Thirty-six years since high-flying speedster Maverick first rocketed
across the big screen, he's back. But will the sequel take your breath
away or is it writing checks it can't cash? Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and in
this video I'm comparing Top Gun: Maverick to the 80s original, revealing the biggest differences
and whether it's a worthy sequel. Some spoilers ahead, so take care.
Since Tom Cruise last slipped on those aviators, a lot has changed.
Top Gun took the young actor born on the 3rd of July 1962 and made him a huge star,
and at nearly 60 years of age he's back to show he can still 'turn and burn' with the best of them,
including those almost half his age. I can hold my own.
And like his character, Maverick, the American made mega-star actor seems
happiest when he's going Mach 2 with his hair on fire, except in the new movie he
actually gets to go way faster than that! Though Maverick decided to become a Top Gun
instructor in 1986, God help us.
...we find out he only did that for a couple of months.
And as he wanted to keep flying, satisfying his need for speed,
rather than rising through the navy ranks, You should be at least a two-star admiral by now.
Yet here you are, captain. he's now a test pilot until he gets called back
to Top Gun for some intense training, teaching a new crop of graduates his 'inverted' ways.
Everyone here is the best there is. Who the hell are they going to get to teach us?
And while he certainly still has his rebellious side,
he's not quite as hot-headed or focused on himself as he
once was: Woo!
That's what I'm talking about! It's not your flying, it's your attitude.
Sure, he was already stepping up by the end of the original, but now time's passed and he's
grown up and more into his responsibilities. Though he died in the first film, Nick Bradshaw
aka Goose pops up in flashback memories and photos showing how Maverick is still
tormented by his best friend's death. And Goose lives on in his son, Bradley,
aka Rooster, who popped up briefly as a child back in the 1986 movie, and is now a Top Gun pilot.
Rooster's a chip off the old block: there's that moustache and hair, the Hawaiian
shirt, and he sings Great Balls of Fire at the piano, which apparently Miles Teller learnt
for the movie and plays for real. Obviously, given their history,
Maverick's relationship with Rooster is more complicated than it was with Goose.
Expect lots of drama, including a heady mix of resentment,
guilt, and a barrelful of tension between them. Plus, his father's fate means both that Rooster
can be a bit more cautious flying compared to other pilots, and that Maverick wants
to look out for him, like a father figure. Maverick's old nemesis Iceman is now an admiral,
and is crucial to the plot as he insists on Mav being posted back to Top Gun to train its
graduates for a complex special mission. You are here at the request of Iceman.
He seems to think you have something left to offer the Navy.
Actor Val Kilmer returns in a short but touching cameo which sees the friends
and former rivals discuss the dangerous new operation and their shared past.
Much of Iceman's side of the conversation is tapped out on a computer as Kilmer's
real-life experience with throat cancer is woven into his character's story.
The whole scene is particularly poignant, especially for fans who
grew up watching the original film. You can be my wingman anytime.
You can be mine. As for the spirit of the young
1980s Iceman, that lives on in Hangman, a cocky new Top Gun graduate, played by Glenn Powell,
What do we have here? And here I thought we were special.
Fellas, this here's Bagman. Hangman
whose hostility towards Rooster has definite shades of Iceman and Maverick back in the day,
with a neat twist on the 80s plot. While Val Kilmer returns in person and a
young Anthony Edwards and his on-screen wife Meg Ryan return in flashbacks, the original film's
female lead, astrophysicist and Top Gun civilian contractor Charlie, played by Kelly McGillis,
isn't even name-dropped in passing, despite her and Maverick ending up together.
Instead, Cruise's on-screen love interest this time is Penny Benjamin,
owner of aviators' club The Hard Deck, who was briefly mentioned in the first movie,
Well, there was the time... Admiral's daughter.
He told me all about the time you went ballistic with Penny Benjamin.
...and is now brought to life by Jennifer Connelly.
While there was no previous history between Charlie and Maverick when they kicked off
their romance back in the 80s, Penny and Maverick's relationship has been on and
off many times over the years but maybe now it's time to fly off into the sunset.
Both military and movie technology's come a long way since the mid-80s
and that's clearly reflected in the sequel. While for other movies that might mean stacks
of CGI sequences, this is a Tom Cruise production, an actor who's not just known for his star power,
but also for his perfectionism and penchant for old-school movie-making,
so the emphasis is very much on doing as many practical stunts as possible.
In fact, Cruise who's famous for doing lots of his own action, on land and in the air,
reportedly also took the time to create bespoke aviation programmes for the movie's young cast,
who did several months of intense flight training.
That meant that while the planes were flown by real Navy pilots, the filmmakers were
able to shoot the young actors in the air really reacting to 'the need for speed',
in other words the kind of stomach-churning G-force they'd feel in real life.
The result is that often it feels as if you're in the air with them soaring and diving through the
skies during the movie's plentiful scenes of fast-paced aerobatics and dogfights,
which are exactly the kind of thing made to be seen on the most massive screen available.
As well as the newer planes appearing in the sequel, one of the main fighter aircrafts from
the 80s movie, the F-14 Tomcat, is back in action, and also just like in the 80s,
the enemy remains nameless. Understandably, given the first
film was introducing audiences to the world of the Navy's Fighter Weapons School for the first time,
that movie focuses more on training exercises for general missions and
in-fighting among students vying to be top dog. However, the new film raises the stakes much
earlier on, with Maverick preparing the latest batch of Top Gun graduates for a very specific,
almost impossible mission that will see them zooming slap
bang into the middle of a real danger zone. We're going into combat on a level no living
pilot's ever seen. Not even him.
As well as all the 21st-century twists on the original movie,
there's also a hefty hit of nostalgia in terms of call-backs – from plot and character-driven
details to nods to Tony Scott's endless, stylish sunset scenes and beach-side fun and games.
And, of course, is it even a Tom Cruise movie without at least one scene of him running?
The superstar actor-producer also brings together more than a few good men and
women both behind and in front of the camera, creating a more diverse cast,
though as you'd expect it's Maverick who gets the lions' share of screen time, followed by Rooster.
Of course, bringing back a character from long ago, a legend who's the object of endless love,
is a very risky business with plenty of potential for fallout.
For every movie that taps into that perfect night-and-day cocktail of old and new,
providing something for both long-term fans and the outsiders to the franchise,
there are many more that prove that losin' it all is a very real possibility.
Big success requires making all the right moves if you want to end up
far and away from falling into oblivion. Now, Cruise once said he'd never go back
to Top Gun, but there'll be a lot of fans today glad he changed his mind
as along with masses of action, the sequel brings a good deal more humour and heart.
And, no pressure on the sequel, but the original movie's iconic soundtrack is one of
the best-selling soundtrack albums of all time! Mixing songs written for the film like Danger
Zone with classic tracks from artists such as The Righteous Brothers and Otis Redding,
the 80s soundtrack also nabbed an Oscar and Golden Globe for Berlin's romantic theme, Take My Breath
Away, and a Grammy for the Top Gun Anthem. The new film also mixes old and new with the
likes of Kenny Loggins and David Bowie featuring alongside the power ballad Hold My Hand, sung and
co-written by Lady Gaga, who's no stranger to winning awards herself, and the same goes for
Hans Zimmer who scored the sequel along with the original's composer Harold Faltermeyer.
As for Danger Zone, Tom Cruise insisted the song had to be in the film as it
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Or use coupon code FLICKS when you check out. So, Movie Lovers, what do you think of the Top Gun
sequel and how does it compare to the original? Let me know below.
And if you liked this video, do leave a thumbs-up, I really appreciate it.
Next, tap left to discover the Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness deleted
scenes that Marvel cut from the film. Thanks for enjoying this movie with me and hope
you have a marvellous movie-loving week! Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!