At this point, it really is a wonder if there’s anything Tom Cruise can’t do. After falling, jumping, and flying through the air in a fashion that makes mere mortals tremble, one thing he can check off the bucket list is making his way onto IMDb’s Top 250. With a filmography consisting of some iconic level entries that have defined eras and raised the bar in their respective genres, it only made sense that his work would be shown some love alongside some of the greatest films ever made. What’s surprising is just which film made the cut.
Even before his magnificent run of “Mission: Impossible” movies (which all displayed his actual magnificent run), Cruise had appeared in films like “A Few Good Men,” “Jerry Maguire,” “Collateral,” and “Risky Business.” But none of them could compare to the time he got back in the cockpit as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in “Top Gun: Maverick.” Soaring ahead of even the original film from the late, great director Tony Scott that introduced us to the best of the best, Cruise’s cinema-saving sequel (Spielberg’s words, not ours) earned over a billion at the box office and became one of the defining hits of 2022. But what does this return trip to the Danger Zone do that sets it apart from all of his previous films, and why does it deserve to be put above the rest? Perhaps it all comes down to acknowledging what came before while also giving us the most “Tom Cruise” film to ever exist.
Every legacyquel is powered by nostalgia, but “Top Gun: Maverick” moves at a different speed because it’s running on the pure charm, charisma, and creative mindset of Tom Cruise doing what he does best: entertaining. Director Joseph Kosinski (who should’ve at least earned an Oscar nomination) makes sure to check all the required boxes to hit fans in their emotions. The bike, the glasses, the gratuitous ball game on the beach with glistening muscles in every frame … everything that took the world by storm with the first “Top Gun” movie is coming around for another pass here, but now decades on and with a more experienced Tom Cruise, whose dozens of incredible stunt pieces since the first film have allowed him to push the flight sequences to another level.
For a star that is adamant to do things himself whenever he can, it’s this added element that puts “Top Gun: Maverick” above so many other action films and earned it a spot in the Top 250 of all time. This is the film he wanted to make, and knowing he’s really in the cockpit as well as the rest of his cast gives it that added boost, perhaps even becoming a better film than its predecessor, which is what any sequel should aim to do. That’s what takes our breath away with “Top Gun: Maverick,” proving that returning to an old franchise can pay off if it’s handled in the right way and has a touch of good luck to go with it.
