Top Gun: Maverick

“You’ve lost that loving feeling”, well I assure you, that won’t be the case with Top Gun: Maverick. After more than three decades, Maverick gets to fly once again in this much-anticipated sequel Top Gun: Maverick. The 2022 film is directed by Joseph Kosinski and written by Ehren Kruger. It stars Tom Cruise as Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a test pilot, alongside Miles Teller and Val Kilmer. Maverick's return to ‘Top Gun’, formally known as The United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program. But let us stick to calling it Top Gun ( it's way cooler). It’s at this academy where Mav is tasked with training a new group of elite young fighter pilots with varied and wonderful personalities. If that wasn't challenging enough, amongst the group is the son of Maverick's deceased best friend, Goose. It goes without saying that Mav has his work cut out to prove his worth, whilst making sure these young recruits are battle-ready. All under the watchful guidance of his once frenemy, now close mate, Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (Val Kilmer), with whom some meaningful scenes are shown and we come to appreciate. This film pays homage to the original classic, echoing the 1986 version's opening sequence and music and this goes down well. The storyline is more developed and complex than the first film but keeps a coherent narrative and a plotline, and it works! Overall, it’s an entertaining sequel and though it captures some of the film's nostalgia, the action is fresh and plentiful. We are further indulged with some beautiful aerial photography and of course some cocky light hearted military banter that gives you a feel of living the military life. Of course it's Tom Cruise with his one liners and that cheeky grin that takes centre stage, and rightly so (well if you ask Top Gun fans that is), who else can look so cool, comfortably slips on that iconic bomber jacket and those dapper aviator shades? The only small let down is whilst there is a new love interest for Maverick, the film fails to explain why things didn't work with Charlie, the civilian expert with whom he shared a secret romance with and showed the 'bird" too, cheers Goose. Apart from that this, the film is simply wow and you will not want to blink. Fun movie fact: For this sequel, the U.S. Navy loaned Tom Cruise the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter plane for $11,374 an hour — oh and Cruise couldn’t touch the controls.