Three decades after going to the famous Top Gun academy, Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is a test pilot for the US Navy. After being bailed out of his latest mess with Admiral Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (Val Kilmer), he is ordered to teach former Top Gun graduates to get ready for a dangerous mission to destroy a uranium enrichment facility in a foreign country before it goes online. To complicate matters, Maverick has to deal with the son of his late best friend "Goose" Bradshaw and his on-off again girlfriend Penny (Jennifer Connelly). It is time for Maverick to deal with the things he left behind and pave a way to forgive himself for his past deeds.

TOP GUN: MAVERICK is a worthy sequel to the original ROP GUN. In some aspects it is better than the original movie and it has an excellent script handled with great care thanks to the attention of detail by director Joseph Kosinski and producer Tom Cruise. The flight sequences are real due to Tom Cruise wanting it real and with the cooperation of the United States Navy to film the F-18 fighters and get the actors in the planes (with some ground rules set by the US Navy). I can see why this sequel continues to do great at the box office after I watched it a couple weeks ago. It has great action and an emotional core at the center of the sequel. It starts as a tribute to the original before it becomes it's own movie. Tom Cruise is his usual magnetic self in an action movie like this one. TOP GUN: MAVERICK had a long development history from getting Tom Cruise to do the sequel, multiple scripts, and the loss of director Tony Scott (who committed suicide in 2012). Goose's son, Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller), is a way to continue the legacy of the original movie while the sequel also gives us a new group of pilots to know. I can't wait to buy this sequel on 4K UHD blu-ray when it comes out. It is one of the better sequels I have seen as I wait for the long awaited MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 7 next year.

This movie review is ©6-7-2022 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Check for more news and updates at www.facebook.com/enterlinemediaweb