Top Gun: Maverick Review - 8 Ups & 2 Downs

Ups...

8. It's One Of The Best Legacy Sequels EVER

Legacy sequels have been all the rage in Hollywood in recent years, of resurrecting long-dormant franchises with belated sequels that saddle the original hero with a new cast of young up-and-comers, potentially to carry the series' torch forward.

And while many of these sequels feel like cynical attempts to milk a name IP bone dry, that's absolutely not the case with Top Gun: Maverick, which feels like one of the most natural and smartly crafted legacy follow-ups ever.

Rather than blatantly echo the events of the original in the way that Star Wars: The Force Awakens did, Maverick opts for more slight nods to the events of the first film, while incorporating them into a character-driven narrative centered around Maverick and Goose's son Rooster (Miles Teller).

Though this movie could've clearly succeeded by just clinging to the tried-and-tested legacy sequel template - rehashing the same story while cueing up a younger cast to take over - it ultimately feels more like a straight-up sequel that just happened to take almost 40 years to get made.

Watching the film, you're probably not imagining studio executives' eyes seeing dollar signs, but rather Tom Cruise returning to one of his most iconic roles because that's just what he wanted to do. Speaking of which...