Review of Top Gun: Maverick (2022) by Compi24 — 27 May 2022

Honestly, the hype this had coming out of Cannes had me a bit worried. If even that film festival's occasionally-fussy audience members managed to bestow this with near-universal acclaim, then that's a lot of damn pressure on me to like this thing too.

Christ alive did I nothing to worry about. Not only is "Top Gun: Maverick" at least a worthy companion piece to the seminal 80's classic, it's a disarmingly superior film and quite possibly one of the best sequels to a movie that's about as much of a cultural fixture as movies can get.

Joseph Kosinski, Tom Cruise and the screenwriting and stunt teams needs to take a victory lap on this one. Potent emotionality, eminent likability on the part of Cruise and ripping soundtrack aside, the thing I loved the most about this one is how much the stakes and circumstances are ramped up this time around.

I remember the set pieces in the original Tony Scott film being engaging and entertaining, but never quite as intense and menacing as they're presented here. There's almost a point in the film where you as an audience member are dreading the moment where this final mission has to take place.

The action also scales in such a satisfying way throughout the course of the film, with the finale honestly constituting one of the best action sequences I've seen in a movie in a very, very long time.

Doubtful that any summer movie's going to top this in the coming months. Completely floored with how much I absolutely loved nearly every minute of this.