“Top Gun: Maverick” Movie Review by Rafy Mediavilla (@Rmediavilla). #TopGun #TopGunMaverick
I’m a start by saying something that many people will absolutely hate me for, maybe. I really had zero hype, zero interested in really going to the movies, and watching this movie. I even absolutely had zero intentions in covering the movie on its release weekend, but my god was I making the biggest mistake ever, and I am glad I was wrong.
After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of TOPGUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.” Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.
With the synopsis out of the way let me point one fact out. You really don’t need to watch the first one to dive into this one, it helps, but you don’t need to watch it. That being said, I did watch the first to get a refresh course of what to expect coming into this one, and my god is this one just 100 times better than the first one. In the first opening scenes you are being brough up-to-date with the times, so you get somewhat of an idea of what Maverick has gone through, and what he has to do now.
Story wise the idea behind “Top Gun” stays the same, but this one feels more personal, more emotional, and even more intense. Like a said in my first reaction this movie is a masterclass in practical effects in cinema. Tom Cruise goes all out and takes the whole crew out for a crash course in aviation. Which it translates amazing on screen as we each actor going all out with their characters. The flight scenes are insane, and the way they work for the story even more insane, because you feel it both physically and emotionally.
The performances are superb, Tom Cruise comes out with one of his best performances of his career. The chemistry with his love interest for this one connected. Miles Teller was great, playing Goose son, he understood the assignment in head, we saw the emotions of his character, the fear, the anger, and the joy. But to me the one, that shocked me was seeing Val Kilmer return one more time to rephrase Goose. I absolute loved how they handle his actual in real life medical situation and adapted it to the story. It really brough tears to my eyes.
In the end, “Top Gun: Maverick” is exactly what we expected from the first one but just 100 times better. The thrill rides are there, the emotions are there. It’s a masterpiece of storytelling. It will have you at the edge of your seat with your heart wanting to burst and leave you in a puddle of tears by the last act. It deserves to be seen in the biggest screen ever, so go see it.
