TOP GUN vs TOP GUN: Maverick

Maverick official movie cover.

Top Gun: Maverick

Ladies and gentlemen, its back! The never seen before film “TOP GUN: Maverick” swept the movie world as soon as the trailer came out. A rerun of “TOP GUN” more than 30 years later? Who wouldn’t be excited! But the real question is, does it even compete with the original “TOP GUN”? Let me just say this, if you liked the original “TOP GUN”, you will 100% love “TOP GUN: Maverick.” Now, let’s take a deep dive into the crazy camera angles that were introduced in “TOP GUN: Maverick,” and the top-notch Navy Pilot training the actors had to go through.

I genuinely think there is no way you couldn’t give praise to this movie. It’s just that good! The thing that blew the viewers out of their seats were the camera angles. And what if I told you that the directors were able to install 6 high-definition cameras inside the jets! With 3 standard SONY VENICE units, and one with the outfitted Rialto system. The thing that swept the movie world by storm, and the thing that made “TOP GUN: Maverick” substantially better that the first “TOP GUN,” were the cameras inside the jets. The multi-million-dollar fighter jets had new camera systems in them that allowed 6 IMAX-quality cameras to be inside. Director Joseph Kosinski revealed that these 6 cameras were installed in different directions, four cameras looking back at the actor, and two looking forward.

Don’t even get me started on the training the actors had to go through to get ready for the film. The producers of the movie had to make sure the actors could take upwards of 10 g’s in the F-18 with no problems. They had flown in a series of different planes to get themselves prepared for the movie, with the first one starting out at around 3 g’s. They had to fit 2 years of pilot training into 3 months. Another training exercise that the actors had to go through was a water survival exercise. The actors were strapped into a replica cabin inside a large pool, were dunked underwater and had to unbuckle their belt straps and escape the cabin. Another exercise the actors practiced was opening their parachute just in case anything went wrong, and they had to eject from their jet.

I ended up getting the chance to talk to a viewer who had early access to the film and saw it a couple of weeks before it came out, and I asked him a couple of questions. The first thing I asked him was how he rated the movie on a scale of 1 to 10, and he quickly gave it a 10. The second question I asked was his opinion on other viewers saying that “TOP GUN: Maverick” was much better than the original “TOP GUN,” and this is what he had to say: “I think both have incredible qualities, I think in many ways the second “TOP GUN” is better than the original. Many people talked about a 3rd “TOP GUN” being in the works in the future.” I asked him if he would quickly get to the theaters and see it, and if he would rate it up with “TOP GUN: Maverick.  “I would 100% go and see the third one on opening night. I would be worried about them being able to match up with the first two both of which I think are now top tier incredibly rewatchable, and enjoyable classics. The 4th and final question I asked him was his opinion on people saying that the main thing that made “TOP GUN: Maverick” so much better than the original was the better camera angles, and if there was anything else that he would add to the equation. And this was his response: “I think the final battle was better laid out than the first, flights seemed much crisper and easier to follow, I think Tom Cruise once again has shown he continues to become a better actor and knows what the crowds want.

Is there anything to dislike about this movie? The camera angles, the actors, are nearly hard to describe. This movie was something no one has ever seen before, and a film that no one will forget.