Star: Glen Powell

This movie begins quite creatively & memorably, kind of mirroring the structure of the first quarter hour from the original. It looks set to be a decent sequel, even though Tom Cruise has aged about 36 years since then.

Unfortunately, it’s terribly let down by the extended slow drama scene that occupies more than the remainder of the first half hour (and other times throughout the movie); as Tom meets an old flame played by Jennifer Connelley, with old being the operative word – she looks like she’s pushing 50 here; and we meet the rest of the supporting cast – all beta-level actors, including Glen Powell who looks like and assumes the role of a poundshop/dollarstore Val Kilmer with a clean plastic smiling face giving off vibes like Anderson Cooper.

Eventually the gritty drama subsides about 35 minutes in, and we get another exciting bit, similar to what we tasted earlier on. But it doesn’t last long. The exciting bits are very patchy between very boring bits, which themselves are more boring than normal.

Considering its pros and cons, including extensive drama scenes, its elderly romance, its general lack of glamour factor and its general aura being several levels below the original, but still having some strong thrilling moments, I’m going to rate Top Gun: Maverick as Bang Average. So it’s still a respectable movie, but is a couple levels down from the original which was a big hit (both in its own decade, and to this day) while the sequel is just another movie (today and eternally). The strong, lengthy ending kind of makes up for the significant downfall of the middle.

This movie falls victim to the usual sticking point of bing stuck between the genres of fast action and rote drama – the likes of which simply don’t belong in the same movie together, but an ill-educated drama fan trying to also satisfy estranged action movie fans wouldn’t know this – you’ll need to ask an actual action movie fan to learn it, and this is something the directors of this movie seem to have neglected to do, hence the mediocre rating which is a massive missed opportunity considering the apparent flashes of great action, strong scripting, and top-level acting by the main man. An actually attractive lead female and an actually cool co-main star would have made this movie a lot better, but as it stands, it’s pretty average and is carried almost entirely by an aging Tom Cruise.