Top Gun: Maverick should not be as good as it is.
The sequel to a hugely beloved, cultural touchstone 80s movie with an ageing - but still remarkably capable - star and years of COVID delays really shouldn't be great.
But somehow, Top Gun: Maverick is everything you hoped it could be and more.
One could even argue it is better than the Tony Scott film that started it all.
Maverick sees the titular rebellious Navy fighter pilot return to the Top Gun school almost 40 years after his own graduation to steer the new best of the best towards completion of a near-impossible mission.
The stealth, agility and fighting required for this mission is more intense than anything the new generation has done more, and Maverick, with his decorated past, is the only one who can whip them into shape.
What really amps up the emotional impact for the viewer is the fact that Rooster, the son of Maverick's late best friend and partner Goose, is one of the pilots in the program.
Rooster is played by Miles Teller, who is exceptional and really deserves to be an A-lister by now. He has an innate watchability (go check out Only the Brave for another epic lead role under the direction of Maverick's Joseph Kosinski) and really captures the spirit of Goose in his performance. The physical character design - moustache, open floral shirt - also helps.
In the years between the first and second films, Maverick has tried to protect Rooster in a way he couldn't protect Goose, and that meddling has driven a wedge between them.
Maverick is determined to keep the younger pilot safe - and alive - which causes some problems with the other hotshots at Top Gun.
Speaking of the other hotshots, there's a great crop of actors in cast, led by Glen Powell (Hidden Figures) as Hangman in the Iceman-esque role.
Though this time around, it's the more conservative and safety-minded pilots who are the 'good guys' and those who take things to the extremes who are the 'bad guys'.
Powell is a brilliant, smiling, jerkish character - Iceman for a new age.
Also among the new recruits are Danny Ramirez (No Exit), Jay Ellis (Escape Room), Monica Barbaro (Splitting Up Together) and Lewis Pullman (Bad Times at the El Royale).
However, it is a travesty that the immeasurably talented Manny Jacinto (The Good Place) appears only the background and doesn't get any lines or close-ups.
Another thing the new film doesn't achieve as successfully as the original is incorporating the love interest into the plot. Jennifer Connelly plays Penny, the same 'daughter of an admiral' that Maverick was scolded for dating back in '86.
While Connelly - always brilliant - does a great job at trying to pour some meatiness into her character, Penny is little more than window dressing designed to amp up the number of female cast members.
The action in Maverick is incredible and executed so much more effectively than the original. The aerial dogfights and training drills are far easier to follow and the cinematography is just insane. Cruise too delivers a more introspective, weathered performance. He's not the hotshot anymore, but he can still teach them a thing or two.
But best of all is the Goose-shaped emotional throughline which permeates every part of the film. The character looms so large in fans' memories and he is appropriately honoured in Top Gun: Maverick.
