“Top Gun: Maverick” (2022) is One of the Best Sequels Ever (Part II/II)
(Continued from Part I)
Importantly, the movie doesn’t get overly tied down to the original. The assembled pilots include Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Nick”Goose” Bradshaw who was Maverick’s best friend that died during a training mission in “Top Gun.” Maverick and Rooster have a difficult relationship because of this history, but director Joseph Kosinski ensures that the film doesn’t overplay the relationship between Maverick and Goose. He provides just enough context from the clippings from “Top Gun” and the dialogues to ensure that even those who haven’t seen or don’t remember the original can appreciate Rooster for who he is.
Maverick’s love interest is handled well, too. She’s Penelope “Penny” Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly), with whom Maverick has had a prior relationship. A devoted fan of the original would realize that she’s the “admiral’s daughter” Goose teased Maverick about in the original, yet Penny never made a screen appearance in “Top Gun.” Turning a small dialogue reference in the original into a major character is just one of the many ways in which “Top Gun: Maverick” balanced the new and the old well.
The screenplay for “Top Gun: Maverick” is written by Ehuren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, based on a story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks. This many cooks in a kitchen usually portend disaster, but this committee of five manages to weave the story seamlessly into the action sequences. As classic as “Top Gun” is, take away the fighter jets and the film turns into a rather mediocre romantic film. The sequel, with a far more interesting story, doesn’t suffer from the same problem.
Still, the audience is going to see “Top Gun: Maverick” for the fighter jets, and the scenes involving them are, not surprisingly, couple notches above the original. “Top Gun” was filmed in 1986, when CGI technology was non-existent. With CGI so advanced today, it’s much harder to impress with the visuals. The only trick left is to push the boundaries of believability, but that often leaves the audience lost while trying to understand, then visually follow, the action taking place on screen. Here, again, the screenplay helps in “Top Gun: Maverick.” By setting up the mission early, there’s an anticipation of how the near-impossible would look when it actually takes place.
All this makes “Top Gun: Maverick” (2022) not just a fabulous film. It’s going to join “Godfather II” (1974) and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991) as one of the best sequels ever made.
