Top Gun Maverick Review (some spoilers)

Last night, Chad and I were finally able to set aside the time to see Top Gun: Maverick.( I kind of feel like we were some of the last people to see this movie.) Between his work schedule and my school schedule, it is hard for us to be able to find enough time to do things like this. With the kids gone with people I fully trust, I was able to sit down and do all of my homework with a clear mind, and even though he was working in Boulder, Chad got home from work at a decent time last night, so we bought tickets and headed out. 

For the most part, I liked the movie. It had just the right amount of action. It seems like a lot of action movies lately have so much action that it gets overwhelming. Having the action scenes at just the right times is exciting and fun! I loved that they found this balance in this movie. 

The bad:

They spent too much time at the beginning trying to recreate scenes from the original movie while setting up the story. As they did so, the dialog felt forced, and the acting was not as good. 

The good:

There was so much good in this movie! There was a scene where Goose's son, Rooster, is at the piano at the bar singing "Great Balls of Fire." Maverick is outside and flashes back to when Goose did the same and gets emotional. This is when the movie transitions into a real movie rather than a forced attempt to try to recreate the first movie combined with setting up the story line. 

The conflict between Rooster and Maverick felt natural and had a bit of a twist as we find out Maverick pulled Rooster's papers from the Naval Academy rather than it being simply because he was the cause of Goose's death. 

I liked the build up to the mission. Showing the dangers and difficulty in the training setting made the actual mission scene intense and exciting to watch. 

There are a lot more scenes that I liked, but I don't want to break down the entire movie. 

The funny:

This is not completely related to Top Gun, but it is in a way. I have been watching Cougar Town lately. There is one episode where they talk about Tom Cruise's "movie run" specifically how he "chops the air" as he runs. They even do the run in formation later in the episode. As Maverick ran away from danger, he ran this way, and I had to hold back my laughter. 

Overall, I loved this movie. I just wish they had not spent so much time trying to recreate scenes from the original.