The long-delayed Top Gun sequel, Top Gun: Maverick has undeniably cool trailers, but, unfortunately, it doesn't seem to understand the appeal of the original classic. The 1986 naval pilot-centered action drama that started it all was a cinema grand slam. Starring Tom Cruise as the cocky-yet-charming Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, the flick has become embedded in pop culture. Though dedicated to his military service, Maverick's character is also a young, adrenaline-seeking pilot with a certain level of recklessness — which repeatedly gets him into hot water as he trains at the elite TOPGUN school for the Navy's cream of the crop pilots. The film mostly follows him and his Radio Intercept Officer, Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards), as well as Maverick's love interest, TOPGUN instructor Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood (Kelly McGillis).
There are many components that make the original film great, but its most masterful element is how it takes a very serious (and often perilous) military theme and fuses it with fun. Maverick's boyish excitement and often-self-centered wildness are so palpable that viewers have as much fun watching the film as the characters seem to be often having within it. He and Goose are complete "good-time Charlies," and the iconic scene with the duo emphatically singing/playing Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" in a bar encapsulates the essence of their dynamic. Though there is loss, grief, and guilt mixed into the plot after Goose's death, the film leaves audiences feeling positive. And Maverick's relationship with Charlie Blackwood is also a vital piece of the original Top Gun story, adding a sweetly romantic and sexually-charged facet to the movie's overall rowdy nature. Even after the air fight at the flick's end, the tone swings back to a sense of feel-good fun.
But the trailers for Top Gun: Maverick have a starkly different vibe. Maverick is back at his old naval school, but as an instructor who has become mythologized in the field. This time, it seems that the young, spirited pilot who'll be followed is the late Goose's son (and the resemblance is uncanny), Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (played by Miles Teller). For the most part, the trailers are tense and gravely serious, setting up the film's premise. While it hearkens back to the original and offers brief glimpses of some signature Top Gun-style, super-cool flying scenes. the more overarching tone of the marketing is decidedly mature, epic, and, at times, somber. This is established at the beginning of one, in which Bradley Bradshaw says (presumably to Maverick) in a voiceover, "My dad believed in you. I'm not going to make the same mistake."
There's clearly some bad blood between the aviators, at least on Bradshaw's end — and that's understandable. Most people in his character's situation would harbor some resentment towards the younger, reckless version of Maverick who was flying with his father when he died, even if it wasn't actually the pilot's fault. The looming possibility of death, which, in reality, is very real in this line of work, colors most of the marketing (including images that hint at a military funeral). An officer tells a naval school class (one of whom is Bradshaw) about Maverick's upcoming instruction, "What he has to teach you could be the difference between life...and death." Naturally, there's a symbolic, lingering shot of Goose's son as the word "death" is spoken.
Granted, some of the trailers' moments do embody some classic Top Gun wit, sarcasm, and goofiness. When a Navy officer (Ed Harris) sardonically asks Maverick how he's still only a captain after all his years of service (insinuating that it's due to his signature recklessness and rowdiness), he quickly and smugly replies, "It's one of life's mysteries, sir." There are also some shots of characters on the beach and Bradshaw jokingly playing the piano while sporting aviators — clear nods to iconic moments from the '86 original. But, overall, the marketing has the tone of a more serious military flick, one where characters work to reconcile with the past. Let's just hope that once Top Gun: Maverick is finally released, it combines the weightiness of the trailer with the more youthfully raucous, fun, and energetic themes from the beloved original.
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March 21, 2021 at 05:30AM
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Top Gun 2 Trailers Don't Understand The Original's Appeal - Screen Rant
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