Sequels and reboots are truly a gamble, especially when they have to live up to their predecessors which already have critical acclaim. So, while fans were initially super happy about having a Top Gun sequel in the works, their apprehension was also understandable.
Now that a few journalists and media houses have had an early look, where does the fate of Top Gun: Maverick stand?
Most early reviews for Top Gun: Maverick have been positive, calling the movie a definite must-watch. The team along with Tom Cruise is praised for making a sequel that outdoes its original film.
Here are some review stats before we get into what exactly the film was praised for.
The film has received a 96% approval rating from 135 critics on Rotten Tomatoes. That, folks, is beyond certified fresh. On Metacritic, it has scored 80 out of 100 with generally favorable scores.
So what in particular did the critics praise? With Top Gun: Maverick, there are three main pillars to evaluate: action, emotion, and nostalgia.
We cannot talk about a Tom Cruise movie without talking about all the action that renders its audience speechless. Of course, there’s a method to all of these thrills as well:
“Thanks to Cruise and Kosinski’s unfashionable insistence on practical filmmaking and their refusal to lean too heavily on computer-generated visual effects, their sequel plays like a throwback in more than one sense.”
Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
There’s no compromising on the “authenticity” of action when it comes to Cruise, and I love that one critic even pointed out that the aerial visuals are so realistic they’d make you queasy.
For films veering toward action, sentimental scenes can feel almost forced, or worse, cheesed up. A few reviews expressed how surprised they were at the emotional moments that clocked in at the right bars. Word is that we may need a tissue box handy!
For sequels/reboots, if all else fails, it is easy to believe that at least the nostalgia that it generates will save the film. One would expect that for a cult classic like Top Gun, whose fans have been waiting for over two decades, nostalgia would have a big role to play in the movie.
But it seems like Top Gun: Maverick, being the maverick that it is, does not need to rely solely on nostalgia to rescue it, or even make it a hit. As per The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey, Maverick’s callbacks were “smarter, subtler, and wholly more humanistic.”
So there you go—it’s not often that a sequel is said to be outdoing the original. Early reviews have really stepped up the audience’s expectations for Top Gun: Maverick. If they’re anything to go by, you should definitely prepare for a fantastic ride of a movie and watch it on the biggest screen possible, come May 27.
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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