Top Gun and its sequel Top Gun: Maverick both depict the teachers and students at the United States Navy’s elite aviator school in their efforts to excel in order to defeat a dangerous enemy, but there the similarities end. Top Gun is like a propaganda film combined with a firework display and an adolescent boy’s fantasy. By contrast, the sequel is realistic, showing pain and hardship, but it is not naturalism. The eponymous character (played by Tom Cruise) is principled and brave, embracing rational risk to protect his loved ones and country. He denies the need for sacrifice (to the extent that the choice is presented to him). Despite the flight of time, he is capable (“It’s not the plane; it’s the pilot” indeed!), his only fundamental challenge being his unearned guilt, which an old friend urges him to “let go.”
The sequel has far more characters in focus and yet does a better job of exploring them than the first film. The sequel is only twenty minutes longer but makes those twenty minutes count, as if it were a much longer film. The script and the acting create a sense of drama and emotion that the original lacks. The facial expressions on the characters in moments of discussion are as memorable as the truly glorious action scenes. The relationship between Maverick and his embittered son figure avoids clichés, being both surprising and moving.
*sb
