Top Gun: Maverick, 2022, Film Review

Finally got a chance to pen this down

Predictable, cliched, stereotypical, seen-there-done-that

And YET Damn! The movie flies higher and faster than the new-age fighter jets featured in it.. and How!

Just like a really well made Bollywood (or these days pan Indian) masala movie that we still love and crave for, and walk out with a paisa-vasool feeling, #TopGunMaverick is classic Hollywood fare, fully worth-a-COVID-risk-theatre-outing. 

In a world that oscillates between one extreme of right-wing-conservative-nationalism and the other of utterly-confused-highly politically correct-liberalism, Tom Cruise strikes the perfect sweet spot, stubbornly refusing to fall prey to either of these narratives, delivering what, in the end, really matters - having a good time in the moment. Entertainment, we used to call it. 

The film is set 30 years after the original iconic Top Gun, where Pete Mitchell (aka Maverick) is still a captain, having left teaching at the academy and choosing to stay a pilot on different fighter jet programmes over the years. When he is called back to the Top Gun academy to train the newest batch of the best navy fighter pilots in the world (including his best mate Goose’s son) for what seems like a suicide mission, the memories and emotions of the first movie mix with the reality and adrenalin of the present day training, to create a perfect story telling leading to an action packed and paisa-vasool climax and ending. 

Tom Cruise plays his role brilliantly. It’s his movie all the way, just like the original, and despite all the fan fare, you have to give it to this guy. He stays anachronistically timeless. He still plays volleyball shirtless giving the youngsters with abs, a run for their creatine-whey-steroid bods. He still  races the jet on his high powered motorcycle (notice I didn’t call it a bike!). He still drives the million dollar jets recklessly and without fear of consequence. And better than anyone else can. He still gets fired again and is asked back again, because no one else can do what he can. He still walks the talk, leading from the front. He still cares for his students and his peers. He still carries the guilt of Goose’s death, seeking redemption by protecting his son. He is still single and trying to get together with a woman he likes (Penny, played gorgeously by Jennifer Connelly). In essence, Tom Cruise as Maverick and as himself, portrays this very old school macho heroism with such an earnest authenticity, that we can’t help loving it and lapping it all up. 

And that’s why it’s just easy and perhaps even lazy to say this movie works because of a big nostalgia effect, which as we know, is one of the most widespread defining emotion of our times. If that were the case, we wouldn’t be seeing hoards of youngsters today seeing it and loving it (yes meme-ing it means they love it!). 

No, the movie works because of its simplicity and authenticity. It’s a Hollywood classic with a new chapter in 2022, speaking to both the old and a new audience, but without completely changing itself and without trying to be someone it’s not. And that is the genius of Tom Cruise and his second coming. 

Much like his character, Maverick, who refuses to grow up or change his ways, as the maker of the movie also, he obstinately refuses to acknowledge the cynical ageing of our world, holding on to the classic values of heroism, pursuit of passion, loyalty, legacy, brotherhood, courage, resilience, and love. And shows us that it may be 30 years later (36 to be precise!), but even today we are still moved by these emotions. We still want to be better. We still want to believe. 

Even the Millennials and Gen Z! 

Who knows, may be there is still hope for us as human-kind after all!