10 Movie Sequels Way Better Than They Had Any Right To Be
4. Top Gun: Maverick
Tony Scott was one of the best action filmmakers to ever do it - a high-contrast, high-energy director who defined genre aesthetics in the 1980s with films like Days of Thunder, Beverly Hills Cop II, and - of course - Top Gun.
However, sacrilegious though it may be to say this, Top Gun is not a good film. While a visual treat that wields the charisma of stars Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise efficiently, it's also the most MTV movie to ever MTV movie, a glorified music video montage that, by the end, will not have you marvelling at the skills of the U.S. Navy's fighter pilots, but rather your own ability to withstand Berlin's "Take My Breath Away" in every other scene. It's probably Scott's most iconic movie, but it's no The Last Boy Scout, True Romance, or Crimson Tide.
Even ignoring its limitations as a piece of cinema, though, the idea of revisiting Top Gun almost 40 years after its release - outside of a purely commercial aspect, being able to wield nostalgia and a never-bigger Tom Cruise - should've been unusual. The original film is a bit of a Cold War relic, with a vague antagonistic force opposing the gallant might of the U.S. military. That premise may have played well in 1986 against the backdrop of a resurgent Cold War, but post-2001, it's not quite so simple. Or, at least it shouldn't have been.
But, then again, Tom Cruise has always been a force of his own, and it's with his star power and commitment that a sequel to Top Gun, 2022's Top Gun: Maverick, succeeded so wholeheartedly, blowing the original out of the water and near-enough saving the movies altogether in one fell swoop. After several pandemic-enforced delays, Joseph Kosinski's film arrived precisely when it needed to, providing a hopeful blend of sincerity and spectacle that also served to reiterate the importance of star power - specifically Cruise's - in a moment when studios were seemingly less convinced.
It really shouldn't have worked, but Maverick's expectation-defying escapades were a balm to the medium - a warming, genuine, and tangible star vehicle that reiterated that nothing beats movies, popcorn, or this late-era Tom Cruise.