Top Gun: Maverick Review - 8 Ups & 2 Downs

7. Tom Cruise's Superb Performance

Top Gun Maverick Tom Cruise
Paramount

With this movie, Tom Cruise continues to prove that there's nobody else like him working in Hollywood. But beyond his commitment to the ludicrous action stakes - including taking flight himself for some select sequences - Cruise also gives an honest-to-God compelling dramatic performance.

By way of the film's unexpectedly rich study of Maverick as a character - which we'll discuss more in a moment - Cruise gets his first opportunity in quite some time to sink his teeth into a human being rather than a mere Action Hero (no offense to Mission: Impossible's Ethan Hunt).

And it's a firm reminder that Cruise is so much more than a charismatic stuntman - he wrings every drop of pathos out of Maverick's emotionally complex journey over the course of the movie, and it's some of the finest acting he's given us in many years. In a Top Gun movie of all things, can you believe it?

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.