*Warning- This piece DOES contain spoilers for Top Gun: Maverick! If you haven’t seen the movie yet and/or don’t want anything spoiled, then you might want to click off this piece and come back to it after you have seen the movie.*
In terms of the “legacy sequels” that are coming out nowadays, Top Gun: Maverick existing as one feels insane. At least with the likes of Star Wars, Ghostbuster, Jurassic World, Terminator, Mad Max, Rocky, Halloween, etc.., that you can argue that those came from long-running franchises with multiples entries over the past few decades. Top Gun, similar to Blade Runner, was a straight-up standalone feature that in no way, shape, or form, demanded a sequel. Heck, even Tom Cruise himself admitted to not wanting to do a sequel until at least ten years after the original came out. You can debate about how well the original Top Gun holds today (I don’t really think it has.), but it’s existence both feels like a blessing and a curse with how good a legacy-kind of sequel can be.
The big thing that Maverick most differentiate from most legacy sequels is the “passing of the torch” approach. Movies such as The Force Awakens, Afterlife, and this year’s Scream have themes involving a brand new colorful set of characters who are designed to be the main focus with most of the spotlight shined on them while the legacy/fan favorite characters are secondary and play a big role of guiding these new characters through the journeys they go on in the movie. It’s always about the new characters accepting their role as the main people to follow and the old characters accepting their roles as mentor/leadership figures and that it’s time for them to move on to other things. Maverick however takes an approach that’s not all the different from Creed and even, to some odd existent, Cars 3 (Just hear me out!). While Maverick does indeed have the original star from the first movie himself, Pete Maverick, having to guide a new generation of pilots onto the next mission, it also seems to be trying to state that Maverick himself is still the best of the best as an pilot can get despite not being able to exactly pass that along.
Throughout the movie, we see Maverick having a very difficult time training these younger pilots. He’s unable to get him to that certain level of not just what Maverick could ever do as a pilot but even enough to be able to complete the main mission. A big part of it has to do with Maverick’s own attachment to Rooster, the son of his own late RIO and best friend, Goose (Miles Teller). Maverick is clearly still emotionally damaged about losing his friend years ago and is most afraid of that same outcome happening to his own son. It takes a big and very touching conversation of his old former rival/close friend Iceman (Val Kilmer) to push Pete to do what he can to teach the crew. That is until a few days later where words gets out that Iceman passed away and the Naval Air Forces led by Cyclone (Jon Hamm) decide to move on from Maverick as an instructor.
In hindsight, it’s really difficult to find out what exactly the point of Maverick’s role is in this movie. While the original Top Gun established he’s as good as a pilot can get, then Maverick seems to establish that he is also as bad as a teacher can get. That along seems to question whether or not this movie needed to exist in the first place. If Tom Cruise is unable to inspire a new generation of air force pilots with balls and heart, then why even bother to make the movie outside of 80s kid nostalgia over the original. That is until we get to the scene after the big turning point of the movie.
During a class meeting that Cyclone has with Maverick’s former students, Maverick makes an unauthorized flight of the simulated course with the original parameters. With this successful test, it proves that the mission can in face be done. As a result, Cyclone is convinced and reluctantly appoints Maverick as strike leader. That right there brilliantly showcases the role that Maverick still plays. He might not be able to pass on the torch to others properly, but he can still hold that torch still pretty damn high and have others surrounding him. It’s then that the other younger pilots are able to complete the mission but not doing what Maverick himself still does best as a pilot but what they themselves do best as a pilot. It’s only the advice that Maverick himself gives to Rooster, “Don’t think, just act!” that has the needed impact it does to get this young crew to complete the mission and save Maverick himself.
Just like how Creed found a suitable role for Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa to act as a mentor to Michael B Jordan’s Adonis Creed and even how Cars 3 shown that Lightning McQueen still has enough in the tank to be a competitive racer along with having an apprentice of his own, Top Gun: Maverick seems to argue that you can have your cake and eat it too with these kind of sequels. You can have the old characters still be as important and meaningful as the newer characters without needing to sacrifice one end or the other. Legacy sequels don’t necessarily have to be the end of the legacy characters journey but the beginning of a brand new one. It’s possible that newer characters don’t have to be the next face of the franchise but the right face of it to guide the meaning and purpose of the original characters. Two wrongs can still make a right!
You can say what you want about Tom Cruise as a person and his own beliefs, but no doubt, he knows his own reputation as an actor and still loves to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience in any way he can. Whether it’s Mission Impossible, Jack Reacher, or Top Gun, Cruise’s characters still act as the best kind of action hero that anyone can except out of whatever character he plays. In some sense, these newer Mission Impossible sequels and Top Gun: Maverick itself that sees Tom Cruise continuing to challenge and dare himself to do better and better. And he will keep doing that either until he’s tired of it or he’s just dies. Regardless, Top Gun: Maverick, unlike other legacy sequels, seems to give the notion that it’s titled main character is still on top form with what he is still able to do even if he can’t seem to do anything else. Sometimes it’s okay to let Tom Cruise be the Tom Cruise that audience knows and loves about him without the need for anything else.
Other comments:
- Jon Hamm sure did seem like he was having the time of his life being Tom Cruise’s boss in a movie.
- We really don’t talk enough about how talented Jennifer Connelly is.
- I saw this movie on Memorial Day with my parents. I can’t say for sure but I’m pretty sure this is now their new favorite movie ever.
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