Cedric Dumler’s review published on Letterboxd:
We are the gold standard - Tom Cruise told his film crew on the set of Mission Impossible 7 last year. Well, Top Gun: Maverick once again confirms just that.
Like many others in my circle of friends, I thought the original Top Gun was nice, but never special. For a movie about airplane dogfights, the action in the air is very hard to follow and the editing is often confusing. Of course, Top Gun was huge in its day, but nowadays it seems rather just a bit dated.
Thus, I didn't have extremely high expectations for Maverick, but the curiosity was there, as Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie advanced to become the pinnacle duo of the action movie genre in the last decade.
And my goodness did they demonstrate that again here. Maverick is nothing less than one of the best sequels and action films ever made. Normally "being on the edge of your seat" is a metaphor, but here I was literally leaning forward, mouth agape, and constantly beaming with excitement. Before this film, I had the attitude that airplane maneuvers in movies couldn't be nerve-wracking. Thanks to the visceral editing, tangible, incredibly immersive practical effects, clearly existing dangers, and clearly established dramatic issues, my attitude has changed dramatically.
The film spends a considerable portion of the second act preparing for the myriad dangers of the near-impossible mission for the third act.... and it pays off with one of the strongest third acts ever.
It's a masterful example of storytelling where all sorts of conflict points, tensions and desires converge to create dramatic moments that literally take your breath away and move you to tears. It's the brilliant visual power of Fury Road combined with the visceral and surprising thrills of Fallout and the driving momentum of 1917.
Despite all this, there is room to breathe; the film's greatest strength is the beating heart at its core, which is full of masculine vulnerability, an acceptance of aging, and a very realistic and grounded relationship between two adults in their 50s.
I couldn't help but grin as I realized in the first five minutes that the plot of the film is emblematic of Tom's career. Maverick is an aging pilot who keeps choosing to do the riskiest things to advance aviation. He is said to represent a dying breed of pilots in a world that is increasingly turning to artificiality and
automation. It's a pointed critique of Hollywood's move away from truly risky blockbusters - and it works because the film gives Tom's Maverick a genuine human tenderness that he completely lacked in the previous installment. The relationship of Maverick and Miles Teller's Rooster makes for wet eyes more than once in the third act.
Top Gun: Maverick is a prime example of a perfect sequel: terrific pacing, exciting build-up, cool surprises in both plot and characters, and stylish use of nostalgia. Tom Cruise is truly Hollywood's last superstar.
Cinema.