Movie Review: Top Gun Maverick
October 24, 2022
Our review: 5 stars
MOVIE INSIGHT & BACKGROUND:
Summary
He is taken back to where it all started, Top Gun, in Southern California, teaching the class he once took….
Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is back after thirty years of serving alongside the Navy’s best aviators. He remained working as a test pilot, later on teaching young graduates, whilst dodging a raise in rank, which would prevent him from flying ever again. Training a squad of Top Gun graduates for a special mission, he puts everything on the line one last time.
Background
“Maverick”
is cast by none other than Tom Cruise; recast from the original, Tom and Val Killmer made a reappearance in the new sequel to the original Top Gun. A movie that was originally made to increase naval admissions-but ultimately stole the hearts of the American population-has finally been revived. The total movie budget was compiled of 170 million dollars in production alone. In addition, the box office total revenue soared over the billion-dollar mark in North America alone, and in July of 2022, total sales from box offices were 1.28 billion dollars. This was the first time in Tom Cruise’s movie appearance history that the sales had reached that high of an amount. Even Cruise’s Mission Impossible movies didn’t break this feat, grossing between 546.3 million and 791.6 million, proving that America might have enjoyed watching the remake over the original (without considering the wealth gap between the thirty-six years of filming).
Top Gun Lawsuit
This new sequel ignited quite a debate between many, however, including the inheritors of the original Top Gun articles. Paramount is now involved in a lawsuit regarding the copyrights of the movie. The wife and son of the deceased original author, Ehud Yonay, took claims against the film this previous June; Paramount refused to renew the rights to the original film and charged with claims of copyright of the article. Paramount refused to pay the recompense for the stolen copyrights and continued to dismiss the matter altogether. Paramount’s rights to the article expired in 2018; when the wife and son terminated a 35-year standing contract between the company. Allegations between the two parties still stand without an agreement as the prosecutors claim that the defendant stole “vivid and cinematic details” from the article that “wouldn’t have made the movie” as it stands.
Rotten Tomato’s Review
An average score from a variety of movie critics and audience members, Rotten Tomatoes marks Top Gun: Maverick an 97 out of 100. Although many loved this sequel to an already adored classic, others felt it didn’t pay full tribute to the original.
“Brings Maverick’s story full circle in a satisfying manner that adds depth and dimension to its predecessor, but still tells a story that’s all its own.” – Alissa Wilkinson (Vox).
These ratings are from critics all over the world. These ratings ranged from a thirty-seven percent to a high ninety, with many top critics commending not only the movie, but also Tom Cruise’s acting and performance.
IMDb Review
Purely based on audience opinion, IMDb’s rating lands the movie an 84 out of 100. Out of a total population of 400,000 individuals, those under twenty-nine rated the movie the highest at 8.55, while those over thirty had a slightly lower rating at 8.25, with the hype and popularity around the movie largely centering around the younger generations.
The majority of those who rated Top Gun: Maverick gave it a 10 out of 10; the sequel and the original still remain a landmark in pop culture in the U.S. and all around the world.
In May one IMDb user noted it was, “The truly epic blockbuster we needed.”
Metacritic
A mix of sixty-three critic reviews from the Metacritic site gives Top Gun a seventy-eight out of one hundred. Fifty-five of the sixty-three critics who reviewed the movie on Metacritic were positive, while the remaining eight were mixed in their opinion towards the sequel.
“Thrilling, moving and gloriously Cruisey, Joseph Kosinski’s sequel to the 1986 hit is unquestionably the best studio action film in years” – Robbie Collin (The Telegraph)
As much as countless critics from reputable newspapers and magazines, such as BBC, thought that the blockbuster was incredible and gave it a perfect score, many others, like the New York Times, thought it could have been better and the excitement around the movie was greater than the quality of it in itself.
