Review of Top Gun: Maverick (2022) by David Ehrlich for IndieWire — 12 May 2022

Stainless where the original was musty, neutered where the original was soft-core (there isn’t a single gratuitous shower scene in this sequel, let alone three of them), and structured like an immaculate pop song where the original moved like freeform jazz, “Maverick” sounds like a major regression from an age where summer movies didn’t always play safe.

But let’s not forget that Cruise is the only guy whose summer movies still vehemently refuse to do that.