The latest trailer forTop Gun: Maverickjust dropped, giving us an even better idea of what to expect from the long-awaited sequel to the film that madeTom Cruisean international superstar.
The originalTop Gunfollowed a group of young Navy pilots going through intense training at Topgun, a Naval Fighter Weapons School at Naval Air Station Miramar. Produced by legendary action movie gurusDon SimpsonandJerry Bruckheimerand directed byTony Scott,Top Gunwas one of the biggest box office hits of 1986, so it’s kind of bizarre that its taken 34 years to get a sequel. Maverick finds Cruise’s hotshot pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell having settled into the role of instructor himself, teaching a new generation of pilots that includes Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s friend and co-pilot Goose (Anthony Edwards), who was killed in a mishap in the previous film. Spoilers forTop Gun, I guess.
Top Gun: Maverickalso starsJennifer Connelly,Jon Hamm,Ed Harris, andVal Kilmer, who returns as Maverick’s rival Iceman (he’s the Malfoy to Maverick’s Harry, only less of a sociopath). The film is directed byJoseph Kosinski, from a screenplay byPeter Craig,Justin Marks,Eric Warren Singer, and longtime Cruise collaboratorChristopher McQuarrie. McQuarrie wroteThe Usual Suspectsand has written and directed the last twoMission: Impossiblefilms, so his involvement is definitely not a bad sign.
I’m still not really sure what this movie is about other than saying that Maverick is a great pilot (which we already knew) and then Tom Cruise gets to fly around in fighter jets. I’m sure for Paramount, there’s a big nostalgia factor they’re banking on for this movie, but studios really need to start learning the lesson that just because something was a hit twenty or thirty years ago, that doesn’t mean it will automatically resonate with today’s audiences (seeTerminator: Dark FateandCharlie’s Angelsfor recent examples of this). I’m not rooting against theTop Gunsequel, but it’s hard to even view it as a swan song for Cruise’s action career when he has two moreMission: Impossiblemovies on the way.
