Top Gun: Maverick’s trailers had promised action like we had never seen before. Tom Cruise’s reputation precedes him when it comes to pulling off authentic action. With Top Gun 2, it’s no different.
The movie has just released, and there are no words to describe how well the airborne sequences with fighter jets flying at breakneck speed are shot. Without giving much away, I’d say that the choreography is clean without too many unnecessary, jarring cuts.
What’s truly impressive is that we can see actors and their faces within those high-power jets. It elevates the authenticity of various scenes, and that is necessary for the film to depict how high the stakes indeed are.
One question that everyone has in mind is if real fighter jets were used while filming for the Top Gun: Maverick. Well, you won’t be surprised at the answer.
Yes, Tom Cruise and other actors did fly in real fighter jets. However, they did not touch any controls, and trained US navy officers piloted the planes. The actors flew in the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets.
We all know Tom Cruise does his own stunts. While he didn’t fly those Super Hornets in the film, he was in them as trained pilots flew them. In fact, he even wanted other actors to be inside these planes and feel the different aspects of the flight.
This included facing the G-Force, getting a tiny glimpse of what the pilots go through, and acting accordingly. With this, Tom Cruise has taken method acting to a whole new level.
A majority of the film was shot in 2018, and due to the pandemic, the film’s release was pushed a few times. In 2018, all the actors that had scenes inside the fighter jet planes had to go through rigorous training.
This way, they wouldn’t pass out while being on the flight and avoid vomiting. The G-Force acting on them would have a severe impact on the actors’ body conditions, and as a result, they had to undergo intensive training.
Some reports even suggest that at the time, the production company was paying the US Navy Forces as high as $11,000 per hour to use those F-18 jets for filming. As you see, Tom Cruise can go to any lengths to truly have authenticity in every frame of an action sequence.
Top Gun: Maverick is set 30 years after the first film. It showcases Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell being assigned as a teacher to the best of the best pilots for a special mission that is nearly impossible. With the lives of all those pilots in his hand and him coming face-to-face with ghosts of his past, what happens when Maverick’s got everything on the line, is the story.
About Top Gun: Maverick
Top Gun: Maverick is a Paramount film (and sequel) starring Tom Cruise who reprises his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell from the 1986 Top Gun. It is directed by Joseph Kosinski, with a screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie and a story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks.
Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris, and Val Kilmer are part of the cast.
The film sees Maverick’s return to the US Navy pilots as he trains a new squad of aviators, preparing them for a dangerous mission. Upon release, the movie was a massive success and became the highest grossing film of Tom Cruise so far.
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