
'Top Gun' sequel a welcome trip to the danger zone: review
Fox News
Everything to know about the sequel "Top Gun: Maverick," which is set to be released May 24.
"Top Gun: Maverick" satisfies with one foot in the past by hitting all the touchstones of the first film – fast motorcycles, the song "Danger Zone," military fetishisms, humorless Navy bosses, shirtless bonding sports, "the hard deck," bar singalongs and buzzing the tower – and yet stands on its own. It's not weighed down by its past like the last "Ghostbusters" sequel, but rather soars by using the second to answer and echo issues with the first.
Cruise is, of course, back, reprising his rebel test pilot now based in a forgotten corner of the Mojave Desert, a mere captain when he should be an admiral because he keeps bucking authority. The years have not calmed Maverick from his impulsive, hot-headed style. Pilots do, he argues; they don't ruminate. "You think up there, you're dead," he states. This is Cruise at his most Cruise-iest, coiled, sure and arrogant, teeth gleaming in the sunshine.