In my review of the original Top Gun a few years ago, I briefly mentioned the then upcoming sequel and described it as “probably unnecessary”. This cautious cynicism comes from how often sequels to films from years in the past if not terrible, are unnecessary at best. Examples include sequels to eighties classics like Coming to America and this year’s sequel to Beetlejuice. There was absolutely no need for these sequels to exist and they often just follow the same beats of the original, seldom distinguishing themselves from the original enough to justify their existence. Whereas the better sequels either do something to differentiate from the original or else come so close after the original as to seem like a genuine continuation. Top Gun: Maverick certainly follows similar beats to the original but it is a new song and I’m happy to admit my early scepticism was wrong.
The biggest criticism I have for this film is what I anticipated after seeing the first trailer. That is, that all the character growth that Maverick went through in the original film was reset for the sequel. He is still the same Maverick from the first third of the original before all the set-backs and one big tragedy befell him. In a way, I understand why this was done as audiences did like the “Maverick” that lived up to his name. It is also amusing to meet him thirty years later having barely advanced in rank and only remaining in active service due to the protection of Iceman who is now an Admiral and the Head of the Pacific Fleet.
The film begins exactly how the original did though with new footage on a modern aircraft carrier. This serves as a great way to orientate the audience but Maverick is not piloting these aircraft and he is first seen in a hanger where he grabs his iconic jacket and more implausibly, uncovers the same motorcycle he was riding in the first film. Maverick then heads to a military base where he is revealed to now be a Navy test pilot. I was curious shortly before I set out to write this whether the US is still is pushing airspeed records. Not officially according to the bastion of reliability that is Wikipedia. Which for uncontroversial topics, it generally is. Maverick is testing the “Darkstar” which looks somewhat similar to a Blackbird which still holds the official airspeed record. If the film is to be believed, the US has more than doubled the last official record from the 1970s. Naturally, Maverick still pushes it too far and is forced to eject from the craft before it explodes.
In relation to real-world changes, the move away from manned flight to unmanned drones forms part of the background to the film’s plot. The test flight program headed by Admiral Cain (played by Ed Harris), is to be shut down and the funding directed elsewhere. At the time of the film’s release, modern weapons were (and still are), in active use in the Ukraine and the limitations of manned jet aircraft were being learned by experience. The USA has enjoyed air superiority in most of the wars it has fought against weaker nations and so has been able to drop bombs from the air with impunity. Advancements in missiles, drones and anti-aircraft technology has changed this. As with aircraft carriers, fighter aircraft are going to be a lot less useful in any open conflict where the opposing forces enjoy any technological parity. Part of this comes down to cost as when something that costs thirty million can be easily destroyed by something that costs one or two, the advantage goes to the cheaper option.
I titled my review of Top Gun, ‘The Last Years of America’. What I meant by that was very much with hindsight. The late eighties and the early nineties were really the zenith of American power and a film like Top Gun really had that on full display; even if you consider it nothing more than a clever recruitment film for the Navy. With American power now clearly collapsing everywhere, the sequel is something of a last hurrah. Showing the confidence and excellence that made America great for one last time before it ends as we’ve known it. The sentiment that the film represented something great that was gone I noticed reflected in many of the positive reviews it received on release. I share the sentiment while not being blind to the evils this empire has wrought on the world.
As in the first film, the “enemy” is heavily implied to be the Russians but is never explicitly described as such. After the disintegration of his career as a test pilot, he is given one last chance to train a group of young Top Gun graduates for a dangerous mission requiring manned fighter aircraft. This sends him back to Top Gun where it is also revealed that he hadn’t lasted very long. This covered for a line spoken at the end of the original film where he indicated he intended to become a Top Gun instructor.
Another line or rather name spoken in the first film also comes into play. The “admiral’s daughter” Penny Benjamin is the love interest and played by the aging but still beautiful Jennifer Connelly. Many people first remember Connelly from the film Labyrinth which also released the same year as the original Top Gun. I assume the events of both films aren’t dated to their years of release as she was only sixteen at the time the original released. Of course, Cruise himself was in his early twenties. Kelly McGillis who played the love interest in the original was seven years older than Cruise and looked it too. Although McGillis played a memorable part in the film, the romance between Maverick and Charlie was one of the weaker aspects of the film and it is unsurprising she wasn’t brought back. I believe when sought for comment on this, she was quite realistic about this. She actually looks her age while Cruise could still pass for a man in his forties though being in his early sixties.
Connelly’s Penny Benjamin is introduced as a bar owner near the flight school and Maverick receives a cool reception on their first meeting. At the same time as this, the young Top Gun graduates arrive at the same bar though their instructor-to-be is unknown to them. There are now a couple of female pilots with Monica Barbaro playing Phoenix being the most prominent. This was expected and not unreasonable given there are now female fighter pilots whether one thinks it is a good idea or not. Phoenix is not written or portrayed in the obnoxious way female characters often are now and as a result, actually works well as part of the team. Another notable character is Hangman played by Glen Powell, a natural alpha. The most important is Bradley “Rooster “Bradshaw played by Miles Teller who really does look like Goose’s young adult son.
Maverick breaking some obscure rules of Penny’s bar has him not only left covering the tabs for most of the nights drinking but also ceremoniously thrown out by some of the pilots he will be instructing the following day. This is realised by the pilots in the morning in a similar scene to Charlie introducing herself after losing that loving feeling in the original. From here, the film jumps almost immediately into flight training this time using F/A-18 Super Hornets as the iconic F-14 Tomcats were retired in 2006.
This is where much of the film’s spectacular aircraft footage will be seen and it really has to be seen. The footage from the original film is still impressive but the new footage with modern cameras is certainly on another level. I am assuming there is some CGI, here and there but the footage done for the film is amazing and I was certainly glad I first saw it in the cinema. On that note, I was still impressed with the original watching it on what became an increasingly grainy VHS.
The main goal of the training is to prepare the pilots to manoeuvre through a trench and hit a very specific target not once but twice. One crew has to expose a shaft and the second send a bomb into it before coming out and immediately being exposed to anti-aircraft positions. Although it seems implausible (even for a film), there is a theme at work where if you demonstrate something can be done then other men will be able to do it. This is similar to Mt. Everest where what was once considered impossible is now open to all including many who still die in the attempt.
If I continue, I will just be re-telling the film but there is more to it than the amazing aircraft footage. What makes it a worthy sequel is the relationships particularly between Penny and Maverick and Maverick and Rooster. In both, Maverick is restoring trust where it has been lost both through his own fault and circumstances beyond his control. Cruise and Connelly make a much more convincing couple and you get the sense that by the end, he has matured in a way he certainly hadn’t before.
There are a number of other supporting characters in the film who have relatively small roles despite being big names. One notable is John Hamm as Cyclone a Vice Admiral in charge of the operation. He is antagonistic towards Maverick but for understandable reasons similar to Iceman’s very reasonable assessment of Maverick’s flying in the original. Val Kilmer does return in a minor but significant role as Iceman. Kilmer had battled throat cancer which means he can only speak through a voice box. This was tastefully integrated into the film’s plot.
Director, Joseph Kosinski and all involved really did an excellent job with this film. It would be understandable to criticise where the film trod too close or too far from the original but overall, I can’t imagine it being better than it was. It captured all that was great about the first film and the story brought growth to the existing characters as well as introducing new ones. Probably what I dislike most is the title. I wish it had just been called ‘Top Gun 2‘.
