great action-packed adventure film with a lot of airplane flight time, and, unlike a lot of films today, they used real F18s for the flying, not CGI. Great cast, great crew, and solid production team that cared about giving audiences a fun, entertaining story to watch. And yes, I think it is best seen on the big screen.

Thanks for stopping by.