Top Gun Original VS. Top Gun: Maverick (Spoilers)

*This article includes spoilers for both Top Gun Movies

The original Top Gun is an amazing movie about Lt. Pete Michell (Tom Cruise)codenamed Maverick with love, action, and humor. It was given a 4.5 rating on the internet. Its sequel Top Gun: Maverick made in 2022 is about now Cpt. Pete Michell (Tom Cruise) is still code-named Maverick, taking on a serious mission coming back to Top Gun with all the same aspects people loved about the original even using real F-18s and other fighter jets. This movie had some of the best cinematography according to the National Board of review.

The original Top Gun made in 1986 didn’t have the technological advantages we have today in movie making such as good CGI as we have. They had to use real F-14 Tomcats to film the movie and some other jet fighters which they paid the navy for, which cost about 11,000 dollars. Top Gun is about how they needed to go on a mission to eliminate enemy fighters. Maverick and Goose are sent to Top Gun for training and a mission they will need to fly. Unfortunately, Goose dies during a training accident where the F-14 Tomcat loses engine power and Goose hits his head on the canopy breaking his neck and killing him. Maverick blames himself for Goose’s death and struggles to continue his mission and training, but he eventually completes it and survives to become great friends with Iceman.

Top Gun: Maverick made in 2022 had a budget of about 170 million United States dollars compared to the original’s 15 million dollars. Top Gun: Maverick was given a 4.8 average rating. It’s about Cpt. Pete Michell comes back to Top Gun after almost getting grounded for disobeying an admiral’s orders. He is told he needs to train a group of pilots for a very important mission where they need to destroy a Russian bunker that seems to have a large amount of uranium. One of the pilots is Goose’s son Lt. Bradshaw codenamed Rooster. Over time we learn that Maverick pulled his papers from the academy which set him back years because ]he wanted to be the father he never had. He has an emotional confrontation with Rooster and Hangman. He later talks with Iceman who is dying of throat cancer and Iceman tells him“The Navy needs Maverick, the boy needs Maverick.” He teaches them and almost has a trainee die when he was exposed to almost 10 times the force of gravity or 10 g’s. He hears that Iceman died and goes to his funeral, but when he returns he hears he’s been thrown off the project. He steals an F-18 and proves that it can be done and they go through with the mission. During the mission, Maverick gets behind Goose to save him from an incoming missile. They think he is dead, but Goose shoots the enemy forces coming for Maverick and makes an escape to the aircraft carrier saved by Hangman.

Most people that were asked said that Top Gun Original was better. Their reasoning was that they liked the original because it was the original and they felt it had a better storyline. This could have been possible due to many also saying there were too many references to the original in the newer one which made it harder to follow along.

If you love that old original feel of an 80s movie or a simple storyline, the original Top Gun is perfect for you. If you like seeing characters and references to the movie you loved or like seeing newer technology being used in the movie and the realism they put into it, then you might like Top Gun: Maverick more.