Why is ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ better than the original?
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ is better than the original, and Cruise and crew are restoring our faith in people. Everything was filmed in the air.
When the original "Top Gun" appeared in theaters back in 1986, the following year the US Navy had as many as 500 percent more applications for the elite pilot unit in F-14 aircraft. That film was the best propaganda to the U.S. military, but also one of the biggest blockbusters of the 80s, which elevated the career of then-24-year-old Tom Cruise.
It’s been 36 years, Cruise is one of Hollywood’s most powerful people today, and “Top Gun” has got its sequel.
If you grew up in the '80s with "Top Gun", you will undoubtedly get chills at the very beginning when you hear the timeless classics "Top Gun Anthem" and "Danger Zone". A touch of nostalgia was packaged by director Joseph Kosinski into beautiful scenes in which we return to the “danger zone”.
What do we know about the script?
Cruise’s Pete Maverick Mitchell today is a test pilot who has not moved away from the rank of captain and is once again having problems with authority. When he disobeyed the order and managed to break the speed of Mach 10, he received an invitation to return to the Top Gun Academy, to be a teacher to the 12 best American pilots. The invitation came thanks to Admiral Tom Iceman of Kazan (Val Kilmer), his rival from the first part, with whom he later became friends.
Among the 12 pilots is Bradley Rooster Bradshaw(Miles Teller), son of his late aide Nick Goose Bradshaw. Maverick is still to blame for the death of his friend, so he tried to protect his son from entering the cockpit. But Rooster is simply too good a pilot, and Maverick realizes he has to make a team out of a group of rivals, just as he and his friends were 36 years ago.
Of course, there’s the love story, too. So there is romance, nostalgia, but also emotion. It was really emotional to see Val Kilmer on the big screen again after he underwent throat cancer surgery in 2017 and he couldn't talk anymore. His illness is wisely incorporated into the powerful scene of his encounter with Maverick.
“Top Gun: Maverick” is a film we’ve been waiting for years, especially the last two, when a pandemic devastated the film industry. It is a film that restores our faith that blockbusters, as we are used to, are still being made. In "Maverick", Ed Harris plays an admiral who at one point says that drones will soon replace humans and that therefore they will not even need humans. This is exactly how computer special effects have taken over Hollywood in recent years, and most of it is filmed in front of a green screen.
"Top Gun: Maverick" is the real thing, everything was filmed in the air, in the cockpit of an F-18 plane. This is best seen in the moments when the Cruise flies at supersonic speed and the gravitational force distorts his face. You can't get things like that by flying in a simulator. But unlike the first part, Maverick and his guys are not fighting Russian MIGs, but against a “renegade country” that produces uranium. Just as Maverick and Goose would say, “I feel the need ... the need for speed!". You will not regret watching this movie!
