Top Gun: Maverick
Posted: June 17th, 2022, 7:54 pm
We went to see this a couple of nights ago, and I must admit to being less than enthusiastic. Fortunately, it was on at our local Everyman, a very civilised cinema, where they bring you a bottle of wine to your seat, so I was expecting that I could be pleasantly immune to the shoot 'em up that I was anticipating.
But to my great surprise it was one of the most enjoyable films I've seen for ages. Not having seen the original I'd watched it last weekend and found it to be as expected - a film that was clearly aimed at teenagers (or at least mental age teenagers) and fairly tedious.
But this sequel was massively better. Although it was still pretty simplistic in story terms the characters were far more rounded, and I was really surprised how good Tom Cruise's performance was. The fact that he was 36 years older than in the original may have had a lot to do with it. There was a streak of vulnerability that made him much more human - not just a jock, as he appeared in the original.
And the airborne sequences were truly spectacular - edge of the seat stuff. I'd love to see it in an Imax cinema, but it's definitely a film you should watch in a cinema and not on TV, no matter how big your screen and how good the sound system.
Highly recommended, against all expectations.
But to my great surprise it was one of the most enjoyable films I've seen for ages. Not having seen the original I'd watched it last weekend and found it to be as expected - a film that was clearly aimed at teenagers (or at least mental age teenagers) and fairly tedious.
But this sequel was massively better. Although it was still pretty simplistic in story terms the characters were far more rounded, and I was really surprised how good Tom Cruise's performance was. The fact that he was 36 years older than in the original may have had a lot to do with it. There was a streak of vulnerability that made him much more human - not just a jock, as he appeared in the original.
And the airborne sequences were truly spectacular - edge of the seat stuff. I'd love to see it in an Imax cinema, but it's definitely a film you should watch in a cinema and not on TV, no matter how big your screen and how good the sound system.
Highly recommended, against all expectations.