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“Top Gun: Maverick” delivers on just about every level imaginable and then exceeds it: plus ultra.

By Douglas Davidson on October 30, 2022 • ( 2 )

As more and more legacy sequels release due to studios mining their IPs for anything they think will resonate with audiences off the name alone, a follow-up to director Tony Scott’s Top Gun (1986) seemed all the more inevitable each day. As though confirming this, on many of the bonus features which accompany the home release for director Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick (2022), it’s mentioned by a variety of participants (including lead actor and producer Tom Cruise) that Cruise has said for years that he wouldn’t return to portray Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell again unless the story was right. If the audience response is the barometer to determine if Cruise’s gut was right to wait, all signs point to “yes” as the film debuted May 27^th, 2022, and did so well that it returned to theaters for a period beginning August 12^th. The need for speed was made abundantly clear with a $700M domestic gross earning, as well as countless compliments for its cinematography, score, direction, performances, and a heck of a swan song for Maverick and his fellow Top Gun alum. With Maverick available on home video, audiences are given a different gift via several featurettes highlighting the undeniable craft that made one of the most critically-acclaimed and crowd-pleasing films of 2022.

If you’re looking to learn about the film without spoiling the experience, head over to senior critic Hunter Heilman’s initial theatrical review of Top Gun: Maverick. Moving forward, we’re cleared to fully engage in exploring what works and what’s beyond the scope of reality in this home release review.

Tom Cruise as Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in TOP GUN: MAVERICK from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

After taking a stand against an admiral set on shutting down the manned-flight project he was testing, Maverick finds himself where he usually does after disobeying orders despite victory: on the verge of professional collapse. If not for a mission requiring his specific institutional and experiential knowledge, Maverick would be washed out; but, instead, he finds himself back at Top Gun serving as an instructor where he will train the best of the best to become better so that they can undertake a mission of extreme importance and incredible difficulty. This isn’t a regular homecoming as the timeline is intense, the stakes are high, and the chosen pilots includes Lt. Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s partner and radio intercept officer, Lt. Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, who died during training decades ago.

L-R: Bashir Salahuddin as Hondo, Miles Teller as Rooster, Monica Barbaro as Phoenix, and Lewis Pullman as Bob in TOP GUN: MAVERICK from Paramount Pictures, Skydance, and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

Maverick is a film that exudes nostalgia from every frame, but does so without feeling bittersweet, as if the story of Top Gun was the best it would ever be. There is reverence for the past, while keeping the gaze on the horizon. This is, perhaps, what helps Maverick from falling into the trap of other legacy sequels which come populated with callbacks shouting “look at me! Remember this” rather than telling a story with meaning. The screenplay by Ehren Kruger (Scream 3), Eric Warren Singer (American Hustle), and frequent Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie (Mission: Impossible – Fallout) quickly answers the question of who Maverick is now while smoothly putting him in the last job he’ll ever have, one that places him in a smart position to conclude old business. After the close of Top Gun, could anyone ever imagine a loose cannon like Maverick would ever really toe the line so that he’d advance up the ranks? To that end, Maverick demonstrates right out of the gate that the pilot seeking out the danger zone is still the same talented but reckless individual, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible just to see if he can. It’s a hubris that’s likely realistic for the kind of flyboys Top Gun produces, as one would need the confidence of self necessary to *want* to push 7Gs+ on the regular. That this would still be within Maverick establishes who he is now, but within a framework that sets up future choices that lack the same hubris. In the opening flight, Maverick takes the test plane out in order to see if they can achieve 10Gs before Admiral Cain (Ed Harris) can shut down the program. Maverick’s pushing it results in the plane exploding. Later, when Admiral Simpson (Jon Hamm) tries to make the special mission more flexible to the detriment of the safety of the team, Maverick once more takes a plane out against orders to prove that the safest way for the pilots to complete the task is to do it as originally designed: fast and precise. Both times, Maverick goes against orders, show boats like crazy, and does the right thing in the process: all hallmarks of the hero we’ve come to expect, but also trademarks of a man who struggles with authority.

Jon Hamm as Adm. Beau “Cyclone” Simpson in TOP GUN: MAVERICK from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

Perhaps my favorite thing about Maverick (before getting into its technological achievements) is how the script doesn’t go the cheap route with the conflict between Rooster and Maverick, instead having a reasonable explanation for their discord. A lesser storyteller would’ve laid it all on the death of Goose, rather, instead, the script has that hanging in the background, not because Rooster blames Maverick but because Maverick (a) continues to blame himself and (b) all the two have are each other and they don’t have that anymore. It’s a sucking wound for them both whose necessary and eventual healing is, itself, a bit of a callback to the first film while also being one of the more ridiculous things in either Top Gun film.

Jennifer Connelly as Penny Benjamin in TOP GUN: MAVERICK from Paramount Pictures, Skydance, and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

As for those callbacks mentioned before, they are peppered throughout the film, but each one supports or carries weight in the film. Kosinski shoots Maverick’s introduction to his students almost exactly as Scott shot Kelly McGillis’s Charlie’s so that, just as Maverick and Goose looked embarrassed, so does the whole crew who literally tossed Maverick out of Penny Benjamin’s (Jennifer Connelly) bar the day before. There’s the moment where Maverick inverts his fighter during a training session over Rooster in almost the same fashion as Maverick and Goose did in an early engagement during Top Gun. Sure, there’s a volleyball sequence, plenty of “Talk to me, Goose,” and even an interpersonal rivalry between Rooster and Glen Powell’s Lt. Jake “Hangman” Seresin that’s reminiscent of Maverick and Val Kilmer’s Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, but there’s also some references that are far more visual, requiring specific intention of Kosinski and the writers when constructing scenes. This allows for Maverick to stand on its own while helping to support the narrative which, itself, is about looking back on the past, forgiving, and moving on. For me, what really brought this home isn’t the storyline between Maverick and Penny (old flames) or Maverick and Rooster (broken family), it was how the script included Iceman, specifically Kilmer. By the end of Top Gun it was clear that the two possessed great respect for each other, so it’s not a surprise that we learn how Iceman, now an admiral, has been more-or-less protecting Maverick, keeping him from getting discharged from the Navy for all these years. Though I’m often of the mind that a film should stand on its own and, for the most part Maverick is a film unto itself, the knowledge of the first film only increases the poignancy, so that the single scene shared by Cruise and Kilmer is joyous, warm, and beautiful, as these two old friends, in character, embrace and speak candidly about the past as an anchor and the possibilities of the future. The seeds are in the script so that by the time the two characters converge on-screen, the audience believes that the once hot-headed rivals are extraordinarily close friends.

If there’s an issue to be had with Maverick at all, it’s the impossibility of it. The opening flight results in an explosion that no human could walk away from and everything that follows just seems to so perfectly aligned into what Maverick needs as a person that, if we weren’t aware that it’s a film, if we weren’t aware that Maverick is meant to be an exploration of Maverick as a person, the theory that everything from the crash on is little more than a death dream would make the absolute most sense. The problems, the solutions, everything is far too suited to Maverick specifically that while I’m totally able to go along for the ride (it’s an incredible ride start to finish), but the part of me who’s married to a scientist can’t believe for a moment that Maverick could’ve survived the crash without injury. Ethan Hunt (also Cruise) maybe, but he’s used to doing the impossible 30 times before breakfast. There’s also the fact that the film goes so far out of its way not to name the antagonist of the film that it feels blatantly intentional so as not to offend any part of the international audience that may watch the film. Just like its predecessor, Maverick is an advert for the U.S. Navy, so highlighting its superiority (whether by machine or pilot) comes with the territory. Yet, it’s fearful of identifying who the mission is intent on preventing from having nuclear weapons to the point that it may as well be a boogeyman … or the last vestiges of a brain firing off some memories. Aside from this, everything about Maverick works so well that one can forgive them and just strap in for a hell of a ride.

That ride is coming home on a variety of physical formats, so let’s get into what’s included and on which format. In total, there are roughly two hours of special features available for home viewing that dig into the way the filmmakers made Maverick as practically as possible, capturing sequences that wouldn’t have bewildered, delighted, and otherwise entranced audiences with their sheer awesomeness had they been fabricated on a sound stage. Portions of the featurettes were released as promotional materials online during the lengthy run-up to release (the film was postponed several times until it was deemed safe to screen in theaters as a shift to streaming was blocked with vigor by Cruise himself). This doesn’t take away from any of the individual featurettes as it’s clear that there’s plenty audiences weren’t aware of, the special features revealing quite a bit about the lengths Kosinski and Cruise went to nail Maverick. These featurettes aren’t just for fans of Top Gun, as aviation, technology, and filmmaking nerds will each find various discoveries of innovation and consideration. For instance, not only did the cast go to flight school, working their way up from a Cessna to a F-18, but they also had to learn how to be their own cameraperson (minding cinematography, blocking, editing, and more) as they used a specially constructed six-camera system to capture everything they did in 6K IMAX quality. What they do is, in a word, remarkable. In addition, there’re two music videos, one for Lady Gaga’s “Hold My Hand” and OneRepublic’s “I Ain’t Worried,” a fabulous 49-minute career celebration of Cruise from Cannes 2022, and an extended version of a promotional bit that actor/talkshow host James Corden did with Cruise. Finally, there is a trailer for the upcoming Mission: Impossible film Dead Reckoning Part One with an introduction from Cruise.

All of these bonus features (feelings on Corden withstanding) are available to home viewers, but only if you snag the digital edition. If you’re not interested in the Cannes interview, the Corden extended sketch, or the new Mission: Impossible trailer, either of the 4K UHD or Blu-ray editions are going to please. If you’re planning to get the DVD, all that format contains is the film. Keep all of this in mind as you make your selection.

Of course, you can snag Maverick solo or in a Top Gun-two pack come November 1^st *or* you can wait until December 6^th, 2022, when the Superfan Collection drops. What does it include? Both films in steelbook case, both films in 4K UHD and Blu-ray with digital codes, dog tags, decals, coasters, and more all in a special commemorative packaging. This one is triple figures to pick up, so make your decision carefully.

Top Gun 2-Movie Superfan Collection.

Due to personal COVID-19 precautions, the home viewing experience is the first time I’ve been able to see the film. Do I regret not seeing it in theaters? Yes. Do I regret not taking the risk? No, because no film is worth risking my or my family’s health. But what a ride Maverick must’ve been for audiences. It’s no shock, having now seen it, that people went back again and again to the theater. I couldn’t help but think of, back when I was a teen, how Carowinds on the NC/SC border had a Days of Thunder ride that I would go on again and again. To experience Maverick in 4DX or IMAX must’ve felt something like that: propulsive, heart-pounding, heartbreaking, and, as one expects, extraordinarily fun. Top Gun: Maverick delivers on just about every level imaginable and then exceeds it: plus ultra.

Top Gun: Maverick Special Features:

4K UHD Features:

Cleared For Take Off (9:14)
Breaking New Ground – Filming Top Gun: Maverick (7:56)
Forging The Darkstar (7:30)
A Love Letter To Aviation (4:48)
Masterclass with Tom Cruise – Cannes Film Festival 2022 (49:04)
James Corden’s Top Gun Training with Tom Cruise (Extended Edition) (26:42)
“Hold My Hand” Lady Gaga Music Video (3:52)
“I Ain’t Worried” OneRepublic Music Video (2:36)

Blu-ray Features:

Cleared For Take Off (9:14)
Breaking New Ground – Filming Top Gun: Maverick (7:56)
Forging The Darkstar (7:30)
A Love Letter To Aviation (4:48)
“Hold My Hand” Lady Gaga Music Video (3:52)
“I Ain’t Worried” OneRepublic Music Video (2:36)

Digital Features:

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Trailer with an introduction from Tom Cruise (3:55)
Cleared For Take Off (9:14)
Breaking New Ground – Filming Top Gun: Maverick (7:56)
Forging The Darkstar (7:30)
A Love Letter To Aviation (4:48)
Masterclass with Tom Cruise – Cannes Film Festival 2022 (49:04)
James Corden’s Top Gun Training with Tom Cruise (Extended Edition) (26:42)
“Hold My Hand” Lady Gaga Music Video (3:52)
“I Ain’t Worried” OneRepublic Music Video (2:36)