Top Gun: Maverick

The film is a sequel to the 1986 film Top Gun. Tom Cruise reprises his starring role as the naval aviator Maverick. It is based on the characters of the original film created by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. It also stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Monica Barbaro, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris and Val Kilmer, who reprises his role as Iceman. The story involves Maverick confronting his past while training a group of younger Top Gun graduates, including the son of his deceased best friend, for a dangerous mission.

Development of a Top Gun sequel was announced in 2010 by Paramount Pictures. Tom Cruise, along with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Tony Scott, were asked to return. Craig wrote a draft of the screenplay in 2012, but the project stalled when Scott died later that year. Top Gun: Maverick was later dedicated to Scott’s memory. Production resumed in 2017, after Kosinski was hired to direct. Principal photography, which involved the use of IMAX-certified 6K full-frame cameras, took place from May 2018 to April 2019 in California, Washington and Maryland. It was initially scheduled to be released July 12, 2019, but it was delayed several times due to its complex action sequences and later the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, several streaming companies attempted to purchase the streaming rights to the film from Paramount, but all offers were declined on the orders of Cruise, who insisted that it be released exclusively in theaters.

Top Gun: Maverick premiered at CinemaCon on April 28, 2022, and was theatrically released by Paramount Pictures in the United States on May 27, 2022. The film was acclaimed by critics, with many considering it superior to the first film. It won Best Film from the National Board of Review and was also named one of the top-ten films of 2022 by the American Film Institute. Top Gun: Maverick was nominated for six awards at the 95th Academy Awards (including Best Picture), winning Best Sound, and received numerous other accolades. The film grossed $1.496 billion worldwide, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 2022 and the highest-grossing of Cruise’s career. A sequel is in development.

When Rear Admiral Chester “Hammer” Cain plans to cancel Maverick’s hypersonic “Darkstar” scramjet program, Maverick manages to reach the final target speed, but the prototype is destroyed when he cannot resist pushing beyond Mach 10. Cain tells Maverick that he would be grounded if not for Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, Maverick’s friend and former Top Gun rival, now commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, who has Maverick assigned to the Top Gun school at NAS North Island.

The Navy has been ordered to destroy an unsanctioned uranium enrichment plant before it becomes operational. The plant, located in an underground bunker at the end of a canyon, is defended by surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), GPS jammers, fifth-generation Su-57 fighters and F-14 Tomcats. Maverick devises a plan employing two pairs of F/A-18E/F Super Hornets armed with laser-guided bombs, but instead of participating in the strike, he is to train elite Top Gun graduates assembled by Air Boss Vice Admiral Beau “Cyclone” Simpson.

Maverick dogfights with his skeptical students, winning their respect, while cavalier Lieutenant Jake “Hangman” Seresin clashes with cautious Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw—son of Maverick’s deceased best friend and RIO Nick “Goose” Bradshaw. Maverick reunites with former girlfriend Penny Benjamin, and reveals that he promised Rooster’s dying mother that Rooster would not become a pilot. Rooster, unaware of this, resents Maverick for blocking his Naval Academy application and blames him for his father’s death. Maverick confides in Iceman, who tells him, “It’s time to let go”, reassuring him that both the Navy and Rooster need Maverick.

Iceman soon dies from terminal cancer, and after an F/A-18F crashes during training, Cyclone removes Maverick as instructor. He relaxes the mission parameters, leaving them easier to execute but making escape much more difficult. Maverick makes an unauthorized flight through the course with the original parameters, proving that it can be done, and Cyclone reluctantly appoints him as team leader.

Maverick flies the lead F/A-18E, accompanied by a buddy-lasing F/A-18F flown by Lieutenant Natasha “Phoenix” Trace and WSO Lieutenant Robert “Bob” Floyd. Rooster leads the second strike pair, which includes Lieutenant Reuben “Payback” Fitch and WSO Lieutenant Mickey “Fanboy” Garcia. The four jets launch from an aircraft carrier, and Tomahawk cruise missiles destroy the enemy air base. The teams destroy the plant, but the SAMs open fire during their escape. Rooster runs out of countermeasures, and Maverick sacrifices his plane to protect him. Believing Maverick dead, all jets are ordered back to the carrier, but Rooster disobeys and returns to find Maverick being pursued by an Mi-24 attack helicopter. Destroying the gunship, Rooster is shot down, and he and Maverick steal an F-14 and destroy two intercepting Su-57s. A third attacks, but Hangman unexpectedly arrives to shoot it down, and the planes return safely.

Later, Rooster helps Maverick work on his P-51 Mustang. Rooster looks at a photo of their mission’s success, pinned alongside a photo of his late father and a young Maverick, as Penny and Maverick fly off in the P-51.