Written by: Keaton Marcus

“Turn and burn.”

The original Top Gun has always been one of my favorite movies. The unapologetic cheese and shirtless (gay) men embracing the beautiful sunset, the summery aesthetic was one thing — but the guilty pleasures combined with the complex, practical and visceral action sequences from Tony Scott’s masterful hand wooed me just as effectively when I first saw it five years ago. It’s fun and breezy as hell, but it’s also a very well-made action movie — regardless of the loveably bad performances and ridiculous premise.

Tom Cruise, like it or not, is one of the most important voices in our modern cinematic landscape; particularly in the action genre. When watching Top Gun Maverick in an IMAX theater, I realized that the only action films that made my jaw drop consistently starred this man. Disingenuous, computer-generated destruction in the MCU and DCEU gives some good thrills to a selective crowd — but the sentiment remains mostly cheap to me. To truly thrill me, I need to feel immersed — and in this case, like I’m up there with Cruise’s Pete Mitchell in a fighter jet. Take Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, a thrilling revitalization of an inconsistent series. When Ethan Hunt climbed and swung from window to window on the top of the Burg Khalifa (and Cruise did this), my fear of heights kicked right in at full force. My jaw: dropped, my palms: sweaty, my heart: beating like a drum. I was bursting with this electrifying anxiety, and it all came from some maniac climbing the tallest building in the world in some fun blockbuster.

In Maverick, Cruise taught the entire cast how to fly these jets. Armed with cameras, the crew, and visionary director Joseph Kosinski, took this thing to a whole new level of immersion and realism. I felt that G force. The film pays tribute to the cheese and brevity of Scott’s masterful classic in full without sacrificing a greater and essential emotional core. Beautifully captured and the edge-of-your-seat action paired with a therapeutically enjoyable beach football scene; you only get that in a Cruise picture.

150 million dollars were spent here — and for once, every cent was worth it (aka - fuck you Marvel) Cruise continues to push boundaries in cinema and I’ll go broke just to see what’s in store for him next.

I dunno…there’s something magical about going to the cinema and not seeing, but witnessing one of this actor’s movies. I can’t fucking wait for the next Mission: Impossible film. Maverick is going straight to the faves.