36 years after the original, Tom Cruise comes back to play the pilot Pete Maverick Mitchell, in Top Gun: Maverick, which after several delays -some technical, some due to Covid 19- is finally on the big screen – where it belongs.

Everybody remembers the first film, where a young gang consisting of Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan, Tim Robbins, and Anthony Edwards supported Cruise in the story of a group of pilots on their training program to become the best Top Gun pilots -with the help of a catchy soundtrack and an exciting volleyball match-. Deservedly immortalized in great part due to its memorable flying scenes -yes, and also because of the volleyball scene- in which the direction of the late Tony Scott excelled, the film has been one of the earliest and strongest pillars in Cruise’s career.

Taking this into account, it is interesting to see the actor (who, despite his eternal youthful look, is about to reach his 60^th birthday) coming back to play that pilot with a certain allergy to rules. By no means, all of what I have just written has been said lightly, as watching Top Gun: Maverick, it is unavoidable to see how crucial it is for him. Putting the plot aside, the film directed by Joseph Kosinski seems to be focused in the passing of time and our place in history.

After having disobeyed the rules and finding himself destined to become an instructor for future Top Gun pilots, Maverick has a talk with a solemn admiral (played by Ed Harris) who informs him that he has no place in the future. Maverick, just like Cruise, is a person who exists only to do his job; a person capable of risking his own existence to go further than others had tried before him.

It can be sad to think that Cruise is the last great Hollywood star in the classic sense of the expression. In his films, the actor takes his audience to a period when the entertainment was not artificially obtained by means of impressive CGI, countless stunt doubles and experts capable of making any imaginable fantasy become a reality… elements which were not present in his version of The Mummy, a flop that we all saw coming from a mile away.

Seeing Cruise in scene is seeing someone who lives and breathes cinema, someone who has no fear to put his own life on the line to entertain his audience, thus making films that are ridiculously breathtaking, yet feel old-school, but in a good way (just rewatch Jack Reacher for further evidence). Nobody knows what the future will bring to his career, possibly (only after making a film in outer space, co-starring the best alien actors money can pay) he will have to put his foot down and reduce the dangerous stunts he is involved in. However, in the meantime, and with no successor in sight, Cruise, as it is evident in Top Gun: Maverick, will continue being who he was, though aware of everything he has already lived before.

It is precisely this nostalgic trip that makes Top Gun: Maverick work in an emotional level with the audience, as the script -written by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie (Cruise’s frequent collaborator in Jack Reacher and the Mission Impossible saga)- is not interested on being a retelling of the first film. Although there are some connections and its plot is somewhat similar to that of the original, it could be said that it is necessary to achieve on his audience a feeling of familiarity, of being in a known place in which they will discover that sometimes we are who we are because of our traumas, not despite them – and also that we need to evolve to keep moving forward, no matter how uncertain the future looks like.

Unfortunately, the main negative impact of having Cruise in such an important role in the centre of the story is that the rest of the actors have no chance to overshadow him. In spite of this, Miles Teller as Goose’s son, effortlessly embodies Anthony Edwards’s role and manages to hold his own against Maverick. Val Kilmer on a brief cameo brings all the heart and nostalgia to the film. Jennifer Connelly fleshes out an otherwise flat and unoriginal role. Jon Hamm does whatever is necessary to become a figure of authority to clash with Maverick’s chaotic behaviour, and finally, Glen Powell steals a couple of scenes, making us think that if the film had been a remake instead of a sequel, he could have played Maverick or Iceman.

Obviously, Top Gun: Maverick had a tough act to follow to become a great action film. Scott’s energetic work in the first film might not be matched by Kosinski in the sequel, but that does not seem to be the initial intention. The combination of his precise direction allows us to know what is happening at all times (there are neither excesses, nor necessity to rely on CGI) with a cinematography by Claudio Miranda (who employs cameras inside the cabins to make us see the actors going through the effects of the G Force) make it extremely easy for us to move around in our seats, as we will be feeling the same as the characters in the big screen.

On the one hand, Top Gun: Maverick is pure spectacle that deserves to be seen in the biggest screen possible, with the best sound system available (do not worry about how comfortable the seat is, as you will be on its edge for most of the time). It is one of the best blockbusters of the last decades, a way to get away from our reality to inhabit a world of faceless villains; a world where our issues have no place, as there is no room for our baggage on a Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet.

On the other hand, the film is a great example of Cruise’s passion for the world of cinema. Even though what happens in his career is still to be discovered, there is no doubt that he will always be remembered as one of the biggest Hollywood stars – an actor who endangers his life to make films, perhaps because films are his life.