Top Gun: Maverick 4K Ultra HD Review

THE MOVIE – 4¼/5

Review: 1986’s Top Gun is a movie I’ve seen many times over the years, mostly with the numerous home video releases and while it’s certainly a fun movie, it does have some of the cheese from the 1980s, which generally I liked, and it features a great soundtrack that included “Danger Zone” and “Take My Breath Away”. Now 30+ years later, we finally get a sequel, Top Gun: Maverick a film that has the charm of the original without the cheese to where you can take the plot and characters more serious.

Top Gun: Maverick shares some of the same beats as Rocky Balboa, paying homage to the original while not beating you over the head with nostalgia, and any callbacks go to help develop the characters, namely Lt. Bradley Bradshaw with Miles Teller playing the son of “Goose”. Although I don’t think Teller had a whole lot to work off of as the movie does mostly focus on Maverick (of course) with a sprinkling of some character quirks for the young Top Gun squandron not to mention the advancements with the action sequences that Cruise has been known for over the past decade plus with his Mission: Impossible franchise and trying to do these scenes as practical as possible and Cruise doing his own stunts as much as possible. The scenes in Top Gun: Maverick are some of the highlights even if I question how true-to-life some of it is, however it’s still highly suspenseful and greatly entertaining.

With the filmmakers not bringing back Kelly McGillis, which I won’t get into here, and instead Jennifer Connelly steps in as Penny Benjamin who has a past with Maverick. All I will say is, at age 52 seems like Connelly has only improved and does have some decent chemistry opposite Cruise. Hopefully this relationship is explored further if there is a Top Gun 3, which based on the massive box office, Cruise’s highest grosser to date, I’m sure Paramount is raring up for another one.

Top Gun: Maverick is just an all-around entertaining action-drama that I think does exceed the original and it’s easy to see why it was a crowd-pleaser and if you’re one of the few who have yet to see it, it is well worth checking out.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 4/5

This release comes with a title-embossed slip cover. No Blu-ray disc is included per the now norm from Paramount.

Featurettes:

• Cleared for Takeoff (9:15) looks at the stunt and camera work done for the action sequences with interviews by members of the cast and crew.
• Breaking New Ground: Filming Top Gun: Maverick (7:56) — This featurette focuses on some of the new technology including cameras to bring some of the scenes to life.
• A Love Letter to Aviation (4:48) has Tom Cruise showing his appreciation for the aviation industry.
• Forging the Darkstar (7:31) focuses on the design of the supersonic aircraft.
• Masterclass with Tom Cruise: Cannes Film Festival (49:04) — In this lengthy piece, the cast discuss the dynamic career of the star.

Also included are two Music Videos: “Hold My Hand” (3:52) by Lady Gaga and “I Ain’t Worried” (2:37) by One Republic.

VIDEO – 5/5

Top Gun: Maverick flies onto 4K Ultra HD, presented with the original 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. Detail on this was incredible, very sharp on both close-ups as well as some of the more distant shots while colors appear nicely balanced and black levels stark without being crushed.

AUDIO – 5/5

The included Dolby Atmos track was fantastic and the audio was also the high technical point on the original as well. Here dialogue comes across with nice clarity but where this track really comes to life is with the action sequences which make the most out of each of the channels, evenly spread across every speaker.

OVERALL – 5/5

Overall, Top Gun: Maverick is just a fun and entertaining action-suspense-drama that pays homage to the original without feeling forced and is well worth watching.