TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Drop everything you’re doing right now and think of a simpler time. It’s Memorial Day weekend. Summer is on the horizon. Burgers are sizzling on the grill, neon string lights decorate the marina, your hair blows in the wind. Motorcycles growl in the local dive bar parking lot. This is the summer of heavy machinery, bomber jackets, aviators, half-naked volleyball on the beach under blood orange skies. Muscle…Hubris…America.
This weekend, I’m inviting you to kick off what I am hereby declaring Top Gun Summer with the long-awaited TOP GUN: MAVERICK (trailer here). The original TOP GUN (1986) is a pop culture staple but no one has exactly declared it the pinnacle of cinematic achievement. I would go ahead and say that what TOP GUN: MAVERICK achieves as a 36-year-old sequel is nothing short of a marvel, achieving new emotional highs and breathtaking action sequences that are leaps and bounds ahead of the original. This sequel is so many things: a perfect summer blockbuster, the return of the long absent “dad movie,” and another brilliant showcase for Lady Gaga’s singular ability to write a stirring, anthemic power ballad. But above all else, it’s the extensive level of prep work and technical achievement that went into MAVERICK that jumps off the screen and enhances the moviegoing experience tenfold. Tom Cruise provided months of training in aerial aviation and underwater evacuation to the new cast members, who also had to learn how to camera operate themselves from inside the jet. Director Joseph Kosinski and the production team also spent 15 months working with the Navy to develop and install six IMAX cameras inside the cockpits of the F-18 jets used for production. In a (cinematic) world that’s become heavily dependent on blue/green screen and oversaturated with cartoonish CGI, TOP GUN: MAVERICK's practical aerial stunts are downright incredible and guaranteed to have you gripping your arm rest—especially during the thrilling, god-tier third act. To put it simply, none of the other girls are doing it like Tom Cruise and Joseph Kosinski. So with that, let it be known: Top Gun Summer has officially commenced and with this capsule review, I formally invite you to Hold My Hand, enter the Danger Zone and join me (TOP GUN: MAVERICK is officially the widest theatrical release of all time playing in 4,735 theaters, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find the time!). I’m headed to my second viewing once I finish writing this.
—Neal Mulani, Development Assistant
