Movie Review: Top Gun Maverick *Spoiler Free*

Movie Review: Top Gun Maverick Spoiler Free

I must admit I was expecting Top Gun Maverick to lean a lot more on nostalgia. While it has plenty of callbacks to the original movie, it does feel like its own thing with a new story and cast of characters.

That said, the events of the first film drive (or is that fly) a big part of the character arcs, as Maverick (Tom Cruise) has to face the death of his wingman, Goose, all over again with Goose's son, Rooster (Miles Teller) (I'm using everyone's call sign because their actual character names aren't spoken out loud enough for me to remember them), who, somewhat surprisingly, isn't holding a grudge for his father's fate.

Top Gun Maverick picks up with Maverick no longer in the Top Gun team. Instead he's a test pilot for experimental fighters being developed by the Navy/Airforce/US Government? (I'm not sure because technically Maverick is a Navy fighter pilot - which he says in the film, he flies for the Navy).

However he is recalled to the Top Gun team to train a new batch of pilots to perform in one specific, but very difficult, strike mission. Obviously, Rooster is one of the pilots, and the drama builds from there.

There are probably a lot more callbacks to the first film than I even picked up on as I haven't seen that movie since it's original release in the 1980's, but few, if any felt like they were there just for the sake of being a callback. Most of the time these moments fitted naturally with the story this movie is telling.

The fighter plane action is spectacular. I have no idea if any modern fighter pilot (outside of the Blue Angels) ever flies planes the way they do in this film but it's so much edge of your seat fun you kind of hope they do. Everything looks very real and believable too. It was definitely worth sending all the actors up to film their cockpit scenes in actual fighter planes as they performed various maneuvers.

While the film isn't comedy, like most big budget action flicks, it does have its moments of humor that stops you from taking any of this too seriously, despite the high stakes of the final mission. Overall it's a fun film that calls back to the best of eighties action films that we don't see a lot of today (except maybe done completely over the top in Michael Bay or Fast and the Furious movies).

I enjoyed Top Gun Maverick. I don't think it's quite as quotable as the original film, or likely to influence the culture as much, but it is a much stronger story that really builds on the history of its main character. It's also just a lot of fun. As my partner, Enigma says, 'it's a proper movie' (which is a bit of a dig at the CGI heavy superhero movies I keep dragging her along to see).

Definitely worth seeing. Particularly if you enjoyed the original.

Comments

James Gunn's Social Media Monkeys Joke Was a Highlight of His Superman Movie For Me

B efore James Gunn's Superman Movie was released there was a whole rumor going around that the movie would feature monkeys on computers trolling Superman's social media, sparking much outrage. #supersh*t. I didn't know this was even a thing until just prior to writing this article. I did a search to see if anyone had posted a clip of the monkeys scene from the movie and got pages of discourse featuring videos and articles prior to the film. Most of it from Gunn detractors (let's say) seeing it as some kind of childish swipe at them... well not them specifically but, you know, those other people who have every right to hate on anything sight unseen. Anyway, I'm not going to give even one such example a link or air because it's kind of sad watching someone devote so much commentary to a throw away gag that is absolutely a nod to James Gunn's Superman trolls. The whole reason this post exists, is to say I loved the joke, because fourteen years ago, and I...

How to Transfer Any Line Art to Your Griptape - Easy Skateboard Griptape Art Tutorial

Dog Star Griptape Art by TET Griptape art is once again gaining popularity amongst modern skateboarders. For those of us who have tried to create our own griptape art, using paint pens, you'll know reproducing your design onto the grip, without making any mistakes is incredibly challenging. Mostly because you just have to go for it and draw the design freehand, with paint pens, directly onto the griptape. You can make the odd mistake here or there but if you get the proportions of the design completely wrong, it can be very difficult to fix. Often you just have to live with the mistake. To address the problem I've come up with an easy way anyone can transfer a line art design to their griptape, removing almost all the anxiety of getting the proportions wrong. In fact, you could do this with any line art design, even if you have no drawing skill at all. Watch the video below to see my technique in action and/or skip past the video where I highlight the basic steps to get your de...

Is AI Art 'Art'? The Say NO to AI Art Movement, and Why Human Artists Will Adapt

AI Art No T-Shirt by TET Also available on other items . Right now there is a big debate over not just whether AI art is 'art' but whether AI's are actually ripping off the work of actual human artists, without their consent, to create their images - particularly images 'in the style of' specific artists. From my own observations this debate started to get more traction when artist's signatures began appearing in the output of AI Art image generators. Is It Art? Cool Froyd the Cat Sketch by TET. My style is very much influenced by classic Disney and WB character styles. To get some clarity on how real human artists work (of which I am one)... we, that is all of us... take influences from the art that has come before. i.e. whatever artists we like, have studied, seen etc. we are influenced by. It shows up in our work, intentionally or not. If you really study my own cartoony art style you'll see I'm heavily influenced by early Disney and Warner Bros cart...

I'm Joining the Illuminati Brotherhood By Personal Invitation of Hiltom Rothschild... Wait, What?

How special am I to have finally come of age (53 years young) and am now eligible to participate in building the world alongside other members of the Illuminati Brotherhood... Yes I've received the call by way of an email, which I'm sure is real because I had to translate it from the Dutch language and it was personally written by Hiltom Rothschild, one of the non-existent members of the Rothschild family (or perhaps deep undercover because Google has never heard of them?). A Transcript of the email below: To: etourist From: Illuminati Brotherhood Subject: Illuminati Broederschap (Illuminati Brotherhood) I am Hiltom Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild family, one of the 13 families of the Illuminati brotherhood. I'm here to let you know that you've come of age and are eligible to participate in building the 🌎 world. It is a calling and a privilege to honor him with pride and gratitude as not everyone will ever be chosen by the LIGHT, many are called but few are ch...

Skateboarders Who Ever Dreamed of Dropping In on a City Building - Sandro Dias Just Lived Your Dream

Dias's drop-in from one of the lower platforms for practice. Image: © Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull I f you're a skateboarder living in a city you've probably looked at a building that has skate ramp vibes and imagined dropping in on it... well Professional Skateboarder, Sandro Dias didn't just imagine. The Perth Telstra Building as depicted in this fantasy poster print, Forbidden Skate Ramp by Harry Young. If you lived in Perth, Western Australia, any skateboarder who saw the top of the Telstra Building likely had the same thought about the ramp like quarter pipe at the top. Also, back in the day there was a classic skateboarding poster going the rounds that depicted Sydney as a literal skatepark with ramps built up, down, and over numerous buildings. Sandro Dias, who broke the record for the world's tallest drop-in on the 26th September 2025 by dropping in on a mega ramp built on the side of the curved façade of the 22-storey Centro Administrativo Fernando Ferrari (C...

The Worst Book I Have Ever Read - Gulp: Travels Around the Gut by Mary Roach

TET and Mary Roach's Book, Gulp . I 'm the kind of person who only reads one physical book at a time. For context I consider a 'book' to be anything over 100 pages of mostly text. Basically your typical work of fiction novel or factual biography. It's not that I can't read more than one book at a time, I just choose not to because I don't set a lot of time aside for reading. Maybe 30 minutes a day when I'm on a good run with a really engaging text. Little did I know that Mary Roach's Gulp: Travels Around the Gut *, a book of 317 pages (minus the Acknowledgments and Bibliography) would become a bottle neck for my reading for the next three and a half years. As such, I'm calling it the worst book I have ever read. Despite how long it took me to read, it is not a bad book in the slightest, and is in fact, quite light, somewhat entertaining, reading for a book that explores the science, and the resilience of the human digestive system. I'm no st...

LEIF Tech ESnowboard - It's an Electric RipStik with Training Wheels... and I want one!

The LEIF Tech ESnowboard , whilst it moves a lot like a snowboard, is really more related to a RipStik combined with an Electric Skateboard . Granted the hooks for your feet on the top are very snowboard like, they're not entirely essential (and it's recommended beginners remove them until they're used to general riding around). That said, watching someone fully proficient with riding a LEIF ESnowboard is kind of like watching a snowboarder riding on concrete in the Summertime... and it looks like so much fun.

TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Search This Blog