‘Top Gun: Maverick’ shows that sequels made 30 years after the first one can work.

Story

Taking place 36 years after the first one, Top Gun: Maverick sees the return of Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell training a team of the best Navy pilots at TopGun, in a mission that blurs the line between life and death.

What I like about the story is how detached it is from the original. Yes, Maverick is still the main character and the anchor here but there are new characters introduced here as well. This movie connects to the original (as sequels tend to do) without an overreliance on it.

Acting

I didn’t expect the performances in this movie to be as dramatic as they were. Full confession, this is because I didn’t watch any of the trailers before watching the movie (I went back to watch the trailers and I don’t think they do the movie any justice, the movie is SO MUCH better than the trailer)

Maverick is the emotional core of the film and because of that, we spend a lot of time with his character. And he is able to transport your emotions really well. Maverick is a charismatic character, but he is also guarded and a little cautious, while holding on to the boyish charm that was present in the first movie. It’s a nice mix of old and new