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In “Top Gun: Maverick,” the breathless, gravity and logic-defying “ Top Gun ” sequel that somehow makes all the sense in the world despite landing more than three decades after the late Tony Scott ’s original, an admiral refers to Tom Cruise ’s navy aviator Pete Mitchell—call sign “ Maverick ”—as “the fastest man alive.” It’s a chuckle-inducing scene that recalls one in “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation,” when Alec Baldwin ’s high-ranking Alan Hunley deems Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, “the living manifestation of destiny.” In neither of these instances are Cruise’s co-stars exclusively referring to his make-believe screen personas. They are also (or rather, primarily) talking about the ongoing legacy of Cruise the actor himself. 

Truth be told, our fearless and ever-handsome action hero earns both appraisals with a generous side of applause, being one of the precious remnants of bona-fide movie superstardoms of yore, a slowly dwindling they-don’t-make-'em-like-they-used-to notion of immortality these days. Indeed, Cruise’s consistent commitment to Hollywood showmanship—along with the insane levels of physical craft he unfailingly puts on the table by insisting to do his own stunts—I would argue, deserves the same level of high-brow respect usually reserved for the fully-method sorts such as Daniel Day-Lewis . Even if you somehow overlook the fact that Cruise is one of our most gifted and versatile dramatic and comedic actors with the likes of “ Born on the Fourth of July ,” “ Magnolia ,” “ Tropic Thunder ,” and “ Collateral ” under his belt, you will never forget why you show up to a Tom Cruise movie, thanks in large part to his aforesaid enduring dedication. How many other household names and faces can claim to guarantee “a singular movie event” these days and deliver each time, without exceptions?

In that regard, you will be right at home with “Top Gun: Maverick,” director Joseph Kosinski ’s witty adrenaline booster that allows its leading producer to be exactly what he is—a star—while upping the emotional and dramatic stakes of its predecessor with a healthy (but not overdone) dose of nostalgia. After a title card that explains what “Top Gun” is—the identical one that introduced us to the world of crème-de-la-crème Navy pilots in 1986—we find Maverick in a role on the fringes of the US Navy, working as an undaunted test pilot against the familiar backdrop of Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone.” You won’t be surprised that soon enough, he gets called on a one-last-job type of mission as a teacher to a group of recent Top Gun graduates. Their assignment is just as obscure and politically cuckoo as it was in the first movie. There is an unnamed enemy—let’s called it Russia because it’s probably Russia—some targets that need to be destroyed, a flight plan that sounds nuts, and a scheme that will require all successful Top Gun recruits to fly at dangerously low altitudes. But can it be done?

It’s a long shot, if the details of the operation—explained to the aviator hopefuls in a rather “It can’t be done” style reminiscent of “ Mission: Impossible ”—are any indication. But you will be surprised that more appealing than the prospect of the bonkers mission here is the human drama that co-scribes Ehren Kruger , Eric Warren Singer , and Christopher McQuarrie spin from a story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks . For starters, the group of potential recruits include Lt. Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw ( Miles Teller , terrific), the son of the dearly departed “Goose,” whose accidental death still haunts Maverick as much as it does the rest of us. And if Rooster’s understandable distaste of him wasn’t enough (despite Maverick’s protective instincts towards him), there are skeptics of Maverick’s credentials— Jon Hamm ’s Cyclone, for instance, can’t understand why Maverick’s foe-turned-friend Iceman ( Val Kilmer , returning with a tearjerker of a part) insists on him as the teacher of the mission. Further complicating the matters is Maverick’s on-and-off romance with Penny Benjamin (a bewitching Jennifer Connelly ), a new character that was prominently name-checked in the original movie, as some will recall. What an entanglement through which one is tasked to defend their nation and celebrate a certain brand of American pride ...

In a different package, all the brouhaha jingoism and proud fist-shaking seen in “Top Gun: Maverick” could have been borderline insufferable. But fortunately Kosinski—whose underseen and underrated “Only The Brave” will hopefully find a second life now—seems to understand exactly what kind of movie he is asked to navigate. In his hands, the tone of “Maverick” strikes a fine balance between good-humored vanity and half-serious self-deprecation, complete with plenty of quotable zingers and emotional moments that catch one off-guard.

In some sense, what this movie takes most seriously are concepts like friendship, loyalty, romance, and okay, bromance. Everything else that surrounds those notions—like patriotic egotism—feels like playful winks and embellishments towards fashioning an old-school action movie. And because this mode is clearly shared by the entirety of the cast—from a memorable Ed Harris that begs for more screen time to the always great Glen Powell as the alluringly overconfident “ Hangman ,” Greg Tarzan Davis as “Coyote,” Jay Ellis as “ Payback ,” Danny Ramirez as “Fanboy,” Monica Barbaro as “ Phoenix ,” and Lewis Pullman as “Bob”—“Top Gun: Maverick” runs fully on its enthralling on-screen harmony at times. For evidence, look no further than the intense, fiery chemistry between Connelly and Cruise throughout—it’s genuinely sexy stuff—and (in a nostalgic nod to the original), a rather sensual beach football sequence, shot with crimson hues and suggestive shadows by Claudio Miranda . 

Still, the action sequences—all the low-altitude flights, airborne dogfights as well as Cruise on a motorcycle donned in his original Top Gun leather jacket—are likewise the breathtaking stars of “Maverick,” often accompanied by Harold Faltermeyer ’s celebratory original score (aided by cues from Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe ). Reportedly, all the flying scenes—a pair of which are pure hell-yes moments for Cruise—were shot in actual U.S. Navy F/A-18s, for which the cast had to be trained for during a mind-boggling process. The authentic work that went into every frame generously shows. As the jets cut through the atmosphere and brush their target soils in close-shave movements—all coherently edited by Eddie Hamilton —the sensation they generate feels miraculous and worthy of the biggest screen one can possibly find. Equally worthy of that big screen is the emotional strokes of “Maverick” that pack an unexpected punch. Sure, you might be prepared for a second sky-dance with “Maverick,” but perhaps not one that might require a tissue or two in its final stretch.

Available in theaters May 27th. 

Tomris Laffly

Tomris Laffly is a freelance film writer and critic based in New York. A member of the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC), she regularly contributes to  RogerEbert.com , Variety and Time Out New York, with bylines in Filmmaker Magazine, Film Journal International, Vulture, The Playlist and The Wrap, among other outlets.

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Film credits.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action, and some strong language.

131 minutes

Tom Cruise as Captain Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell

Miles Teller as Lt. Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw

Jennifer Connelly as Penny Benjamin

Jon Hamm as Vice Admiral Cyclone

Glen Powell as Hangman

Lewis Pullman as Bob

Charles Parnell as Warlock

Bashir Salahuddin as Coleman

Monica Barbaro as Phoenix

Jay Ellis as Payback

Danny Ramirez as Fanboy

Greg Tarzan Davis as Coyote

Ed Harris as Rear Admiral

Val Kilmer as Admiral Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky

Manny Jacinto as Fritz

• Joseph Kosinski

Writer (based on characters created by)

• Jack Epps Jr.

Writer (story by)

• Peter Craig
• Justin Marks
• Ehren Kruger
• Eric Warren Singer
• Christopher McQuarrie

Cinematographer

• Claudio Miranda
• Chris Lebenzon
• Eddie Hamilton
• Lorne Balfe
• Harold Faltermeyer
• Hans Zimmer

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Top Gun: Maverick

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Watch Top Gun: Maverick with a subscription on Prime Video, Paramount+, rent on Fandango at Home, or buy on Fandango at Home.

What to Know

Top Gun: Maverick pulls off a feat even trickier than a 4G inverted dive, delivering a long-belated sequel that surpasses its predecessor in wildly entertaining style.

If you loved the original -- or enjoy some good old-school action -- you need to speed your way to a screening of Top Gun: Maverick .

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Joseph Kosinski

Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell

Miles Teller

Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw

Jennifer Connelly

Penny Benjamin

Adm. Beau "Cyclone" Simpson

Glen Powell

Lt. Jake "Hangman" Seresin

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Tom cruise in ‘top gun: maverick’: film review.

The ace fighter pilot returns 36 years after first feeling the need for speed in Joseph Kosinski’s sequel, also starring Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly and Jon Hamm.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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As inescapable a pop-cultural totem as 1986’s Top Gun became, Tony Scott’s testosterone-powered blockbuster has all the narrative complexity of a music video crossed with a military recruitment reel. It’s hard to think of many more emblematic products of the rah-rah patriotism of the Reagan years, with its vigorous salute to American exceptionalism and triumph over a Cold War enemy left purposely vague — hey, don’t want to shut out a lucrative foreign market.

All that has only continued to toxify in the post-Trump age, with patriotism curdling into white supremacy. So depending on where you sit on the political spectrum, your enjoyment of Top Gun: Maverick might depend on how much you’re willing to shut out the real world and surrender to movie-star magic.

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Venue : Cannes Film Festival (Out of Competition) Release date : Friday, May 27 Cast : Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer, Lewis Pullman, Charles Parnell, Bashir Salahuddin, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Greg Tarzan Davis Director : Joseph Kosinski Screenwriters : Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie

Which this superior sequel — directed with virtuoso technical skill, propulsive pacing and edge-of-your-seat flying sequences by Joseph Kosinski — has in abundance. Every frame of Tom Cruise ’s Maverick is here to remind you, soaking up the awestruck admiration of the young hot shots ready to dismiss him as a fossil and the initially begrudging respect of the military brass who try and fail to pull the cocky individualist into line. “He’s the fastest man alive,” one of the slack-jawed hero worshippers in the control room says early on. And that’s even before he does his signature robotic “Cruise Run.”

“It’s not the plane, it’s the pilot,” we hear more than once. And Cruise leaves no question that he’s the pilot, despite hiring a pro craft team and a solid ensemble cast who were put through extensive flight training. Even the relic F-14 Tomcat, Maverick’s tactical fighter plane of choice in the first movie, gets fired up for a glory lap, a salute to aged movie stars and old technology in one. Cruise’s character is somehow positioned by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie’s screenplay as simultaneously a rule-breaking rebel and a selfless saint. That makes this a work of breathtaking egomania outdone only by the fawning tone of Paramount’s press notes.

Starting when Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” accompanies footage of new-generation F-18 hornets slicing through the clouds and swooping down onto an aircraft carrier amid a sea of high-fives, fist-pumps and thumbs-up, the sequel follows the original beat for beat, to a degree that’s almost comical. And yet, as formulaic as it is, there’s no denying that it delivers in terms of both nostalgia and reinvention. Mainstream audiences will be happily airborne, especially the countless dads who loved Top Gun and will eagerly want to share this fresh shot of adrenaline with their sons.

Pete “Maverick” Mitchell lives alone in a Mojave Desert hangar with a photo shrine on the wall to his former radar intercept officer and best buddy Goose, who died during a training accident in the first film. (Anthony Edwards and Meg Ryan are seen in a helpful recap framed as Pete’s tortured memories.)

Maverick zooms into the Naval base on his Kawasaki each day and continues to get his kicks as a daredevil test pilot, resisting the advancement in rank from captain that would have grounded him by now. But when his aerial showboating pisses off Admiral Cain (Ed Harris), who’s pushing to transition to drone aircrafts and make stick jockeys obsolete, Maverick gets his wings clipped.

Despite having lasted just two months as an instructor almost 30 years ago, he’s reassigned to the elite Fighter Weapons School, aka Top Gun Academy, in San Diego, which was established in 1969 to train the top 1 percent of Naval aviators. Neither Cain nor the academy’s senior officer, call sign “Cyclone” ( Jon Hamm ), wanted him for the job. But Maverick’s former rival and eventual wingman Iceman (Val Kilmer), who went on to become an admiral and command the U.S. Pacific Fleet, convinced them he was the only man who could prepare pilots for a top-secret mission.

A uranium enrichment plant has been detected on enemy soil — once again, exactly which enemy is unclear — and two pairs of F-18s need to sneak in, bomb the bejesus out of it and then get out fast, overcoming a near-impossible quick climb over rocky peaks and then surviving the inevitable blast of enemy missiles and aerial dogfights.

The candidates for that mission are “the best of the best,” former star graduates who are pretty much a repeat of the 1986 bunch aside from being more culturally diverse. There’s even — gasp! — a woman, Phoenix (Monica Barbaro). The two that matter most, though, are swaggering blowhard Hangman (Glen Powell) and Goose’s son Rooster ( Miles Teller ), still carrying around the ghost of his father and hostile to Maverick for stalling his career by taking his name off the Naval Academy list.

The Hangman-Rooster dynamic more or less mirrors the Iceman-Maverick friction from Top Gun , just as the incongruously homoerotic shirtless volleyball scene is echoed here with a rowdy team-building football game on the beach.

The only notable place where the screenwriters don’t genuflect to the original model is with Kelly McGillis’ astrophysicist and civilian Top Gun instructor Charlie, who declined a plum Washington job to stick with her man but doesn’t even rate a mention here. Instead, Maverick sparks up an old romance with Penny ( Jennifer Connelly ), a single mom with fabulous highlights. She runs a local bar — its name, The Hard Deck, doubles as a tactical plot point — which apparently puts her in an income bracket to own a sleek sailboat and drive a Porsche. (Producer Jerry Bruckheimer never met a power vehicle he didn’t love.)

Maverick’s task during training is to test the limits of the super-competitive candidates, whittling them down from 12 to six and choosing a team leader. “It’s not what I am. It’s who I am,” he says of his aviator vocation during a rare moment of self-doubt. “How do I teach that?” Anyone failing to guess who’ll land the team leader spot and who’ll be their wingman isn’t paying attention.

The simmering conflict between Maverick and Rooster — who can’t see past his resentment to perceive the protective responsibility his dad’s friend feels toward him — provides an emotional core even if the role makes scant demands on Teller’s range. But that’s true also of Connelly, Hamm and everyone else in the cast; all of them get the job done while remaining satellites that merely orbit around Cruise’s glittering Planet Alpha, eventually having to acknowledge that Maverick’s a helluva guy no matter what stunts he pulls.

The film’s most moving element comes during the brief screen time of Kilmer’s Iceman, whose health issues reflect those suffered by the actor in real life, generating resonant pathos. There’s reciprocal warmth, even love, in a scene between Iceman and Maverick that acknowledges the characters’ hard-won bond as well as the rivalry that preceded it, with gentle humor.

Kosinski (who directed Cruise in Oblivion ), the writers and editor Eddie Hamilton keep a close eye on the balance between interpersonal drama and flight maneuvers; scenes intercut between field practice and classroom discussions during which Maverick points out fatal errors on a computer simulator are particularly sharp. This is all nuts-and-bolts buildup, however, to the mission itself, in which hair-raising action, seemingly insurmountable setbacks and miraculous saves keep the tension pumped.

This is definitely a film that benefits from the Imax experience and the big-ass soundscape that comes with it. The muscular score by Harold Faltermeyer, Lady Gaga and Hans Zimmer also pulls its weight, with Gaga’s song, “Hold My Hand,” getting prime romantic placement. Musical choices elsewhere tend to lean into a retro vibe — Bowie, T. Rex, Foghat, The Who — while Teller gets to hammer the piano keys and lead a Jerry Lee Lewis sing-along that pays direct homage to his screen dad.

The most memorable part of Top Gun: Maverick — and the scenes that will make new generations swell with pride and adulation for good old American heroism — are the dogfights and tactical maneuvers of the pilots. Just as they should be. The best thing this movie does is boost visceral analog action over the usual numbing bombardment of CG fakery, a choice fortified by having the actors in the airborne cockpits during shooting.

Cinematographer Claudio Miranda’s work benefits from the technological advances of the past three decades, with camera rigs allowing for you-are-there verisimilitude. Cruise’s insistence on doing his own flying is undeniably impressive, even if the headgear’s breathing apparatus gets in the way of his trademark clenched-jaw intensity. No one is going to dispute that he works hard in this movie, justifying the labor of love. But no one is going to come out of it concerned for his self-esteem, either.

Full credits

Venue: Cannes Film Festival (Out of Competition) Distribution: Paramount Production companies: Skydance, Jerry Bruckheimer Films Cast: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Charles Parnell, Bashir Salahuddin, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Greg Tarzan Davis, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer Director: Joseph Kosinski Screenwriters: Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie Story: Peter Craig, Justin Marks, based on characters created by Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr. Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison Executive producers: Tommy Harper, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Chad Oman, Mike Stenson Director of photography: Claudio Miranda Production designer: Jeremy Hindle Costume designer: Marlene Stewart Music: Harold Faltermeyer, Lady Gaga, Hans Zimmer Editor: Eddie Hamilton Visual effects supervisor: Ryan Tudhope Aerial coordinator: Kevin LaRosa II Casting: Denise Chamian

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Top Gun: Maverick Review: Tom Cruise Soars in a Spectacular Sequel

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Tom Cruise revisits his eighties glory in a spectacular sequel that soars. Top Gun: Maverick tells a thrilling new story while capturing the high-flying , jet-fueled spirit of the classic original. The film boldly embraces practical visual effects in an era defined by CGI and motion capture. Hearts will pound as F-18 fighters engage in mind-blowing aerial dogfights. Cue the sweet sounds of Kenny Loggins' hit "Danger Zone". Raise your expectations to the stratosphere. Top Gun: Maverick is that rare cinematic beast. It takes the best tenets of the first film and forges an electrifying new path forward.

We catch up with Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell thirty years later. He's an elite test pilot for a cutting-edge supersonic Navy program. Maverick doesn't take kindly to the orders of Rear Admiral Cole (Ed Harris). His insubordination and willing disregard of the admiral's authority causes big trouble. Maverick is grounded for his actions. Cole criticizes him harshly. Maverick, an unparalleled aviator with an astonishing combat record, should be a three-star admiral by now.

Cole's efforts to boot Maverick gets a friendly reprieve. Admiral Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (Val Kilmer), commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, a former rival and now Maverick's best friend/guardian angel, has another job for him. Return to the Top Gun fighter training school in San Diego, California. Vice Admiral "Cyclone" (Jon Hamm) has assembled the Navy's best pilots for an urgent classified mission. Iceman needs Maverick to prepare them for a strike with seemingly impossible objectives.

The squadron will be flying the F-18 Hornet, a venerable fighter that's outmatched by the enemy's modern aircraft. Maverick predictably chafes under Cyclone's stern command. He's happy to reconnect with Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly), an old flame and bar owner; but devastated to see Lieutenant Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller). The son of Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards) blames Maverick for his father's death and trying to stifle his Navy career.

Top Gun: Maverick has a legendary warhorse trying to impart life or death skills to a cocky contingent. They have been praised repeatedly in their young careers. Maverick warns them that nothing they've done previously matches the dangers of this mission. Maverick has to level the egos of the arrogant "Hangman" (Glen Powell) and fiercely competitive "Phoenix" (Monica Barbaro), the only woman selected; while also dealing with friction from Rooster. He's ready and able to compete, but Maverick isn't sure if Rooster has the nerve. Maverick can't let anything happen to Goose's son. The tension between them is the film's core conflict.

Related: Montana Story Review: A Neo-Western with Heart in Big Sky Country

Nailing Every Aspect of the Narrative

Screenwriters Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie nail every aspect of the narrative. Goose's death has been a crushing weight on Maverick's life. The film cuts back to their joyous and heartbreaking scenes together; but doesn't over-milk the cow. Sentimentality plays second fiddle to the incredible action-adventure themes.

Joseph Kosinski ( Tron: Legacy ), who also directed Tom Cruise in Oblivion , delivers an adrenaline juggernaut. Top Gun: Maverick has the best flying scenes in cinema. I was transfixed by the visual onslaught. You're in the cockpit as Maverick shows the youngsters who's the boss. He shreds them with vertigo-inducing aerial wizardry. Heads will spin as the fighters dive, bank, roll, and climb to dizzying heights. These aren't CGI images in a cold virtual environment. The use of real jets, slick editing, and phenomenal sound mixing will blow audiences out of their chairs.

I would pay to see this film multiple times . It embodies the awe of going to the movies. It has to be seen on the biggest screen with the best sound system. Lightning strikes twice for Tom Cruise. He gets a new generation of fans with a return to patriotic fervor. Top Gun: Maverick hits the summer box office with a sonic boom.

Top Gun: Maverick is a production of Skydance Media and Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films. It will be released theatrically on May 27th from Paramount Pictures.

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Top Gun: Maverick Review: Tom Cruise Fulfills Your Need for Speed

By Jonathan Sim

In 1986, Tony Scott’s action drama  Top Gun  roared into theaters. It took our breath away with naval aviators in aerial combat featuring up-and-coming superstar Tom Cruise as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. 36 years later, it’s time for fans of this cult classic to take the highway to the danger zone to see  Top Gun: Maverick , a long-awaited sequel that brings Joseph Kosinski into the director’s chair. This is Kosinski’s second sequel to an ’80s classic after  Tron: Legacy , his second time working with Cruise after  Oblivion , and his second time working with Miles Teller and Jennifer Connelly after  Only the Brave .

With this film, Kosinski puts together the best parts of his prior filmography to craft a wondrous, extravagant sequel that tops the original. While the original movie captured the ’80s in a bottle,  Top Gun: Maverick  captures everything a modern blockbuster should be. Free of superheroes and world-ending CGI spectacle, this is one of the most impressive, show-stopping films of the year — one that pays tribute to the legacy of the original while crafting something new. In addition, this movie is a testament to Cruise’s star power and commitment to entertainment.

Cruise has proven his action hero prowess in franchises like  Mission: Impossible  and  Jack Reacher . With death-defying stunts like a HALO jump and scaling the Burj Khalifa, Cruise’s movie star status has been well-earned. Of course, that’s part of what makes it so lovely to see him return to one of the roles that began his career. Seeing him don the bomber jacket and aviator sunglasses as Maverick is sure to put a grin on the faces of longtime Top Gun  fans. He steps back into the shoes of a hotshot pilot who doesn’t play by the rules with excellence, while also maturing the character into a leadership role.

You come to movies like  Top Gun: Maverick  for the action. Fortunately for us, Cruise fully dedicates himself to the aerial combat sequences. There is no other movie in Hollywood with action as exciting and practical as this one. Cruise put himself and all of his co-stars through intensive training to fly real aircraft and create realistic action sequences designed to take your breath away. The dogfights are so thrilling that it’s no wonder why this movie’s release was delayed by nearly three years. The flight scenes are so visually exciting that they can only be experienced in the biggest theater with the loudest sound available.

But when you buy a ticket to see this movie, you won’t just be getting a phenomenal action film. You will be getting an emotional story about an old-fashioned flyboy returning to his roots to train a new generation of aviators. Seeing Maverick’s role reversal leads to a fun dynamic where he retains his unconventional methods while also stressing there is no room for error. He repeats his line from the original film: “You think up there, you’re dead.” This movie shows the excitement and thrills of aerial combat while showing its dangers and how battles have evolved since the 80s.

This is also a very emotional film. Maverick must train a group of aviators, and one of them is Rooster (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s late best friend, Goose. Their relationship is the movie’s heart and soul, leading to some very emotional scenes. This is more than just an action movie—at the core of everything is a mature character drama. The events of the original  Top Gun  serve as Maverick’s spine, and the places that the screenplay takes the characters are tear-jerking. The movie’s team of young characters is also delightful to watch as they train to become better pilots.

Everything culminates in an intense final battle that steps things up from the original. It’s a welcome entry to Cruise’s long list of larger-than-life action movies. This sequel is a marvelous labor of love that doesn’t tread any new, unpredictable ground with its story. Regardless, this movie offers exhilarating action, phenomenal dramatic weight from the stellar performers, and an experience tailor-made for anyone who feels the need—the need for speed.

SCORE : 9/10

As ComingSoon’s  review policy  explains, a score of 9 equates to “Excellent.” Entertainment that reaches this level is at the top of its type. The gold standard that every creator aims to reach.

Disclosure: Critic attended a press screening for our  Top Gun: Maverick  review.

Jonathan Sim is a film critic and filmmaker born and raised in New York City. He has met/interviewed some of the leading figures in Hollywood, including Christopher Nolan, Zendaya, Liam Neeson, and Denis Villeneueve. He also works as a screenwriter, director, and producer on independent short films.

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Return to the Danger Zone

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ is a corny and awesome sequel to an 80s classic

Both a craven fan-service victory lap and an affectionate throwback to WWII aviation pics, Top Gun: Maverick revs its old-fashioned Hollywood jet engines and soars to popcorn-picture heights, occasionally even achieving high hypersonic thrills. Expect a fetishized military-industrial flex that would engorge the C-suite at Lockheed Martin; an anonymous NATO-threatening nation-state adversary that—due to global box-office kowtowing—dare not speak its name; and last-gasp star power in the death-defying but increasingly mortal Tom Cruise.

You want a slavishly similar sequel? This one literally opens with the same music, same opening copy exposition in the exact same font, and a virtual frame-by-frame recreation of the credit sequence showing fighter planes taking off from an aircraft carrier. “Ride into the Danger Zone,” not so much: there are creative choices in this movie that feel about as risky as seat-belted autopilot. And stans of the 1986 original will positively moan at the hand-job callbacks. A speeding motorcycle flanking runway takeoffs! A “Great Balls of Fire” singalong at the local dive bar’s upright piano! Upside-down cockpit taunts! Bare-chested beach antics! Cruise even walks into a hanger-set briefing session just like Kelly McGillis did, eliciting the same “impress me” looks from the assembled pilots. Because sequel!

TOP GUN: MAVERICK ★★★★ (4/5 stars) Directed by: Joseph Kosinski Written by:   Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie Starring: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, John Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer Running time: 131 mins

The magnetic actor famously resisted cash-in follow-ups throughout the first, non-franchise part of his career, which is why more than three decades separate the vintage original from this year’s model. And that generational difference turns these two “best of the best” propagandistic portraits of American exceptionalism into a diptych of cocky comeuppance—one ascendant, the other bereaved. The lone wolf becomes a team player, and humility wins the day. With an expected dash of defiance.

Back in the ’80s, Cruise’s iconic Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell was a preternaturally talented naval pilot in thrall to his own ego, charming enough to win over rivals and woo older women—although the accidental death of his wingman Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards) during one of their maneuvers broke his heart. Now, he’s a washed-up captain with no wife, no kids, and a stalled career—can’t get promoted and won’t die. The Navy has consigned him to test-piloting billion-dollar experimental planes that can go up to Mach 10. Does he go faster? Of course. And rips apart his aircraft. Because he’s a maverick!

“You got some balls, stick jockey,” growls his commander, Rear Admiral Cain (Ed Harris), who tells him to report to Fightertown, U.S.A. on order of Tom “Iceman” Kazansky ( Val Kilmer ), now a 4-star admiral and the commander of the U.S. Pacific fleet. Mav will be the new instructor at the titular Fighter Weapons School. Enter Vice Admiral Simpson (John Hamm), who explains Mav’s secret mission, should he choose to accept it: some baddies are enriching uranium in a secret mountain base, tucked into a steep valley at the end of a winding canyon, and only dogfight-trained pilots can get close enough blow it up. Oh, and they have 3 weeks to train for it.

Recent Top Gun grads return for this aerial adventure, including Goose’s grudge-holding son Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller). Mav literally throws away the rule book—there’s a close-up of the manual thumping into a trash can—and teaches his own methods. One pandering highlight: a Who-cued “Don’t Get Fooled Again” training sequence that will give Boomers boners and put snarky bro smirks on Gen-Xers’ faces. Will Mav find himself getting Rooster into potentially lethal combat? Absolutely not, he insists. But also, inevitably, yes.

Brace for cornpone sunset dialogue like “Okay, sweetheart, one last ride” and “The future is coming, and you’re not in it.” Also be forewarned that the movie basically rips off the near-suicide mission from the Death Star trench attack in the original Star Wars, which is itself a remixed homage to movies like The Dam Busters and 633 Squadron. Then again, it’s still a riveting premise for an action sequence, and Kosinski makes it into an enthralling, white-knuckled, adrenaline-spiked experience.

The raid requires Mav to think creatively about ways to get all the pilots out alive, which would entail “bending airframes” with severe G-force pressure that squeezes lungs, compresses skulls, and causes blackouts. Simpon chronically disapproves of every innovative solution that Mav proposes, to the point that he doesn’t seem to want people to live. Much jaw-clenching, head-butting, and teeth-grinding ensues. No surprise, the team doesn’t want to die, so they let Mav give them a crash-course in envelope-pushing daredevilry. Spoiler: there will be F-14 Tomcats, just like in the original.

Top Gun: Maverick is as eye-rollingly pandering as it is seat-joltingly exhilarating. But it carries some dramatic weight. There’s an unexpected poignancy in watching Mav realize how much he’s wasted his life, and how often his rash decisions have ended up surrounding him with emotional debris. There’s a love interest, Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly), the daughter of a former admiral whose role in the first movie was literally as a mentioned-in-passing dialogue aside and a pussy brag. Here she’s a flesh-and-blood reminder of Mav’s romantic shortcomings, as well as stand-in for second chances and late-life redemption, which adds age-appropriate gravitas to Mav’s personal growth. The dogfights and supersonic bravado make the film a blast, but that little bit of wisdom, repentance, and perspective actually make the whole ride unexpectedly satisfying.

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Stephen Garrett

Stephen Garrett is the former film editor of 'Time Out New York’ and has written about the movie industry for more than 20 years. A Rotten Tomatoes certified reviewer, Garrett is also the founder of Jump Cut, a marketing company that creates trailers and posters for independent, foreign-language, and documentary films.

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Things to do, tv and streaming | ‘top gun: maverick’ review: tom cruise is the ‘old man’ showing aviators how to fly in a sequel 36 years later.

Tom Cruise as Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in "Top Gun: Maverick."

Scott Garfield/AP

Miles Teller as Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw in a scene from "Top Gun: Maverick."

Paramount Pictures/AP

Jennifer Connelly in "Top Gun: Maverick."

It’s a pretty good time, and often a pretty good movie for the nervous blur we’re in right now. It’s cozy. And it’ll be catnip for those eager to watch Tom Cruise flash That Look. “It’s the only one I’ve got,” he says, twice, to on-screen cohorts who are not international movie stars.

What is That Look? It’s the half-smile of insubordination when a superior officer (Ed Harris or Jon Hamm this time) busts test pilot and congenital speed-needer Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell’s chops, ineffectively.

It’s The Look that goes with an eternally boyish voice and demeanor. It’s those sidelong hesitation glances, right next door to early-career Warren Beatty’s. And it’s the only look that could possibly correlate to lines barked in Maverick’s direction from the 1986 “Top Gun,” the worst/best being: “Son, your ego is writing checks your body can’t cash.”

Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. wrote the first one, ripping off every aviation picture they could pop into their VCRs. Half of “Top Gun: Maverick” is a callback to the ’86 original, which was not my kind of summer blockbuster, but it’s a free country.

The other half of director Joseph Kosinski’s 36-years-later sequel goes in other, reluctantly progressive directions, in a mellower blockbuster key. Now, I want to be clear here. The script of “Top Gun: Maverick” does a surprising amount to keep the movie airborne, even as its dialogue in between bang-up aerial sequences is just as corny and flavorless as the original’s. (The “Maverick” screenwriters are Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie.) The results effectively shore up and polish the monument to Tom Cruise that is Tom Cruise. And the sequel’s star-preservation directive writes checks the public will almost certainly cash.

The old “Top Gun” opened with a screenful of words about “the lost art of aerial combat,” and the U.S. Navy’s elite Fighter Weapons School at the Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego. “Maverick” opens with the same phrase, only the art of aerial combat is really lost now, in the age of drone warfare.

Capt. Mitchell, who lives alone in the desert with his beloved Kawasaki motorcycle, is called to a new and time-sensitive duty by his old cohort Iceman (Val Kilmer — more on him later), now a U.S. Pacific Fleet commander. Maverick has three weeks to train a group of new Top Gun aces to destroy a uranium enrichment plant in an unspecified but assuredly Slavic location. One of the trainees is Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the grudge-laden son of Maverick’s late radar intercept officer, Goose, played by Anthony Edwards back when.

And that’s it. Quite simple. Jennifer Connelly takes the new role of barkeeper Penny, an old flame of Maverick’s, now a single mother. It’s nice to see Cruise and Connelly share scenes relying wholly on how they look against desert vistas or in Tony Scott-style telephoto close-up. At one point, after the most discreet sex scene in screen history, they share some pillow talk we see but don’t hear (it’s a montage), and you find yourself imagining what the actors are actually saying. “So, what were you doing when I was filming ‘All the Right Moves’?”

A lot of “Top Gun: Maverick” works that way; it’s a time machine, an ’80s karaoke act (naturally, Penny’s bar is filled with Bowie’s “Let’s Dance”), and a familiar fable of making amends and restoring your confidence through eliminating the enemy. I lost track of how many insults Maverick endures from the young folk. Pops. Relic. Old Man. Fossil. Cruise may look a week and a half older than he did in ’86, but this movie needs all the intergenerational friction it can get.

How are the other new Top Gunners? All well played, all dully written. There’s Hangman (Glen Powell), the swaggering Iceman equivalent, giddy with self-regard. And there’s a woman! That’s right, a woman! Monica Barbaro’s Phoenix doesn’t have much to do besides pushups and steely resolve in reaction shot mode, but she’s an asset. There is, however, a side effect that comes from the addition of some Black and minority performers here. Once too often they’re just another awestruck rooting section for Maverick’s heroics. Your enjoyment of “Top Gun: Maverick” depends on other things besides dimensional characters. The first one didn’t have them or need them. Why should this one?

The flying scenes, to my untrained eye, are far more impressive and enveloping (and better edited, by a mile) than the ’86’s. This is where director Kosinski and his collaborators have made the clearest jump up from the first movie. Some of the surface techniques are deployed on the groundwork, too. I haven’t seen so many slow dissolves from one shot to another in years, and they have a way of intensifying Maverick’s isolation when he’s down, martyred, humbled, just before Cruise is up, up and away again. “The fastest man alive,” one admiring Naval officer coos in an early sequence, when Maverick breaks the Mach 10 barrier just because.

Homoerotic team building? Glad you asked: Instead of gleaming shirtless beach volleyball, we have sunset shirtless beach football, only this time, after a while, Maverick sits on the sidelines, watching his charges with a wistful smile. The key line in “Top Gun: Maverick” is “Don’t think up there. Just do. You think up there, you’re dead.” Maverick repeats that axiom to the surly Rooster, whom Teller makes more interesting than written.

Speaking of which: The scene that truly cuts through all the shiny, entertaining fraudulence brings together Cruise and Kilmer’s Adm. Kazansky. It’s a meeting of two sorts of actors, and two sorts of movie stars. Kilmer’s well-known health challenges make the particulars of Iceman’s cancerous condition all the more affecting. Their big scene could’ve stunk up the joint with phony feeling, but somehow it doesn’t work out that way. As Maverick and Iceman revisit their old days and warily eye the future that may not belong to them, the cardboard almost imperceptibly turns to flesh, and the movie becomes more than a lesson in crafty sequel-making. The interplay between Cruise, whose fame, like so many huge stars, outstripped his versatility and ability to surprise, and Kilmer, whose success never matched his talent, plays out in a dimensional way. Even the musical score backs off and lets them act.

The best of the movie takes its cue from this scene. The victory, in the end, is a foregone conclusion, but it’s silly-rousing enough to satisfy younger and older audiences alike. It may help to have hated the original, but I liked this one. Thirty-six years from now, we’ll probably be watching Cruise teaching a new cadre of flying aces. Only the planet will have changed.

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ — 3 stars (out of 4)

MPAA rating: PG-13 (for sequences of intense action and some strong language)

Running time: 2:17

How to watch: Premieres in theaters May 27

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

[email protected]

Twitter @phillipstribune

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Movie Review – Top Gun: Maverick

                It’s been a few years now since the world found out about the return of Top Gun to the big screen. Originally released in 1986, Top Gun has found a way to remain a mainstay in pop culture over the past 35 years, so the news of a sequel was greeted by many with mixed feelings. For some, the original was so perfectly cheesy and awesome that a sequel could never surpass its predecessor. For others, the thought of the sequel was met with intrigue. For me, I would say I was somewhat in the middle. As a child born in the 1980s, I grew up with Top Gun . It was one of the first movies I fell in love with. Fast forward to today, and as a 36-year-old, I wondered how much Tom Cruise could give to reprise a role so demanding – a leading role intended for a much younger man. Well, shame on me for questioning anything about Cruise. At 59, Tom, or should I say “Maverick,” still hasn’t missed a beat.

                Top Gun: Maverick has been pushed back more than a Kanye West album. Originally slated to premiere in the summer of 2019, it was postponed a year for the purpose of tightening up some of the aerial scenes. Then, it was postponed again from its June 2020 release date due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The exact release date would go on to be changed four more times from that point in an effort to hit the sweet spot of releasing the movie once people felt safe and secured enough to return to theaters in the midst of an ever-changing world.

                As frustrating as it has been over the past three years, I must admit that Top Gun: Maverick was worth the wait.

                For the crowd who didn’t know how in the world Cruise would bring the Maverick character back after so many years, Peter Craig and the rest of the writing team did a great job of handling that task in a plausible manner. The storyline centers around Maverick being brought back to Top Gun to teach the heads of the “new school” crew of pilots the academy has produced. In the midst of this, he realizes that one of the pilots, codenamed “Rooster,” is the son of his old wingman, Goose. Tensions are thickened from that point on, due to the fact that Maverick was flying alongside Goose when he died in a training exercise at the academy 30 years ago. Rooster (played by Miles Teller), is well aware of how his father met his demise, and still holds Maverick responsible.

                The mission itself that Maverick must train the pilots on is basically a suicide mission. However, Maverick’s intent is to give them the confidence needed to believe in themselves to complete the mission and get back home in one piece.

                Top Gun: Maverick , like the original, has its flaws. However, it absolutely quenches the thirst of fans who simply want a nostalgic thrill ride. From the opening intro scene, to the use of the same font for the credits, to even having cookie-cutter scenes like the football game on the beach that mirrors the volleyball game from the 1986 version, director Joseph Kosinski manages to push all the right buttons to bring the viewer back to yesteryear in a fun manner – which is a very difficult thing to do.

                One flaw in particular, and perhaps the biggest one of all, is Maverick’s love story angle. Upon returning to North Island where Top Gun is located, Maverick is reunited with Penny (played by Jennifer Connelly), a former lover who we as the audience don’t really know much about. This rekindling, middle-age romance is kind of forced down our throats basically for the sole purpose of giving Cruise a love interest like the one he had with Charlie (Kelly McGillis) in the original (side note – there is ZERO reference to Charlie in this movie). Charlie was Maverick’s instructor and their sexual tension/chemistry was organic, so it made sense in that storyline. I had to look up if there was a reference to Penny in the original movie, because it’s not made clear in the movie where exactly she came from and how they knew each other previously. There is a very brief nugget where she is mentioned, but it certainly wasn’t enough to add her into the sequel. On top of that, the brief, romantic scene between Cruise and Connelly was out of place and looked more like a commercial for Ourtime.com. I don’t have any beef with Connelly, I just don’t think her character and that storyline were necessary.

                I also am not a fan of the movie’s main song “Hold My Hand,” sung by Lady Gaga. I was hoping for an upbeat banger like “Danger Zone” from back in the day to represent this film too, but Gaga’s ballad was the choice instead. I’m not sure if it’s Maverick’s homage to Goose, or a testament to his love for Penny. Either way, Top Gun: Maverick is too exciting and fun of a film to not have its own legendary hype song.

                In terms of the positives, the aerial scenes were incredible. Kosinski shot them in such a way that it makes the audience feel like they are right alongside the pilots, which creates a heart-racing, breath-holding experience.

Cruise and Teller deliver great performances, as does Glen Powell, who plays Hangman, an uber-arrogant, self-absorbed pretty boy who is an extremely skilled pilot and reminds Maverick of himself at that age.

                I loved the scene with Maverick and Ice Man (played by Val Kilmer) as well. I’ve heard that Cruise said he would not do the film without Kilmer, and the way he was written into this script was perfect. Kilmer, who has battled throat cancer, has lost his ability to talk due to his voice box being surgically removed. That didn’t stop him from getting back on the big screen to briefly bring Maverick’s arch-rival back to life. It’s a touching scene and kudos to both Kilmer and Cruise for making sure it made the film.

                In summary, Top Gun: Maverick is the perfect action film for what the world needs right now. It allows us to remember the glory days of the past, while preaching of perseverance to overcome obstacles and have hope for the future. You don’t have to have seen the original Top Gun to enjoy this one, but it certainly helps. Maverick certainly surpassed my expectations, and dare I say, was even more enjoyable than its predecessor.

MATTER RATING: 8/10

OSCAR SCALE: 9/10 (Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Fan Favorite)

BY CHRIS GUEST

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‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Review: Will This Stuff Still Fly?

Tom Cruise takes to the air once more in a long-awaited sequel to a much-loved ’80s action blockbuster.

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By A.O. Scott

Every so often in “Top Gun: Maverick,” Pete Mitchell (that’s Maverick) is summoned to a face-to-face with an admiral. Pete, after all these years in the Navy — more than 35, but who’s counting — has stalled at the rank of captain. He’s one of the best fighter pilots ever to take wing, but the U.S. military hierarchy can be a treacherous political business, and Maverick is anything but a politician. In the presence of a superior officer he is apt to salute, smirk and push his career into the middle of the table like a stack of poker chips. He’s all in. Always.

The first such meeting is with Rear Adm. Chester Cain, a weathered chunk of brass played by Ed Harris, who has an impressive in-movie flight record of his own. (Without “The Right Stuff,” there would have been no “Top Gun.”) He seems to be telling Pete that the game is over. Thanks to new technology, flyboys like him are all but obsolete.

Based on this scene, you might think that the movie is setting out to be a meditation on American air power in the age of drone warfare, but that will have to wait for the next sequel. Pete still has a job to do. A teaching job, officially, but we’ll get to that. The conversation with Cain is not so much a red herring as a meta-commentary. Pete, as I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, is the avatar of Tom Cruise, and the central question posed by this movie has less to do with the necessity of combat pilots than with the relevance of movie stars. With all this cool new technology at hand — you can binge 37 episodes of Silicon Valley grifting without leaving your couch — do we really need guys, or movies, like this?

“Top Gun: Maverick,” directed by Joseph Kosinski ( “Tron: Legacy” ), answers in the affirmative with a confident, aggressive swagger that might look like overcompensation. Not that there is a hint of insecurity in Cruise’s performance — or in Maverick’s. On the brink of 60, he still projects the nimble, cocky, perennially boyish charm that conquered the box office in the 1980s.

Back then — in Tony Scott’s “Top Gun” — Pete was a brash upstart striving to stand out amid the camaraderie and competition of the super-elite Top Gun program. He seduced the instructor Charlie (Kelly McGillis), locked horns with his golden-boy nemesis, Iceman (Val Kilmer), and lost his best friend and radar intercept officer, Goose (Anthony Edwards). Ronald Reagan was president and the Cold War was in its florid final throes, but “Top Gun” wasn’t really a combat picture. It was, at heart, a sports movie decked out in battle gear, about a bunch of guys showboating, trash talking and trying to outdo one another.

Times have changed somewhat. Pete is the instructor now, called to the North Island naval base to train a squad of eager young fliers for an urgent, dangerous mission. The frat-house atmosphere of the ’80s has been toned down, and the pilots are a more diverse, less obnoxious bunch.

One advantage to the long gap between chapters is that the many credited screenwriters are free to fill in or leave blank as much as they want. In the last few decades, Pete has seen plenty of combat — Bosnia and Iraq are both mentioned — and pursued an on-and-off romance with Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly). Now he finds her working at a bar near the base and an old spark rekindles. She has a teenage daughter (Lyliana Wray) — Maverick is not the dad — and a world-weary manner that matches Pete’s signature blend of cynicism and sentimentality.

Other reminders of the past include Rooster (Miles Teller), son of Goose, and Iceman himself, who has ascended to the rank of admiral and kept a protective eye on his former rival. Kilmer’s brief appearance has a special poignancy. Apart from the 2021 documentary “Val,” he hasn’t been onscreen much since losing his voice to throat cancer , and seeing him and Cruise in a quiet scene together is as sad and stirring as something from the Epic of Gilgamesh.

The first “Top Gun” unfolded against a backdrop of superpower conflict. There was a formidable — if mostly offscreen — real-world adversary (the Soviet Union, in case you forgot) and the hovering possibility of nuclear apocalypse. This time, there’s a real live-ammo skirmish with an unidentified foe, a mysterious entity in possession of super-high-tech aircraft who is building an “unauthorized” weapons facility in a mountainous region of wherever. No names are mentioned, just “the enemy.” The circumspection is a little weird. Who or what are we supposed to be fighting? China? (In this economy?) The Taliban? Netflix? Covid?

It doesn’t matter. We never see the faces of the enemy pilots once the mission is underway. Which only confirms the sense that “Top Gun: Maverick” has nothing to say about geopolitics and everything to do with the defense of old-fashioned movie values in the face of streaming-era nihilism.

Is the defense successful? The action sequences are tense and exuberant, reminders that flight has been one of the great thrills of cinema almost from the beginning . The story is a mixed bag. In spite of the emotional crosscurrents and physical hazards that buffet poor Maverick — his career, his love life and his duty to the memory of his dead friend, to say nothing of G-forces and flak — the dramatic stakes seem curiously low.

The junior pilots enact a kind of children’s theater production of the first movie. The cockfight between Maverick and Iceman is echoed in the rivalrous posturing of Rooster and the arrogant Hangman (an interestingly Kilmeresque Glen Powell). We are treated to a shirtless game of touch football on the beach, which doesn’t quite match the original volleyball game for sweaty camp subtext. There are some memorable supporting performances — notably from Bashir Salahuddin, Monica Barbaro and the always solid Jon Hamm, as a by-the-book, stick-in-the-mud admiral — but the world they inhabit is textureless and generic.

At times Kosinski seems to be reaching for an updated version of the sun-kissed, high-style ’80s aesthetic that “Top Gun” so effortlessly and elegantly typified. What he comes up with is something bland and basic, without the brazen, trashy sublimity you find in the work of genuine pop auteurs like Scott, his brother Ridley, James Cameron or Michael Bay.

Though you may hear otherwise, “Top Gun: Maverick” is not a great movie. It is a thin, over-strenuous and sometimes very enjoyable movie. But it is also, and perhaps more significantly, an earnest statement of the thesis that movies can and should be great. I’m old enough to remember when that went without saying. For Pete’s sake, I’m almost as old as Maverick.

Top Gun: Maverick Rated PG-13. Running time: 2 hours 11 minutes. In theaters.

An earlier version of this article misstated the role of the character Goose in the first “Top Gun” film. He was the radar intercept officer for Pete Mitchell, not his wingman. It also misstated which naval base Mitchell is called to in “Top Gun: Maverick”; it is the North Island naval base, not Miramar.

How we handle corrections

A.O. Scott is a co-chief film critic. He joined The Times in 2000 and has written for the Book Review and The New York Times Magazine. He is also the author of “Better Living Through Criticism.” More about A.O. Scott

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Top Gun Maverick review: Tom Cruise starrer aces the skies, burns the roads

Top gun maverick review: the film is riding on tom cruise's still nimble shoulders, that sparkly grin, and his charm burnished with years of stardom. however, there is a settling down too, a recognition of age, of passing years..

Thirty-six years ago, someone told him, “Son, your ego is writing cheques your body can’t cash”. Oh, how wrong they were.

Here it is, Tom Cruise again, that body still commanding some serious cash – as it maxes the Machs, aces the skies, burns the roads, tops the tops and guns the guns, slaying it still in that bomber jacket and those Aviators. Of course, the age shows, the Botox slips, and some close-ups are more painful than the others. However, trust your heart more than your eyes, for there are few who have ever occupied that cockpit better.

Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell is flying still, having forestalled promotions to senior positions such as Admiral for a lowly — “but much decorated” — ‘Captain’, to be able to continue doing that. Having pulled off another one of his stunts, to an exasperated senior played by Ed Harris, he is packed off with a chiding to the Top Gun academy. He is to train the top graduates of that gruelling training centre, which he once famously attended, for a super risky mission.

The twist in the tale is that one of the pilots shortlisted is Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw (Teller), the son of ‘Goose’. Yes, the very same wingman and Pete’s best friend who died in a crash for which Pete a.k.a Maverick can never forgive himself. That is the emotional core of the film, how Maverick handles Rooster, even if it takes a while getting there.

However, that’s not to say the ride is not enjoyable. Someone recently wrote how the first film “was not as good as you probably remember it”. And really, it wasn’t, with its man boys playing big boys with impressive toys. But for its dizzyingly well-shot dogfights and some very handsome bods captured in shower towels and beach volleyballs, goofing around, Top Gun could have spun out of control for its underwritten screenplay. The US Navy’s enthusiastic support didn’t hurt, returned in kind by enthusiastic youngsters who signed up to enrol in it at booths set up in movie halls.

Top Gun: Maverick makes up for that flaw by putting together a much more compelling narrative, with a genuinely dangerous, time-bound mission. It also captures pretty niftily the preparation for it, and the toll it has on pilots’ bodies, as they fly lower than they ever have, twisting and turning through canyons, hit a target, and then go straight vertically up. There is both cohesion and tension here.

If Top Gun: Maverick seems a little too bathed in sepia at first, the glory of the 1986 film, its antagonisms and relationships, and even its songs (Highway to the Danger Zone or Great Balls of Fire) written all over it, director Kosinski eventually manages to round the circle between the past and present very well. Even the ailing Kilmer’s brief re-appearance as ‘Iceman’ from the 1986 film has a nicely nostalgic touch to it.

Of course the film is riding on Cruise’s still nimble shoulders, that sparkly grin, and his charm burnished with years of stardom. However, there is a settling down too, a recognition of age, of passing years – whether it is Pete wistfully looking on at the new top guns, including a woman pilot accepted as one of the boys, at a bar; or him choosing to take a seat half-way through a volleyball game, to take a breath and look lovingly on.

Teller is almost too much like Anthony Edwards’s Goose, and doesn’t have much to do. But in the little he has, he is reassuringly good. Hamm’s is the other part with some meat on it, which largely comprises his Admiral shouting at Maverick.

That can be a little disconcerting, seeing Maverick, now 50-odd, still getting the same dressing downs as his rash younger self did – even if rule-bending remains his calling card.

The most disappointing parts in the two Top Gun iterations involve Penny (Connelly), Pete’s love interest. This Penny drops into shoes once occupied by the classy Kelly McGillis. But where McGillis’s Charlie had a serious role in Navy’s aviation set-up as well, in a way as Pete’s senior, Penny is here only to look admiringly on and applaud Pete as he pulls off yet another stunt.

If one frowning officer told Pete all those years ago to only write cheques one could encash, another frowning topshot tells him this time: “The future is here, and it doesn’t include you.”

Top Gun Maverick movie director: Joseph Kosinski Top Gun Maverick movie cast: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Val Kilmer, Monica Barbaro, Glen Powell Top Gun Maverick movie rating: 4 stars

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Top Gun: Maverick

After more than 30 years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him.

Dove Review

If you were a fan of the original Top Gun , you’ll be a fanatic after watching its sequel, Top Gun: Maverick .

Ice Man has worked his way up the ranks, climbing to a prestigious position as Commander of the Pacific Fleet. His honorable, inarguable rank and continued friendship with Maverick have kept Mav out of trouble (sort of) for the last 30 years.

However, when a special U.S. mission requires dog-fight combat like the military has never trained for, let alone engaged, Maverick returns as Top Gun’s lead instructor.

Top Gun gathers its 12 best recent graduates, all young and desperate for real action, and Maverick must select the top six for this classified mission. Instructing this elite group of aviators seems like an honor, a chance at nostalgia, until Goose’s son, Bradley (call sign Rooster), is selected as part of the 12.

Rooster still holds resentment towards Maverick and blames him for unhealed wounds of the past. As training time runs out and the top six must be selected, Maverick and Rooster have a lot of challenges to overcome (both in the airplane and back at the hangar).

From an overall thematic stance, this movie is excellent, well-produced. The technology behind filming multiple high-intensity scenes far outpaces the 1986 classic.

In addition, themes of camaraderie, forgiveness, and bravery are significant. (And as a bonus, the sequel has far less sexual content than the original Top Gun .)

However, cussing is prevalent throughout the film. The F-word and GD are used once or twice while other cuss words (A, B, D, H) show up consistently throughout the script.

Due to the language and occasional brawl taken too far, this film is Not Dove-approved.

Dove Rating Details

The admiral says that the only reason Maverick is alive is because of “the Almighty and [his] guardian angel.”

Consistent themes of camaraderie, forgiveness, and bravery; nobility and sacrifice prevalent; Maverick has grown into a humble character.

Maverick and his love interest heavily kiss at the close of the movie; sex scene implied without nudity or explicit content.

F and GD used once or twice; multiple uses of A, B, D, and H; insult regarding male genitalia used too.

An intense scene featuring fighter-pilot combat; a few students get into a physical altercation.

Several bar scenes where characters drink; no one is ever drunk.

Maverick’s love interest wears a slightly revealing top.

Heavy scenes regarding sickness, death, and the past are scattered throughout the film.

More Information

Film information, dove content.

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Top Gun Maverick Review: Tom Cruise Movie Soars Over Original, With Caveats

An adrenaline-fuelled ride with thinly-sketched characters beyond cruise’s maverick..

Photo Credit: Scott Garfield/Paramount Pictures

Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick

• Top Gun: Maverick release date is May 27 in cinemas worldwide
• Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly lead Top Gun: Maverick cast
• Top Gun: Maverick is a direct sequel to 1986 film Top Gun

Top Gun: Maverick — out Friday in cinemas worldwide — is a veritable Tom Cruise movie. For one, his character, the know-it-all Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, is right there in the title. And the much more important two, it's Cruise's star wattage that is responsible for Top Gun: Maverick's existence. Here is a sequel, over three decades on, to a movie much poorer than most are willing to admit. Top Gun hasn't aged well either, but Cruise definitely has. He's the biggest actor of his kind currently in Hollywood. Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy) understands both those facets — Cruise's charm and power, and the failures of the original film — and delivers a follow-up that is better in most departments. Though admittedly, Kosinski is clearing a low bar.

For instance, unlike in the original where a ludicrous mission was thrust on the recently-graduated fighter pilots to form the film's bombastic third act, Top Gun: Maverick is all about a ludicrous mission. From the start. Maverick and his superiors at TOPGUN drill into the minutest details over and over, coaching not just their pupils, but even the audience in a way. By the end of Top Gun: Maverick, we know exactly what the mission is, even if we'll never have any idea what it's like to fly it. That shows Kosinski knows what Top Gun: Maverick is about, though the laser focus also hurts it in other sections.

Of course, what many are here for is action. And the new Top Gun film delivers in spades. In fact, Top Gun: Maverick doesn't begin with its star Cruise , but with a Naval show off. Kosinski is essentially setting the mood. And when we do get in the air with Maverick and Co., the camera doesn't cut around Cruise's face as we take off. As with Mission: Impossible , this is testament to Cruise's dedication to performing his own stunts. Even with the other actors — all of whom had to handle lighting and cinematography on their own, as there's no room for anyone else — it's clear that Top Gun: Maverick has shot most, if not all, of its action inside real cockpits and with real skies as the backdrop, rather than dropping down to CGI imagery that most films are guilty of.

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As a result, the high-flying action is both legible and awe-inducing. (If you're going to watch Top Gun: Maverick, I would recommend you do it on the biggest screen possible. Preferably an IMAX one.) Though to be technically accurate, I should say low-flying, given the nature of the big mission. Much of the action sequences' propulsive force is down to planes flying so close to the ground and each other — I'm pretty sure it would get them fired in the real world — in combination with endless spins, twirls, and other exciting manoeuvres. Kosinski transfers his eye for flair and kinetic energy, as seen on Tron: Legacy, onto Top Gun: Maverick, imbuing the film with sheer joy and a rush of adrenaline.

But outside the cockpit, Top Gun: Maverick is a much more delicate balancing act — and it doesn't always land. Kosinski directs off a screenplay that's been worked on by three credited writers, including Ehren Kruger ( Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Age of Extinction ) and Eric Warren Singer ( American Hustle ) as the primary team, with Christopher McQuarrie ( Mission: Impossible – Fallout ) — whom Cruise trusts on the M:I franchise now — also lending his talents alongside. Top Gun: Maverick feels caught between being an escapist American-summer-blockbuster movie and a sincere high-stakes-and-deep-emotions movie.

The new Top Gun movie is a very different film from the original , which belonged to an earlier time and spoke to a different America. There are no shower scenes, no men walking around in towels, and hence no unintentional homoeroticism. The volleyball scene is turned into an American football game, and though there are plenty of shirtless men, it has a narrative function. Top Gun: Maverick isn't a traditional Tom Cruise flick either, where he runs (a lot), engages in fisticuffs, and flashes his smile. Though his scenes with Jennifer Connelly — who plays the new love interest — afford a bit of the latter. (In addition to a blatant placement for a pretty-famous car brand.)

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Jennifer Connelly in Top Gun: Maverick Photo Credit: Scott Garfield/Paramount Pictures

Thirty-six years on from graduating TOPGUN as second best in his class, Maverick (Cruise) — having always wanted to be in the sky — has done everything possible to sabotage his career and stay in the rank of Captain. As his superior Cain (Ed Harris) points out, he should be at least a two-star Admiral, if not a Senator by now. Grounded by Cain over a stunt he pulled to keep his team in their jobs — Cain believes human pilots are history — Maverick is assigned his new and final mission. After that, he's out. But to his surprise, he isn't supposed to fly it. Instead, his new superior Cyclone (Jon Hamm) wants him to teach the best of the best, who have been called back to TOPGUN from the squadrons they were assigned to.

Among them, we have Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick's late best friend Nick “Goose” Bradshaw who died in Top Gun. It's clear that Maverick still feels guilt over Goose's death — his actions did have a role to play in the accident that claimed Goose's life — and that has forever impacted his pseudo-father relationship with Rooster. The team of young'uns also includes the cocky Hangman (Glen Powell), an equivalent to — or you could say a mix of — both Maverick and his former rival Iceman (Val Kilmer), now a four-star Admiral who's Maverick's only friend in the Navy. There are a bunch of other pilots, played the likes of Lewis Pullman, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, and Danny Ramirez, but neither of them has defining characteristics or an arc beyond a point.

Speaking of thinly-written characters, Connelly plays single mother and bar owner Penny, who we're told has romantic history with Maverick. There's no sign of the original Top Gun love interest, played by Kelly McGillis, who was also Maverick's instructor. In fact, women have a negligible role in positions of power on Top Gun: Maverick. For what it's worth, Penny schools Maverick in an unexpected sailing scene. But beyond those two minutes, her character doesn't really have any meat to it, and their relationship keeps hitting the same beats and is very predictable in where it goes. Despite Connelly's best efforts to make Penny into a real 3D woman, she's wasted on Top Gun: Maverick.

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Miles Teller in Top Gun: Maverick Photo Credit: Scott Garfield/Paramount Pictures

What the new Top Gun movie does well to depict though is the TOPGUN stuff. Not only do Kosinski and Co. have a grip on the action and how it's put together, there's an undercurrent of tension at the root of everything on Top Gun: Maverick. There's tension between Maverick and Rooster naturally, though the latter despises him more over another thing entirely. There's tension between Maverick and his superiors. (The relationship between Hamm and Cruise's characters — Cyclone voices what he wants, and then Maverick gets his way — feels like commentary on Cruise's relationship with Paramount.) Though Maverick is at the end of the line, there's a begrudging respect or admiration from nearly everyone, once they see him operating a jet.

On top of all that, they are working against the clock on Top Gun: Maverick. Not only must they execute the mission in under three weeks before a uranium enrichment plant goes live, they must also get in and out in minutes to avoid perilous dogfights with a highly-equipped enemy force. Maverick doesn't feel he's qualified to teach — his last stint as TOPGUN instructor lasted 2 months, he tells us early on — and he's the kind of guy who would rather put himself on the line, than send someone else on a deadly mission. While he struggles to curtail some of his excesses, Maverick grows elsewhere. For instance, when his trainees screw up and try to explain themselves, he berates them by reminding them they will need to face the families of the wingmen they fail.

While it improves upon the original in most regards, Top Gun: Maverick is also completely like it in one. As with the original, this is a movie where the enemy doesn't matter. Their pilots are faceless, and though their planes and terrain offer clues, Top Gun: Maverick is careful never to name them. Their jets are repeatedly called “fifth-generation fighters” despite that being a mouthful. Keen-eyed viewers have already figured out that they are designed on Russia's Sukhoi Su-57. The specifics of the mission — and the involvement of other jets — suggest the target might be Iran. But Top Gun: Maverick chooses to be completely apolitical. That said, the missing flags of Japan and Republic of China on Maverick's bomber jacket, replaced in the film's early tease in order to appease Chinese interests, have been reinstated now that those interests no longer matter.

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Jon Hamm in Top Gun: Maverick Photo Credit: Scott Garfield/Paramount Pictures

The biggest question for this Tom Cruise movie, though, might be entirely off the screen. The two Top Gun films — 36 years apart — have been released in very different theatrical markets. Early into Top Gun: Maverick, Ed Harris posits that the likes of Maverick are dinosaurs, with technology set to take over from them. In a similar way, movies on the big screen are dinosaurs. In the time since the first Top Gun, technology has invaded movies in all sorts of ways.

From not just their making and how actors' performances are incorporated, but also in how they are released. Cameras are also now everywhere. As Kosinski once noted, if audiences can get fighter jet footage, captured by actual US Navy pilots, on YouTube , then their film would have to go much beyond. (He crazily ended up filming 800 hours of footage, more than The Lord of the Rings trilogy.) Top Gun: Maverick delivers in that regard, though it also stumbles outside its groove.

In some ways, it's a miracle. A sequel to a decades-old movie that no one asked for could've easily crashed and burned — and it still might get ignored, as turned out to be the case for Blade Runner 2049 . That Top Gun: Maverick works as well as it does, for the most part, is kudos to Cruise and Kosinski for understanding the assignment. It's a gamble that largely pays off, though it's nothing compared to the dream Top Gun: Maverick sells you on.

Top Gun: Maverick is released Friday, May 27 in cinemas worldwide. Paid previews began Wednesday, May 25 in India and elsewhere. In India, Top Gun: Maverick is available in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.

Top Gun: Maverick

• Release Date 27 May 2022
• Language English
• Genre Action, Drama
• Cast Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Val Kilmer, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris
• Director Joseph Kosinski
• Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison

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Review: ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ is designed to make you cheer—and it’s a tribute to Cruise, man and myth

Let me take you back to December 2020, when audio from the set of the next  Mission: Impossible  movie leaked to a world in dire need of diversion. In it, star, producer and force of nature Tom Cruise is raining hellfire on crew members who had violated the set’s COVID protocols. He excoriates the crew for not taking the gravity of their endeavor seriously, declaring that their half-hearted apologies are an insult to their fallen, unemployed brethren: “You can tell it to the people who are losing their f—king homes because the industry is shut down. It's not going to put food on their table or pay for their college education. That’s what I sleep with every night—the future of this f—king industry!”

The press likes to say that Tom Cruise is the Last Movie Star. Anecdotes like this prove that he is more: Tom Cruise is the Last Movie Lifer. He makes movies like his life depended on it. He would rather hang by his fingernails on the side of an ascending cargo plane or break his ankles jumping from one building to another than be relegated to a supporting role in some gentle, Oscar-bait drama. That’s not Who He Is. 

And when you sign on to be part of the Tom Cruise bandwagon, he expects you to take the ride as seriously as he does. How else would you explain the willingness of Tom’s millennial co-stars in  Top Gun: Maverick —the sequel to the 1986 testosterone saga that made him a superstar—to learn how to pilot the movie’s F/A-18 jets so the director wouldn’t have to rely on CGI-plastered images of Washington’s Cascade Mountains whizzing by for the cockpit shots?

But Cruise is a Movie Lifer for another reason: In many ways, he  is  the roles he plays. Whether it’s death-defying agent Ethan Hunt or inscrutable Jack Reacher, Cruise is always playing a version of himself. It would explain the lack of love from the Academy: When he tries to submerge himself in a role like  Rock of Ages ’ Stacee Jaxx, the effort of holding his breath is too visible; but when he plays someone like cocky ex-airline pilot/smuggler Barry Seal in 2017’s  American Made , there’s not enough effort. He may open his movies at $60 million domestic, but he can never win.

Still, I’ll be damned if Cruise’s latest visit to the character that turned him into a brand, Navy fighter pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, isn’t worthy of at least a sideways glance from Oscar.  Top Gun: Maverick  offers meta-commentary on Cruise’s status in Hollywood, and in response Cruise leans deeply into the vulnerability of not just his character, but his circumstances. 

In the opening sequence, Maverick is informed that the program he is test-piloting is getting scrapped in favor of drones, and so he pushes his prototypical stealth jet past its objective of reaching Mach-10 because he's concerned for all the people who’ll be losing their jobs. Later in the movie, after a botched training exercise at Top Gun, Maverick tells his young wards to prepare explanations for the families left behind by their fallen comrades. If this movie wasn’t a rehearsal for that December 2020 outburst, I don’t know what is.

Top Gun: Maverick  easily outflies its 1986 predecessor, which isn’t exactly a lofty target. Worshipped as an amber-hued emblem of 1980s American individualism (and as a recruitment poster for the armed forces),  Top Gun  viewed today, despite the hefty slices of beefcake, is pretty much a nothing burger. It leans so heavily into macho posturing that it tumbles hilariously into unintentional homoeroticism. (Director Tony Scott fetishized his young actors’ looks so much that he couldn’t resist coating them in a sweaty sheen even during the most inactive of briefing scenes, as if the Navy didn’t believe in air-conditioning.) Mostly, the original gets its burnish from the promise of Cruise’s potential, his megawatt charisma illuminating Maverick’s status as a Gifted Child, one that his superior Tom Skerritt or his love interest Kelly McGillis couldn’t help but reprimand with a barely suppressed smile.

Thirty six years later, and  Top Gun: Maverick  now has a lot to work with. If the original was running on the promise of Tom Cruise,  Top Gun: Maverick  gets narrative propulsion from his promise fulfilled. Like Cruise, Maverick has resisted the prospect of career “advancements” that would take him from the nitty gritty of doing what he does best: piloting planes (or multimillion-dollar movie projects). Like Cruise, Maverick has suffered the isolation of single-minded focus…although returning to Fightertown USA to train a detachment of elite pilots for a dangerous mission might bring him in romantic contact with an ex-flame, a bar owner named Penny (Jennifer Connelly, radiant as ever and willing a full-blooded woman out of a thinly written role).

And like Cruise, Maverick is regarded as a relic (most icily by his new superior, an admiral played by Jon Hamm) when he isn’t being celebrated as a god. “The future is coming, and you’re not in it,” Maverick is growled at by Ed Harris’ granite-faced rear admiral. Only an actor of Harris’ stature can deliver that line convincingly to Cruise (watch out for the scene where he stands impervious to a stealth jet’s backwash, framed by the camera like a totem pole) because only an actor of such elemental sternness can be impregnable to Cruise/Maverick’s larger-than-lifeness. (Even Val Kilmer, the only actor from the original who, I would argue, managed to imbue his frenemy character Iceman with some nuance, isn’t immune to Maverick’s myth. Kilmer makes a poignant cameo about halfway through, allowing Cruise to display some of his most affecting acting.)

Director Joseph Kosinski (who entered the Cruise Cinematic Universe via the sci-fi potboiler  Oblivion ) takes his cues from his lead actor by cherry-picking the parts of the original that propels the mythology but jettisoning the bits that are a drag. The opening shots of this sequel, for instance, are an almost shot-by-shot copy of the original’s opening, from the golden-sunset tint to the sight of navy carrier personnel scurrying around. Gone is the macho posturing, but there is a stand-in for Maverick’s brash younger self in Jake “Hangman” Seresin, played to cocky perfection by Glenn Powell of  Everybody Wants Some!!  And while Maverick’s love interest is a tad less accomplished this time around, the sequel drops a female ace pilot (Monica Barbaro’s “Phoenix” Trace) into the mix without blinking an eye.

If the original gifted this sequel with anything, it is the death of Anthony Edwards’ Goose, because from this loss springs the fraught relationship between Maverick and Goose’s son, aviator hopeful Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw. Miles Teller plays the aggrieved Rooster with just the right amount of resentment—even summoning Edwards’ gawky lankiness in his body language—while the architecturally impeccable script by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie (himself a veteran of Cruise’s  Mission: Impossible  movies) tempers Rooster from being an outright jerk, imbuing him with crippling insecurity.

The script also avoids the original’s bone-headed decision to drop the pilots’ mission on their graduation, instead giving us the shape of the mission early on and then drilling into it at strategic points so we know its contours as well as the pilots: A hostile nation is set to put a uranium-enriching facility online in defiance of NATO, and it is up to Maverick’s Top Gun-trained pilots to destroy it. There is radar coverage to slip under and surface-to-air missiles to evade, but even though the shape of the operation is there, not all the specifics are filled in: Like the original, this sequel takes care not to name the hostile power, or even contemplate the realpolitik ramifications of such an incursion.

Instead, we are briefed on the geography and terrain of the mission to such a painstaking degree so that Kosinski, cinematographer Claudio Miranda and editor Eddie Hamilton can stage aerial dogfights and cockpit rollercoaster rides that are breathtaking yet coherent. A huge part of the satisfaction of  Top Gun: Maverick ’s heart-in-your-throat action set pieces derives from the fact that you know where each character is at all times…unless it’s in the plot’s best interests to surprise you.

Still, the prime engine on this well-oiled machine is Cruise himself.  Top Gun: Maverick  is designed to make you cheer, but a lot of those fist-bumps comes not just from the cinematic feats of derring-do you see onscreen (“Oh my God, the actors actually flew those jets!”) but from the story of the years unfolding behind the screen. After scaling the Burj Al Khalifa and learning how to fly in his spare time and sacrificing his personal happiness so he can make movies that make you gasp, Tom Cruise has found in  Top Gun: Maverick  the vehicle that smelts the person and the persona into a satisfying whole. Cruise is a star because of that seamless blending of man and myth. It’s a big reason why we’ll miss him when he’s gone.

Photos from Paramount Pictures

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MOVIE REVIEW: Top Gun: Maverick

NEW YORK (CNS) — Off they go into the wild blue yonder — again — in “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount), a rousing sequel to the 1986 blockbuster about one of the U.S. Navy’s elite flying squadrons and its gaggle of cocky fighter pilots.

Happily, it doesn’t feel as though 36 years have passed. That’s thanks to a number of factors: snappy direction by Joseph Kosinski; a patriotic, action-packed story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks that pays just enough homage to the original; and, of course, a supremely confident performance as the eponymous aviator, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, by Tom Cruise — who seems not to have aged a day.

The result is old-school entertainment on a grand scale, with dazzling aerial acrobatics, a stirring musical score, first-rate acting and the occasional heart-tugging interlude.

Over three-plus decades, Maverick has turned down every promotion to continue to do the two things he does best: fly daringly (earning the reputation of “fastest man alive”) and disobey orders. Despite the latter habit, he has escaped court martial thanks to the intervention of his friend and former colleague, Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer), now an admiral.

After one mishap too many, however, Iceman returns Maverick to their shared starting point, the Navy training ground known as Top Gun — but this time as an instructor. Therein lies the opportunity to introduce the next generation of gung-ho pilots, all with the requisite nicknames such as Hangman (Glen Powell), Fanboy (Danny Ramirez) and Payback (Jay Ellis).

This go-round, there’s also an ace female aviator, Phoenix (Monica Barbaro), to temper all that testosterone.

One of the trainees has a big beef with Maverick: Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s late friend, Nick, aka “Goose” (Anthony Edwards). Maverick continues to be haunted by his comrade’s death, and Rooster blames him for the tragedy.

Vice Adm. Beau “Cyclone” Simpson (Jon Hamm) assigns Maverick a near-impossible task: train these untested pilots for a dangerous mission in enemy territory overseas. Their task is to destroy a nuclear facility that threatens the peace of the region.

The clock is ticking fast as Maverick tries to juggle egos and bring together a team to complete the operation safely, all the while trying not to be too distracted by an old flame, Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly), who currently runs the local watering hole.

“Top Gun: Maverick” is supreme fun from beginning to end. Grown-ups, along with those mature adolescents whose parents regard this adventure as acceptable for them, will be inspired and — as the characters on screen literally take to the skies — uplifted as well.

The film contains intense action sequences, implied nonmarital sexual activity and fleeting profane and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Author John McAleer is a guest reviewer for Catholic News Service.

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‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Review: Tom Cruise Takes to the Skies, Literally, in Barrier-Breaking Sequel

Reteaming with 'Oblivion' director Joseph Kosinski, the perfectionist producer-star insists on flying his own planes in this stunning follow-up.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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The world is not the same place it was in 1986, when “Top Gun” ruled the box office. In Ronald Reagan, America had a movie star for a president, and producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson as its honorary ministers of propaganda. The same year that “Platoon” challenged the United States’ militaristic track record, “Top Gun” sold a thrilling if narrow-minded fantasy of American exceptionalism — of boys and their toys, of macho-man bromance and what it means to be the best. Three years after Tom Cruise flipped the bird to a Russian MiG fighter plane, the Berlin Wall fell. Two years later, the Soviet Union collapsed.

One could argue that our new, post-Cold War world didn’t need a “Top Gun” sequel. (Tom Cruise himself once insisted as much.) But one would be wrong to do so. Building on the three-parts-steel-to-one-part-corn equation that director Tony Scott so effectively set 36 years earlier, the new film more than merits its existence, mirroring Cruise’s character, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, in pushing the limits of what the machine could do — the machine in this case being cinema, which takes to the skies as no blockbuster has before.

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Hardly anything in “ Top Gun: Maverick ” will surprise you, except how well it does nearly all the things audiences want and expect it to do. Orchestrated by Joseph Kosinski — the dynamo who collaborated with Cruise on “Oblivion” and first worked with Miles Teller on 2017’s terrific, underseen firefighter drama “Only the Brave” — to appeal to veterans and neophytes alike, this high-performance follow-up sends Maverick back to the Topgun program, where he won the heart of Charlie (Kelly McGillis) and lost best friend Goose (Anthony Edwards).

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Flashbacks notwithstanding, neither of those actors is in this movie, though the screenplay — a tag-team effort between Christopher McQuarrie (Cruise’s guy), Eric Warren Singer (Kosinski’s guy) and Ehren Kruger (yikes) — just about resurrects Goose via his now-adult son, Bradley Bradshaw (Teller), call sign “Rooster.” (“Phoenix” would be more apt, but that tag goes to Monica Barbaro, playing the lone woman in this testosterone pool.) The resemblance between Rooster and his late dad is uncanny, courtesy of a goofy moustache, some hair gel and a scene in which the young pilot pounds out “Great Balls of Fire” on the Hard Deck piano, the way Goose once did.

The Hard Deck is now operated by a character from Maverick’s past, Penny Benjamin ( Jennifer Connelly ), although she was only referenced in passing before: In “Top Gun,” Maverick is chewed out by his superior officer for having “a history of high-speed passes over five air control towers — and one admiral’s daughter!” Penny is that daughter: strong, independent and responsible for a daughter of her own (not Maverick’s, and too young to be his love interest). Cruise’s character has matured on the womanizing front, and the movie provides a shallow yet satisfying romantic subplot between him and Penny, which gives him something to come home for, since his daredevil tendencies otherwise give off strong kamikaze vibes.

In theory, Maverick should have graduated Topgun and gone back to teach what he’d learned to other Navy pilots. But after losing his flying partner, the character wound up being more of a loner — or so we learn, catching up with him all these years later, working as a test pilot and stuck at the rank of captain. Following a nostalgia-baiting aircraft carrier landing montage, wherein “Top Gun” theme “Danger Zone” blazes once again, Kosinski tracks Maverick to the Mojave Desert, still living up to his nickname when he takes a multimillion-dollar piece of government equipment — a supersonic, SR-71 Blackbird-style (fictional) Darkstar jet — out for a speed test.

Showing up as none-too-amused Navy brass, Ed Harris arrives just in time to eat a face full of sand as Maverick takes off at rocket speed, gently pushing the plane to Mach 10. (As a point of reference, the F-14s seen in “Top Gun” top out around Mach 2.) It’s a glorious scene, and one that melds everything Maverick once represented with Cruise’s own off-screen personality — which also explains all the self-driven motorcycle rides. The stunt nearly gets Maverick kicked out of the Navy. His only option: Go back to the training academy, where Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer) is now filling Tom Skerritt/Viper’s shoes.

The script incorporates Kilmer’s throat cancer, such that Iceman has just one scene, communicating mostly by keyboard — but it’s a smart one, paying off the way the dynamic between these two ex-rivals has evolved. Considering the importance Goose and Rooster play in this next mission, which involves a near-impossible airstrike on a uranium plant, it would’ve been nice to see Meg Ryan return as the widow/mom, but the rules are cruel when it comes to aging female actors. Meanwhile, we can talk about all the cosmetic ways Cruise and Kilmer’s faces have evolved, although there’s only one change that matters: Cruise has perfected that little jaw-clenching trick that signifies “This is a really tough call.”

He won’t get an Oscar for pantomiming such swallow-your-pride stoicism, though Cruise deserves one for everything else the role demanded of him: If the flying scenes here blow your mind, it’s because a great many of them are the real deal, putting audiences right there in the cockpit alongside a cast who learned to pilot for their parts. The idea here is that Maverick has been grounded, relegated to coaching a dozen top-of-their-class hotshots, though he takes to the skies right away, trumping all of these aces in a series of adrenaline-fueled drills. Not a one of these students is convincing as a Navy pilot, though their personalities win us over all the same (even Glen Powell’s alpha-male “Hangman,” who serves as this movie’s Iceman equivalent), and once can imagine future spinoffs involving any of these characters.

“Top Gun” has always been “The Tom Cruise Show,” and no one believes for a second that Maverick won’t maneuver his way into flying the climactic mission. But he can’t do it alone: The operation calls for perfectly coordinated teamwork among six pilots, recalling the group air battle that bonded Iceman and Maverick in the original movie.

These days, videogame-styled blockbusters rely so heavily on CGI that it’s thrilling to see the impact of gravity on actual human beings, pancaked to their chairs by multiple G-forces. Sophisticated movie magic makes their performances seamless with the exterior airborne shots, while the commitment to filming practically everything practically feels like the cutting-edge equivalent of Howard Hughes’ history-making “Hell’s Angels.” The result is the most immersive flight simulator audiences will have ever experienced, right down to the great Dolby roar of engines vibrating through their seats (while the score teases cues for Lady Gaga’s end-credits anthem “Hold My Hand”).

Early on, Ed Harris’ character warns Maverick and his team that “one day, they won’t need pilots at all,” by which he means, drone technology is not far from allowing the Navy to do all of its flying by remote control. Cinema seems to be moving in that same direction, replacing actors with digital puppets and real locations with greenscreen plates — but not if Tom Cruise has anything to do with it. Engineered to hit so many of the same pleasure points as the original, “Top Gun: Maverick” fulfills our desire to go really fast, really far above ground — what the earlier film unforgettably referred to as “the need for speed.”

Still, this buckle-up follow-up also demonstrates why we feel the need for movie stars. It goes well beyond Cruise’s rah-rah involvement in what amounts to a glorified U.S. military recruitment commercial (the 1986 film might have been as perfectly calibrated as a Swiss watch, but it wasn’t subtle about its GI Joe agenda). It’s the way we identify with the guy when he’s doing what most of us thought impossible. Turns out we need Maverick now more than ever.

Reviewed at AMC Century City 15 (Imax), May 10, 2022. In Cannes Film Festival (Out of Competition). MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 130 MIN.

• Production: A Paramount Pictures release of a Paramount Pictures, Skydance, Jerry Bruckheimer Films presentation of a Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer production. Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison. Executive producers: Tommy Harper, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Chad Oman, Mike Stenson.
• Crew: Director: Joseph Kosinski. Screenplay: Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie; story: Peter Craig, Justin Marks, based on characters created by Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr. Camera: Claudio Miranda. Editor: Eddie Hamilton. Music: Lorne Balfe, Harold Faltermeyer, Hans Zimmer.
• With: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Charles Parnell, Bashir Salahuddin, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Greg Tarzan Davis, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer.

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Hit man cast & character guide: who else stars alongside glen powell.

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Hit Man Review: Breezy Comedy Is Richard Linklater’s Cure For What Ails Movies

10 best parks & recreation episodes, ranked, hit man rotten tomatoes score beats top gun: maverick for glen powell's highest ever.

• Hit Man boasts a strong cast led by Glen Powell, offering a fresh take on undercover operations with hilarious aliases.
• Hit Man's other main cast members include Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, and Retta.
• Supporting cast members in Hit Man range from Sanjay Rao to Molly Bernard.

Richard Linklater's Hit Man sports a strong cast, led perfectly by Glen Powell. In comparison to many of Linklater's other movies, Hit Man 's cast is relatively small-scale. This could be because of the film's premise, which sees Glen Powell's titular Hit Man take on different aliases . Powell's eccentric personalities throughout the film mark a star turn for the actor and aids Hit Man in becoming one of the strongest 2024 films and one of the best movies in Richard Linkater's career .

Savor Hit Man, however you come across it - it's not every day the movies entertain us in this way at this level of execution anymore.

One of the best aspects of the film is that Hit Man is inspired by a true story . The film follows Powell's mild-mannered Gary, who lives alone with his cats and enjoys a relatively risk-free life as a college professor. Gary's main source of excitement comes from working alongside the New Orleans Police Department as a tech guy. However, Gary soon finds himself having to perform as an undercover mole, leading to Hit Man 's many hilarious aliases and opening the film up to the rest of the fantastic cast that stars alongside Powell.

Glen Powell as Gary Johnson

Date of birth: october 21, 1988.

• Active Since: 2003

Actor: Glen Powell was born in Austin, Texas, and began acting in the early 2000s. Powell rose to prominence for his role as Chad Radwell in Scream Queens , before gaining further recognition in romantic comedies, including Hit Man director Richard Linklater's Everybody Wants Some!! and Netflix's Set It Up. Undoubtedly, Powell's most mainstream role came in 2022 when he portrayed Jake "Hangman" Seresin in Top Gun: Maverick , leading to him starring opposite Sydney Sweeney in the 2023 box-office hit Anyone but You . With Hit Man and Twisters on the horizon, 2024 seems to be the summer of Glen Powell .

Notable Movies & TV Shows:

Character: In Hit Man , Powell plays Gary Johnson. Gary works as a university professor and tech aid for the New Orleans Police Department. When the man responsible for going undercover is suspended, Gary is thrust into the role only to find he has a knack for pulling confessions out of unsuspecting, aspiring murderers. Interestingly, Powell plays several aliases in Hit Man, as Gary uses his people skills to figure out who targets will be more likely to confess to. Although Powell's aliases include characters named Ron, Boone, and a Patrick Bateman rip-off, he is credited as Gary Johnson.

Adria Arjona as Madison Masters

Date of birth: april 25, 1992.

• Active Since: 2012

Actor: The secondary lead in Hit Man is portrayed by Adria Arjona, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Arjona began working in Hollywood in a series of small roles. Some of her earlier credits include The Belko Experiment, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Triple Frontier, and 6 Underground . Arjona received more widespread recognition for her main roles in TV shows like Emerald City, Good Omens, and Andor , the latter in the Star Wars universe. Other bigger Hollywood credits for Arjona include Morbius and an earlier recurring role in True Detective season 2.

Arjona will reprise her role as Bix in Andor season 2, expected to be released in 2025.

Character: Adria Arjona portrays Madison Masters in Hit Man . Madison, better known as Maddy, is introduced as one of the people ordering a hit from one of Powell's undercover personas. Maddy is introduced as someone with an abusive, threatening husband, with Gary's better nature leading him to suggest Maddy simply leave her relationship. Afterward, the two become romantically entangled, with Maddy only knowing Gary as Ron, a charming, suave alias of Gary's.

Austin Amelio as Jasper

Date of birth: april 27, 1988.

• Active Since: 2010

Actor: Like Powell, Austin Amelio was born in Austin, Texas. Interestingly, Amelio's initial exposure came as a skateboarder before he was cast alongside Powell in Linklater's Everybody Wants Some!! This came a year after his breakout role as Dwight in The Walking Dead season 6. This led Amelio to become part of the main cast of Fear the Walking Dead , appearing in over 30 episodes in seasons 5, 6, 7, and 8 of the spin-off. Other notable film roles from Amelio include Song to Song , Mercy Black , and Holler.

Character: In Hit Man, Amelio plays Jasper, the undercover cop responsible for posing as a hitman to gain confessions. After Jasper is suspended from the New Orleans Police Department, Powell's Gary takes over the role and becomes even more adept at stopping aspiring criminals than Jasper. This causes Jasper to have somewhat of an antagonistic presence in Hit Man , becoming bitter over Gary getting more plaudits and taking his job.

Retta as Claudette

Date of birth: april 12, 1970.

• Active Since: 1998

Actor: Marietta Sirleaf, known professionally as Retta, was born in Newark, New Jersey, and began her career almost two decades later. Initially, Retta pursued stand-up comedy and appeared in minor film roles before being cast in Parks and Recreation. As Donna Meagle, Parks and Recreation proved to be Retta's breakout role , leading to bigger comedy movie roles in The LEGO Ninjago Movie, Father Figures , and Good Boys, and a starring role in the comedy series Good Girls .

Character: Hit Man sees Retta starring as Claudette, one of the members of the New Orleans Police Department's undercover crew. Claudette works with Powell's Gary and Amelio's Jasper and is one of the characters responsible for the former overtaking the latter as an undercover mole. Claudette works with Gary throughout the film, offering insights into the character arc of Gary.

NBC’s Parks and Recreation had dozens of incredible, hilarious episodes throughout its seven seasons, but some were better than others.

Hit Man's Supporting Cast & Characters

The supporting cast of hit man rounds off the ensemble.

As alluded to, Hit Man 's cast is relatively small. Aside from the aforementioned actors, there are only a handful of others who have any kind of role in the film. These other actors are lesser known than those above, though no less important to Hit Man 's story and the overarching themes of the film. With that in mind, here is a rundown of the other cast members in Hit Man , their roles in the film, and other notable works.

Sanjay Rao as Phil - Like Claudette, Phil is one of the other characters who helps with tech-related aspects of undercover sting operations. Phil and Claudette often come as a package deal in Hit Man , commenting on Gary's strength in his undercover roles. Phil is played by Sanjay Rao, whose other notable credits include Rob in Bad Romance and William in the TV miniseries Segs .

Gralen Bryant Banks as Sergeant Hank - In Hit Man , Gary and his team report directly to Sergeant Hanks. Hanks plays a minor role in the film but becomes important as Gary's romantic connection with Maddy as "Ron" leads to increasingly hectic scenarios. Bryant Banks is known for his roles in Prime Video's 2023 film The Burial and 2023's box office horror hit, Five Nights at Freddy's .

Evan Holtzman as Ray Masters - Ray is the husband of Maddy in Hit Man , whom the latter attempts to place a hit on early in the film. Ray appears as a cruel, abusive, derogatory man, leading to Maddy taking action against him. Ray serves an antagonistic role in Hit Man as he finds out more about Maddy's new boyfriend "Ron," a.k.a. Gary. Other roles for Holtzman include minor appearances in the TV series Messiah and an uncredited role in Alex Garland's Civil War .

Molly Bernard as Alisha - Early in the film, Gary reveals he is divorced though remains friends with his ex-wife Alisha, played by Bernard. Alisha implores Gary to find something more exciting in his life, as well as to find a new partner. This pushes Gary into finding "Ron" as an alias and subsequently leads to Gary's relationship with Maddy. Besides Hit Man , Bernard is known for her main role in the TV series Younger and recurring roles in projects like Transparent and Chicago Med.

From director Richard Linklater comes Hit Man, a 2023 action comedy film based on a  Texas Monthly  article of the same name. Undercover and trying to catch a group of criminals, a Houston police officer poses as a hitman until he falls for a woman on assignment. Finding himself diving deeper into the world of crime, the Houston officer finds it increasingly difficult to escape his new undercover persona.

‘Hit Man’ review: Glen Powell gets it in gear, in a hired-assassin Netflix movie for the rest of us

C an a lame haircut turn Glen Powell into a character actor? Here’s two more for you: Is Glen Powell a huge movie star in the making, thanks to “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Anyone But You”? And if he isn’t, is he at least nimble and versatile enough to play one when needed?

The answers to those questions are encouraging. I doubt that would’ve been the case four or five years or seven or eight films ago. In the highly engaging “Hit Man,” now in a few theaters and heading to Netflix June 7, Powell reunites with his fellow Texan, director and screenwriter Richard Linklater, for a romantic comedy with a few nicely plotted turns and storytelling priorities, including little to no interest in jacking up narrative stakes the usual way, i.e., people getting pistol-whipped or shot up for laughs, or kicks.

“Hit Man” takes it easier. It comes from Skip Hollandsworth’s 2001 Texas Monthly feature about a Houston undercover master of deception, Gary Johnson, who at the time worked for the Harris County district attorney’s office. His job: Faking like he was a professional killer for hire in sting operations. Lots of them. Successful ones. “Although plenty of cops have pretended to be hit men in undercover murder-for-hire investigations,” Hollandsworth wrote, “Johnson is the Laurence Olivier of the field.”

The script by Linklater and Powell takes the premise and goes its own way, resetting things in Louisiana. This version of Johnson is a sweet, divorced, cat-loving philosophy professor at the University of New Orleans, who moonlights for the police doing office-based tech work. When a weaselly undercover cop runs into ethical trouble, a nervous Johnson gets thrown into the real action, reluctantly, “playing” a hit man in a prearranged, wired-up meetup with a potential client. Turns out he has a knack for improv under pressure. The mild-mannered, temperamentally cautious Johnson, the philosophy wonk preoccupied with the id, the superego and questions of identity, vanishes altogether. A cooler, meaner, more charismatic Johnson comes out to play.

Powell’s romantic co-star in “Hit Man” is Adria Arjona as flight attendant Madison, a hungry-eyed woman trapped in an abusive marriage. She enters the story first as a woman looking for a sympathetic ear and a potential hit man lover, then in a more pragmatic, solution-oriented way. The narrative isn’t built on big reveals or massive twists; rather, it takes artfully logical detours that work even when credulity is strained a bit, using the simple device of Johnson’s philosophy classroom lectures as bullet points for what the teacher is learning outside the classroom. (When he dons a jet-black wig and studious Slavic dialect impersonating a hit man of indeterminate Eastern European origin, Powell goes for the full Tommy Wiseau “The Room” vibe.)

If “Hit Man” is about anything beyond its own blithe, eccentric comic assurance, it’s about finding new oxygen for your next chapter in life. Ethics? Well, Johnson doesn’t teach ethics, so that’s someone else’s story. Not since “Out of Sight” has a sort-of-crime-thriller, sort-of-romantic-comedy led with its sensual interests over its violent ones. That’s my idea of a good trade, and Powell is more relaxed and easygoing on screen here than ever before.

His undercover police force cohorts are played by Retta (very dry, very amusing) and Sanjay Rao (nicely energized, even in straight-up expository bits). The ensemble ringer? Austin Amelio as the NOPD weasel on administrative leave, for a time, jealous of Johnson’s success. Sometimes the best thing an actor can do is keep the audience guessing as to how dumb or how smart his character might be in any given situation. That’s Amelio’s strength throughout “Hit Man.”

Like Steven Soderbergh and precious few other American filmmakers of huge talent and some commercial instincts, Linklater believes in the modestly budgeted genre exercise, especially when he can turn genres on a dime, within one story. Netflix may have preferred “Hit Man” to ditch the comedy and lean into the recreational slaughter for a climax, in the style of the literal hundreds and hundreds of millions Netflix spent on junk like “The Gray Man.” With a less ridiculous budget but similarly soul-crushing results, David Fincher took on “The Killer” and made precisely the sort of supercool hired-assassin adventure the world did not need.

The world, in other words, did not need one more hit man fantasy played straight. “Hit Man” is the hit man movie for the rest of us. The irony? It ends up playing its love story for more than decoration. Linklater got solid, committed supporting work from Powell in their 1980s college comedy “Everybody Wants Some!” Here, the star gets all the leeway and screen time he needs, as both character actor and leading man, to make his mark without just hitting his marks.

3.5 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for language throughout, sexual content and some violence)

Running time: 1:55

How to watch: Now in theaters and streaming on Netflix June 7

©2024 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Hit Man review: At last, the star vehicle Glen Powell deserves

“There’s a refreshing unpredictability to Hit Man. Like its main character, the movie keeps twisting itself into surprising new forms.”

• Glen Powell's blazing star power
• A funny, surprising plot
• The rare sexy comedy for adults
• It looks a little Netflix flat
• Linklater is an imperfect fit for screwball noir

It was Richard Linklater who first saw what the whole world is now seeing in Glen Powell. He capitalized on the actor’s embryonic star power — his beach-body good looks and ace comic timing — way back in 2016 with the shaggy campus hangout movie Everybody Wants Some!! So it makes sense that the cocksure Texas heartthrob from Anyone but You and Top Gun: Maverick   would reunite with the director to engineer his ideal star vehicle, a showcase for the downright Cruisian charisma that Hollywood took nearly a decade to fully embrace. That’s the sly meta dimension of this idiosyncratic comedy: What we’re watching, in more ways than one, is a self-actualization story — a portrait of a man taking life by the horns and becoming who he really wants to be.

At first, you have to wonder if Hit Man has been designed to simply spotlight the actor’s range. Powell, who co-wrote the screenplay, has essentially cast himself as a chameleon. He plays Gary Johnson — not the former Libertarian governor of New Mexico, but an equally real Southwesterner, a philosophy teacher who began moonlighting as a part-time officer of the Houston Police Department in the 1990s. Though initially hired only for his tech expertise, Johnson eventually took on what you could call a starring role in a very unusual, ongoing sting operation: He would disguise himself as a hit man for hire, and collect audio evidence of anyone looking to solicit his murderous services.

Hit Man , which transports this “somewhat true story” from Texas to New Orleans, gets some amusingly broad costume chest humor out of Johnson’s habit of fitting his alter egos to the expectations of his marks. For Powell, this is a chance to do his best Eddie Murphy or Mike Myers and show off his repertoire of SNL caricatures. With the aid of wigs and fake teeth, Gary becomes all manner of decoy lunatic and degenerate: a hulking Russian thug, an oily American psycho, a fey British killer with Tilda Swinton vibes. In truth, the “real” Gary — a soft-spoken intellectual with two cats and no swag — comes across a bit like a costume, too. There’s something rather She’s All That about expecting a textbook hunk like Glen Powell to disappear under glasses and a bad haircut.

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Powell is much more convincing as “Ron,” the smooth lady-killer persona Gary invents to ensnare Madison (Adria Arjona), a flight attendant convinced that murder might be the only way to get out from under her abusive, possessive husband. The pair’s rendezvous at a local diner has the flirtatious charge of a meet cute; the two have such instant chemistry that they forget, for a moment, the grave purpose of their encounter. Gary will nudge her away from murder-for-hire, then fall into a steamy relationship with his mark — a torrid romance built on his geek-to-chic subterfuge. Powell and Arjona generate a supernova of heat between them, his fabricated swagger sparking with her sexy playfulness. Their scenes are like a transmission from a hotter era of crowd-pleasers — a bygone age when Hollywood movies still sought to turn the audience on.

There’s a refreshing unpredictability to Hit Man . Like its main character, the movie keeps twisting itself into surprising new forms. Gary, a not-so-nutty professor getting in touch with his inner Buddy Love, ends up tangled in a web of compounding complications involving Madison’s bad hubby and a colleague/fellow undercover agent played by Powell’s Everybody Wants Some!! co-star Austin Amelio. (The character actor, who also had a significant recurring role on The Walking Dead , makes a magnificent meal out of this stock dirtbag cop character.) The inherent pleasure of any double-life movie is watching the con artist try to maintain their con, and Hit Man certainly delivers on that promise as Gary and Ron’s worlds come precariously close to colliding.

As with Linklater’s earlier Bernie , starring Jack Black as the sweetest murderer you could ever meet, the inspiration here is a Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth . Hit Man arguably makes an even stronger case for truth being stranger than fiction. It’s also, in some ways, an even darker comedy. Beneath the movie’s sunny, slightly flat sitcom aesthetic (this is far from Linklater’s most vibrantly shot picture) lies a portrait of an America all too willing to entertain daydreams of violent retribution. That extends to Arjona’s Madison, who’s undeniably aroused by the thought of sleeping with a killer. And to Gary himself: He may not really be a hit man, but there’s something faintly sociopathic about the ease in which this keen observer of human psychology steps into each new identity. The wish-fulfillment fantasy of an egghead undergoing a not-to-hot makeover has a deliberately sour aftertaste. What we’re seeing is the triumphant story of someone transforming their life by embracing their dark side.

There’s one truly great scene in the movie: an undercover operation that becomes a glorious dual performance, as Gary finally gains a willing scene partner and an act of deception becomes a form of foreplay. It’s at once tense and joyously playful — a kinky dance with the highest of stakes. Here, and maybe only here, does Linklater achieve the full promise of his premise. Screwball noir is sometimes an imperfect fit for an artist of such laid-back sensibilities. Starting the film with a lecture on Nietzsche — one of a few classroom scenes that provide this story with a running academic commentary — betrays the real concerns of a bohemian cinematic philosopher more high on ideas than drama. 

There are times when Hit Man feels a bit divided against itself, where it seems caught between the buzz of a spinning top mainstream caper and something knottier and more thoughtful. Then again, maybe that’s just in keeping with the nature of its main character, a shape-shifter who discovers that the “real” him is mutable, adjustable, not set in stone. One thing’s for sure: This is the leading-man platform that has eluded Powell for too long — an opportunity to show off the smoldering, good-humored cowboy magnetism that should have made him a movie star years ago. With Hit Man , he’s finally taken the matter into his own hands. And like Gary, he’s put his best Ron forward.

Hit Man is now streaming on Netflix . For more of A.A. Dowd’s writing, please visit his Authory page .

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The PGA Memorial Tournament runs from June 6 through June 9. There are four total rounds: Round 1 on Thursday, Round 2 on Friday, Round 3 on Saturday and the Final Round on Friday. The first two rounds will only be available on the Golf Channel. The third round and final round will be on your local CBS station as well. The easiest way to watch those rounds will be on your local CBS station, which you can access with a digital antenna on your TV. If you're only interested in streaming the tournament on your phone or computer, here is a breakdown of how to watch the PGA Memorial Tournament online. Watch the PGA Memorial Tournament Live Stream on Sling TV

The PGA Memorial Tournament will be broadcast on CBS and the Golf Channel this year. That gives you a few options for streaming the tournament on Sling TV. If you're a golf fanatic and this isn't going to be the only tournament you watch this year, you can get either Sling Orange or Sling Blue for $40 per month, then add the Sports Extra Package for $11 more per month. This gets you access to the Golf Channel, plus 19 more sports-focused channels, so you'll be able to watch the Stanley Cup on NHL Network and the NBA Finals on NBA TV too.

Just four wins away from immortality, the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks meet tonight at the TD Garden for Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Boston won both head-to-head meetings this year, but Dallas is peaking at the perfect time after knocking off the 1, 3 and 4 seeds to get here.

Game 1 is about to begin, at 8:30 p.m. ET, and will be televised nationally on ABC. However, if you don't have cable and want a way to stream the NBA playoffs, we've found all the best options for watching the Mavs vs Celtics live online. Watch the Mavs vs Celtics Game 1 Live Stream on Sling TV

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'Top Gun: Maverick' is ridiculous. It's also ridiculously entertaining

Justin Chang

Tom Cruise is back as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick. Scott Garfield/Paramount Pictures Corporation hide caption

Tom Cruise is back as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick.

In one of the more memorable lines in the original Top Gun , Maverick gets chewed out by a superior who tells him, "Son, your ego's writing checks your body can't cash."

Sometimes I wonder if Tom Cruise took that putdown as a personal challenge. No movie star seems to work harder or push himself further than Cruise these days. He just keeps going and going, whether he's scaling skyscrapers in a new Mission: Impossible adventure or showing a bunch of fresh-faced pilots how it's done in the ridiculous and ridiculously entertaining Top Gun: Maverick .

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'top gun 2' means one more ride into the danger zone.

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Sorry, tom cruise fans — new 'top gun' and 'mission impossible' movies delayed again.

Cruise was in his early 20s when he first played Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, the cocky young Navy pilot with the aviator sunglasses, the Kawasaki motorcycle and the need for speed. In the sequel, he's as arrogant and insubordinate as ever: Now a Navy test pilot in his late 50s, Maverick still knows how to tick off his superiors, as we see in an exciting opening sequence where he pushes a new plane beyond its limits. Partly as punishment, he's ordered to return to TOPGUN, the elite pilot-training school, and train its best and brightest for an impossibly dangerous new mission.

One of his trainees is a hotheaded young pilot called Rooster, played by Miles Teller. Rooster is the son of Maverick's beloved wingman, Goose, who tragically died while flying with Maverick in the first Top Gun . Maverick's lingering guilt over Goose's death affects his relationship with Rooster; so does his desire to protect Rooster from harm, which generates some suspense over whether he'll end up choosing the young man for the assignment.

And so the three screenwriters of Top Gun: Maverick — including Cruise's regular Mission: Impossible writer-director, Christopher McQuarrie — have taken the threads of the original and spun them into an intergenerational male weepie, a dad movie of truly epic proportions. They're tapping into nostalgia for the original, while aiming for new levels of emotional grandeur. To that end, the soundtrack features a Lady Gaga song, "Hold My Hand." It's nowhere near as iconic a chart topper as the original movie's "Take My Breath Away," but tugs at your heartstrings nonetheless.

Much of the plot is unabashedly derivative of the first Top Gun . Once again, Maverick runs afoul of growling authority figures, here played by Ed Harris and Jon Hamm . Cruise's former co-star Kelly McGillis is nowhere to be seen, but Maverick does get another perfunctory love interest, a bartender named Penny, nicely played by Jennifer Connelly despite the thanklessness of the role.

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Lady gaga, 'hold my hand'.

What's interesting about Top Gun: Maverick is how it isn't like its predecessor, mostly in terms of style. The first Top Gun , directed on a relatively low budget by the late Tony Scott , combined the aesthetics of a military recruitment video with some of the ripest homoerotic imagery ever seen in a major Hollywood movie. For better or worse, the sequel, directed by Joseph Kosinski of Tron: Legacy and Oblivion , is a much tamer, slicker, classier affair. Maverick no longer struts around in towels and tighty-whities, though he can still fly a plane like nobody's business.

The action sequences are much more thrilling and immersive than in the original. You feel like you're really in the cockpit with these pilots, and that's because you are: The actors underwent intense flight training and flew actual planes during shooting. In that respect, Top Gun: Maverick feels like a throwback to a lost era of practical moviemaking, before computer-generated visual effects took over Hollywood. You start to understand why Cruise, the creative force behind the movie, was so driven to make it: In telling a story where older and younger pilots butt heads, and state-of-the-art F-18s duke it out with rusty old F-14s, he's trying to show us that there's room for the old and the new to coexist. He's also advancing a case for the enduring appeal of the movies and their power to transport us with viscerally gripping action and big, sweeping emotions.

Which brings us to the movie's most powerful scene, in which Val Kilmer briefly reprises his role as Iceman, Maverick's former nemesis-turned-friend. Kilmer is, in some respects, Cruise's opposite: a onetime star whose career never quite found its groove, and who's been beset by health issues in recent years, including the loss of his voice due to throat cancer. His soulful presence here gives this high-flying melodrama the grounding it needs. Cruise may be this movie's immortal star, but it's Kilmer's aching performance that takes your breath away.

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The biggest box-office disappointments of 2024 so far

Gabbi shaw   .

• The box office has been seriously down in 2024.
• Last year's strike has led to fewer big-budget movies being released.

This Memorial Day Weekend was not great for the box office. In fact, it was the worst Memorial Day for the movies since the '90s. The entire domestic box office pulled in just $126 million — in years past, the No. 1 movie alone has made as much as $160 million, as " Top Gun: Maverick " did in 2022.

A few factors have led to this. First, the WGA/SAG strikes last year put many productions on pause, so some of the bigger movies won't come out until later in the year.

Another factor is streaming and VOD . "The Fall Guy," which came out just a month ago, is already available to rent at home. For a family, it's cheaper to spend $20 to rent something at home than $50-plus on tickets, snacks, and drinks.

And finally? People just weren't convinced they needed to see some of these films on the big screen.

Here are some of the biggest surprise bombs at the box office this year.

"Furiosa" opened to a bleak $32 million over the four-day Memorial Day Weekend.

As The Wrap pointed out, "Furiosa's" $32 million opening weekend is the lowest No. 1 total for a Memorial Day Weekend since 1995, when "Casper" topped the box office with $22 million.

Another depressing stat for the "Mad Max: Fury Road" prequel? According to Screen Rant , it had the worst second-week drop of any "Mad Max" movie , plunging a staggering 59%.

Now, why exactly is "Furiosa" flopping so hard? It might be a case of unreasonable expectations. "Fury Road" is rightfully hailed as one of the best action movies of all time , but it didn't light the box office on fire at first either. Its domestic opening in 2015 was $42.4 million, ending up at a respectable $380 million worldwide.

Also, Anya-Taylor Joy (who plays the titular Furiosa) is famous but not a definite movie star yet — arguably, her big break was for a TV show ("The Queen's Gambit"), and her last big cinematic hits ("Dune: Part Two" and "The Menu") were sold on bigger stars like Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and Ralph Fiennes.

"The Garfield Movie" has not been as successful as "Kung Fu Panda 4."

We can't only blame "Furiosa" for the abysmal Memorial Day box office. The other film that opened as counter-programming that weekend was "The Garfield Movie," the second animated adaptation of everyone's favorite grumpy cat.

The film, which stars Chris Pratt as Garfield, made just $31 million on its opening weekend. So, between "Garfield" and "Furiosa," the top two movies at the box office made a total of $63 million.

For context, the No. 1 movie at the box office last Memorial Day weekend was "The Little Mermaid," which made $118 million .

After the billion-dollar success of "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" (also starring Pratt), "Garfield" simply couldn't measure up. The other big animated movie of the year, "Kung Fu Panda 4," opened to $57 million and has made $541 million worldwide.

Another test for "Garfield" will be how it fares against "Inside Out 2" on June 14.

"The Fall Guy" didn't light up box offices in the way some thought it would.

An action rom-com led by the two of the stars of last year's box-office phenomenon, Barbenheimer ? You'd think that'd be a no-brainer smash, but "The Fall Guy" hasn't lived up to those lofty expectations.

Variety reported that the film was projected to debut between $30 and $40 million, but it made just $28.5 million. At this point, it's made $158 million worldwide.

As Business Insider's Jason Guerrasio noted before the film premiered, this May was the first time in 17 years (excluding 2020) that a Marvel movie of some kind hasn't kicked off the summer. Last May's Marvel film, " Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ," made $118 million domestically in its opening weekend.

With that looming over its head, it's no surprise that "The Fall Guy," based on the little-remembered '80s TV show of the same name, couldn't measure up.

"Argylle" has made less than half its budget back.

Put aside the deeply annoying "Who is the real Agent Argylle?" marketing campaign and think about how wild this is: "Argylle," an action spy-thriller starring Oscar-winner Sam Rockwell, former Superman Henry Cavill, the former star of a multi-billion-dollar franchise Bryce Dallas Howard, living legend Samuel L. Jackson, comedy icon Catherine O'Hara, beloved actor Bryan Cranston, and current pop star Dua Lipa couldn't crack $100 million at the box-office.

Compare that to the $200 million it cost Apple to make, as reported by Indiewire , and that's a true box-office bomb, even if Apple claims otherwise .

"Madame Web" solidified that the Sony Spider-Man Universe is truly in trouble.

If you're unfamiliar with the Sony Spider-Man Universe (or the SSU), here's a quick explanation: Marvel (and, therefore, Disney) now owns the rights to almost all of its comic characters. The one property it can't get back? Spider-Man and all his related villains, friends, and love interests, which are still owned by Sony.

Although Sony and Disney have agreed on a deal that allows Spidey to appear in the MCU , Sony is still holding tight to the rest of his associates, which is how we end up with films like "Venom," "Morbius," "Kraven the Hunter," and yes, "Madame Web."

Why Sony thought this movie was a good idea is beyond us — Madame Web is a little-known character (and matters even less without, you know, Spider-Man around to help save the day), and star Dakota Johnson hasn't proven herself to be a cinematic draw outside IP-driven properties like "Fifty Shades of Grey," which made a combined $1.3 billion worldwide.

With a dismal worldwide box office of $100 million, all that the SSU has proven is that these movies make for good memes .

"The First Omen" also underperformed against initial box-office predictions.

"The First Omen" is by no means a huge disappointment for 20th Century Studios — it's made $53 million worldwide against a $30 million budget — but it wasn't the hit you might've expected from one of the most iconic franchises in horror history .

Variety even reported that projections expected the film to make $14 to $15 million on opening weekend. It made a little over half that: just $8.3 million.

"The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" was 2024's second movie starring Henry Cavill to flop.

Director Guy Ritchie's latest film is about Winston Churchill's secret special forces team that operated in World War II. This team would perform top-secret missions to take down the Nazis — it's destined to become a No. 1 dad movie in the future.

But for now, this film starring Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson, and Henry Golding will be known as a movie that cost $60 million to make, according to Variety, and earned just $25.3 million.

It's been a rough few years for Cavill post-"Justice League" in 2017. He began starring in "The Witcher" in 2019 (a very successful show by all accounts), only to leave after season three . It's never been officially announced why he left, but the timing did line up with his cameo as Superman in the DCEU film "Black Adam" in 2022.

Unfortunately for Cavill, when James Gunn took over the DC film division , he announced his plans to scrap the entire DCEU (DC Extended Universe) and start fresh with a brand-new Superman , now played by David Corenswet.

And now, Cavill's last two films since his last appearance as Superman in "The Flash" have bombed.

"The Book of Clarence" made just 15% of its budget back.

"The Book of Clarence" is an alternate-history biblical comedy that posits the existence of a 13th Apostle, Clarence.

"The Book of Clarence" is only director Jeymes Samuel's second film. His first, " The Harder They Fall ," was a critical success and enjoyed by viewers, but it debuted on Netflix, so it was hard to gauge what the box office would be like for his follow-up.

It turns out that biblical comedy doesn't go over as well as a Western. According to Variety, "The Book of Clarence" cost $40 million to produce and made only $6.2 million worldwide.

"Lisa Frankenstein" made less than $10 million worldwide.

Cole Sprouse and Kathryn Newton have been tapped as potential movie stars in the next generation of Hollywood and have each been in successful films.

However, their star power and the value of " Frankenstein " as intellectual property didn't help this '80s teen comedy earn money.

Even though it was a relatively cheap film to make at just $13 million, according to Variety, it couldn't crack double digits at the box office. It made only $9.9 million.

"Drive-Away Dolls" is the lowest-grossing film directed by a Coen brother in 33 years.

"Drive-Away Dolls" was directed by Ethan Coen and was the first film he directed on his own without his brother, Joel (excluding the 2022 documentary, "Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind").

It was also the first Coen film to make less than $10 million since 1991's "Barton Fink," which made $6.2 million to "Drive-Away Dolls'" $6.8 million. The Coens have since made 14 films, some of which made as much as $252 million ("True Grit").

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Top Gun: Maverick

After thirty years, Maverick is still pushing the envelope as a top naval aviator, but must confront ghosts of his past when he leads TOP GUN's elite graduates on a mission that demands the ... Read all After thirty years, Maverick is still pushing the envelope as a top naval aviator, but must confront ghosts of his past when he leads TOP GUN's elite graduates on a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those chosen to fly it. After thirty years, Maverick is still pushing the envelope as a top naval aviator, but must confront ghosts of his past when he leads TOP GUN's elite graduates on a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those chosen to fly it.

• Joseph Kosinski
• Jack Epps Jr.
• Peter Craig
• Jennifer Connelly
• Miles Teller
• 4.3K User reviews
• 437 Critic reviews
• 78 Metascore
• 107 wins & 234 nominations total

• Capt. Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell

• Penny Benjamin

• Lt. Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw

• Adm. Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky

• CWO4 Bernie 'Hondo' Coleman

• Adm. Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson

• Adm. Solomon 'Warlock' Bates

• Lt. Natasha 'Phoenix' Trace

• Lt. Robert 'Bob' Floyd

• Lt. Reuben 'Payback' Fitch

• Lt. Mickey 'Fanboy' Garcia

• Lt. Jake 'Hangman' Seresin

• Lt. Neil 'Omaha' Vikander

• Lt. Billy 'Fritz' Avalone

• Lt. Callie 'Halo' Bassett

• Lt. Javy 'Coyote' Machado

• Lt. Brigham 'Harvard' Lennox

• Lt. Logan 'Yale' Lee
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia At the insistence of Tom Cruise , minimal green screen and CGI aerial shots exist in the film, and even the close up cockpit shots were taken during real in-flight sequences. This meant that much of the cast had to undergo extensive G-force training sessions to withstand the physical demands of G-force pressures during flights.
• Goofs At 1h12'10" Coyote is in G-LOC, releases the stick and his aircraft falls towards the ground. Super-hornet are equipped with auto GCAS (automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System), which would react to the situation and take control to climb and level at a safe altitude with no obstacles.

Rear Admiral : Maverick. Thirty-plus years of service. Combat medals. Citations. Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last 40 years.

[Cain looks through pages of Maverick's records]

Rear Admiral : 'Distinguished.' 'Distinguished.' 'Distinguished.' Yet you can't get a promotion, you won't retire, and, despite your best efforts, you refuse to die. You should be at least a two-star admiral by now, if not a senator. Yet here you are: Captain. Why is that?

Maverick : It's one of life's mysteries, sir.

Rear Admiral : This isn't a joke. I asked you a question.

Maverick : I'm where I belong, sir.

Rear Admiral : Well, the navy doesn't see it that way. Not anymore.

Rear Admiral : These planes you've been testing, Captain, one day, sooner or later, they won't need pilots at all. Pilots that need to sleep, eat, take a piss. Pilots that disobey orders. All you did was buy some time for those men out there. The future is coming, and you're not in it.

[Cain faces the officer by the door]

Rear Admiral : Escort this man off the base. Take him to his quarters. Wait with him while he packs his gear. I want him on the road to North Island within the hour.

[surprised look on Maverick's face]

Maverick : North Island, sir?

Rear Admiral : Call came in with impeccable timing, right as I was driving here to ground your ass once and for all. It galls me to say it, but... for reasons known only to the Almighty and your guardian angel, you've been called back to Top Gun.

Maverick : Sir?

Rear Admiral : You are dismissed, Captain.

[Maverick proceeds to leave Cain's office]

Rear Admiral : The end is inevitable, Maverick. Your kind is headed for extinction.

[Maverick turns around]

Maverick : Maybe so, sir. But not today.

• Crazy credits "Top Gun 001: Tom Cruise" is listed among the other pilots who worked on the film.
• Connections Featured in Conan: Tom Cruise (2019)
• Soundtracks Danger Zone From Top Gun (1986) Original Soundtrack Written by Giorgio Moroder & Tom Whitlock Performed by Kenny Loggins Courtesy of Columbia Records By arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment

User reviews 4.3K

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• May 24, 2022
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• Is there a post-credits scene?
• Is it realistic that Maverick would still be in the Navy on active duty as a captain (O6) 36 years after the events of this first film?
• May 27, 2022 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Official site
• Phi Công Siêu Đẳng Maverick
• Eldorado National Forest, California, USA (Forested mountain aircraft staging area)
• Paramount Pictures
• Skydance Media
• Jerry Bruckheimer Films
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $170,000,000 (estimated)
• $718,732,821
• $126,707,459
• May 29, 2022
• $1,495,696,292

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 10 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
• IMAX 6-Track
• 12-Track Digital Sound

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The Big Picture

• Collider's Perri Nemiroff sits down with producer Jerry Bruckheimer to talk about his latest collaboration with Disney, Young Woman and the Sea .
• The film tells the inspiring true tale of Trudy Ederle, the first woman to conquer the English Channel in 1926. She's played by Daisy Ridley in the movie.
• Bruckheimer also shares an exciting update on the upcoming Untitled Formula One Racing Movie starring Brad Pitt.

Jerry Bruckheimer is a legendary Hollywood producer who seems to have his thumb on the pulse of blockbuster films. There's a special magic that happens, however, when Bruckheimer teams up with Disney, resulting in epic adventures like Pirates of the Caribbean or heartwarming, inspirational classics like Remember the Titans . In their latest collaboration, with star and executive producer Daisy Ridley , Young Woman and the Sea captures both that sense of adventure and inspiration in the remarkable true story of Trudy Ederle .

"This woman was a worldwide phenomenon," Bruckheimer says of Ederle, portrayed by Ridley in the film. Young Woman and the Sea is based on the novel by Glenn Stout about Ederle who dared to brave the English Channel in the 1920s, ultimately becoming the first woman ever to successfully conquer that 21-mile swim. Buffeted by strong currents and challenged at every stroke, the Olympic swimmer set her mind on an unbelievable task and became "a trailblazer for female athletics" at a time "when they said women shouldn't be in the water."

Ahead of its theatrical release, Collider's Perri Nemiroff had the opportunity to sit down with Bruckheimer and discuss why this film, seven years in the making, was such an important story to tell. The producer shares the mantra he does business by, combining education and entertainment to make unforgettable films, like Dangerous Minds and Black Hawk Down , that celebrate extraordinary lives. In addition to Young Woman and the Sea , he also talks with Perri about Ridley as an up-and-coming producer, Brad Pitt 's untitled F1 project and why it's the Top Gun: Maverick of racing movies, and Bad Boys: Ride or Die .

Check out all of this and more in the video above or in the transcript below.

Young Woman and the Sea

The story of competitive swimmer Trudy Ederle, who, in 1926, was the first woman to ever swim across the English Channel.

The Secret to Jerry Bruckheimer's Success

PERRI NEMIROFF: What is something about your approach to filmmaking that's stayed the same since day one, but then can you also tell us something that you've been doing differently recently given how the industry has evolved?

JERRY BRUCKHEIMER: Nothing different. I always make movies I want to see. That's the only mantra I have. I don't know about you, I don't know what the audience likes. I have no idea. If I read something or see something or hear about something that I would like to see, I try to get it made. But I don't know, someday that's gonna all change because I'll like something nobody else will, and you'll be talking to somebody else here.

Is there anything in particular you were surprised to like and pursue recently?

BRUCKHEIMER: Well, this is one of them. I mean, you’d never think I'd make a story this emotional about this woman, but we've been doing it a lot. We like to tell stories that educate and entertain, and this is a movie that does both. We told the story Dangerous Minds about this phenomenal teacher up in Northern California who changed these kids' lives. We did Veronica Guerin , a journalist who lost her life because she was writing about drugs in Ireland. We did Remember the Titans about these two coaches that will never be forgotten, and Glory Road , the same thing. We did Black Hawk Down about those 18 men who were killed, and the parents came up to me, “Thank you so much for making the story about our sons." They’ll never be forgotten. So, those are stories. Now, Trudy is a story that nobody in this country has ever heard of. It's unbelievable.

That’s wild to me.

BRUCKHEIMER: When you see the archival footage at the end of the movie about the parade, you say, “Oh my god, this woman was a worldwide phenomenon who just completely got wiped out. ” Now we're bringing her back because women should know about her. She was a trailblazer for female athletics, for all the women today who are competing, when they said women shouldn't be in the water. It's a great story.

One of the things that I was thinking after I watched it is, this movie will inspire others to take up swimming, whether it's competitively or as a hobby. Have you ever seen a movie that's inspired you to do something or try something new?

BRUCKHEIMER: I think as a teenager, most probably yes. I don't know what that was, but I think we all get inspired by movies. Top Gun , when it came out, recruiting for the Navy went up 500%. So, we do change things for the better. I'm just thrilled that we get to entertain the audience. We say we're in the transportation business; we try to transport you from one place to another, take you away from your life for two hours, and make you feel something. That's what Young Woman in the Sea does. It makes you feel something. When you walk out, you feel better.

I can very much confirm that that was my reaction to this movie, genuinely.

Even though it seems very obvious to me why someone would adapt this story into a movie, I was reading that it took seven years to get this film off the ground. What were some of the hurdles you had to overcome to make it happen, and what would you call the game-changer that finally made the green light happen?

BRUCKHEIMER: I think it was Disney. The people at Disney. Executive Sam Dickerman and his team there really fell in love with the script, and they kept bothering us. We were at other studios, and he said, “If you ever get it out of there, please bring it to me.” He really championed it and made sure it got made and was our cheerleader throughout the whole process.

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"it's a big epic look at her life and her world.".

I'm glad Disney swooped in, but why didn't that happen sooner? How did no one bite sooner?

BRUCKHEIMER: Because conventional wisdom is that sports movies just don't do well. They just don't. They're inspirational, they test well, but nobody shows up. So, we’ve got to prove them wrong, and the way you prove them wrong is by you talking about it, writing about it, and telling an audience what an extraordinary movie this is , what a great experience it is, that it’s something you have to see on a big screen. It's a big epic look at her life and her world.

Absolutely. And also, I beg to differ because you made a high-quality movie, and we also had another phenomenal female-led swimming movie that was Oscar-nominated recently. Anyone can see that there is a lot of value in this industry with these kinds of films and stories.

BRUCKHEIMER: We had a screening last night with a lot of Hollywood people there, and David O. Russell was there, and he's sitting in the audience and he says, “Oh boy, another just drama.” And then he got caught up in it and just loved the movie, and he went over to the Disney executives, “You have to keep this in theaters! This is such a good movie. You gotta let this build.” He loved it, and he's somebody who tells you he doesn't like it or if he likes it. So, he was really enthusiastic about it.

Diana Nyad was at the screening last night, and she went up to Daisy and loved the movie and thought she did an amazing job. She actually had met Trudy, so that's really interesting.

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You brought up Daisy just now, so I'll go to her next. You are one of the most prolific Hollywood producers we have. As of late, she is producing more and more, so what is something about her as a producer that you think will benefit the future of Hollywood?

BRUCKHEIMER: She has great instincts about the script. She really does. She's a good storyteller. She's very smart about her character. We spent hours and hours with her working on the script and reading things through with the rest of the cast, and she had a lot of great ideas and helped us enormously.

I like hearing that. I have all the faith in her in the world.

Brad Pitt's F1 Film Is 'Top Gun: Maverick' for Racing

I wanted to ask about an upcoming movie. Before I even say “the Untitled Formula One Racing Movie,” are we going to get a title for that soon?

BRUCKHEIMER: So far it's still F1 Untitled, but you'll have a title soon.

I'll take it. In general, I love Joseph's work, but one of my favorite things about Top Gun: Maverick is how he revolutionized the way that we photograph fighter pilot movies. Is there anything in particular he's doing on that film that will change the game in terms of how we photograph racing movies?

BRUCKHEIMER: Absolutely. The cameras on F1 , we put six cameras in the cockpit of F1, and they were about this big, now they're this big, and they couldn't move, they were stationary. Now he's got them panning. So you can be on Brad's face and pan to the car next to him. It's unbelievable what he's doing. He's got 14 different camera positions on the car. We use four at a time because we don't want to slow the cars down. Brad's been training in the cars. It's an F1 body that Joe helped design with Mercedes over an F2 engine, which is a 200-mile-an-hour engine, and Brad’s learned how to drive it. The drivers who are training him say he's a natural athlete and he's a great driver. Damson, the same thing.

We just got back from Abu Dhabi. We spent two weeks there filming. We're very fortunate, we're one of the few people that the strike hurt but not as much as other people because Joe got to direct all the stuff with the cars that initially a second unit director was going to do. So last year, we were following all the races without the actors, shooting all the car footage and the driving footage. Now we're putting our actors in the car and doing the dramatic stuff, and we go back to all the different places and film again. So, it's really exciting. It's a fabulous world. We're so lucky to be part of it. They've been great partners with us, the F1 people. Those drivers, there are only 20 of them. There’s only 10 teams, 20 guys, and they're picked by if they're a great driver — and they start when they're seven or eight years old — if they're charismatic, and if they're good looking. So you look at these young men, and they're all very handsome, but they're phenomenal drivers. They're the best drivers in the world. Just to see them go over 220 miles an hour coming around these turns and going down to 50 miles an hour, it's extraordinary, and you’re watching Brad do this. It's a world that people are going to be captivated with. Another emotional story. So, it's gonna be really good.

Oh, I believe it. I'm excited to see it. But now I'm even more excited to see the behind-the-scenes!

BRUCKHEIMER: But you have to see another one. We have Beverly Hills Cop [ Axel F ] coming out on Netflix, and then we have Bad Boys [ Ride or Die ]. Both of them are really good. We just had some previews for Bad Boys , and the reviews, fans flipped over it.

Young Woman and the Sea will open in select theaters beginning May 31 before premiering on Disney+ later this year. Click the link below for showtimes.

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