While the original Top Gun is hard to beat, its 2022 sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, surpassed it — and a real-life navy admiral may have nailed down why. The long-awaited follow-up to the 1986 movie, Top Gun: Maverick broke records at the box office and became the highest-grossing domestic release of 2022. The sequel welcomed Tom Cruise and several other cast members back to the franchise 36 years after the first film debuted. The lengthy wait between Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick worked in the latter’s favor, and not just because it generated a ton of hype.
Both Top Gun and Top Gun 2 featured the death-defying stunts of naval fighter pilots, but the filming technology available in the sequel better captured the intensity of these powerful crafts. Films based on historical events and real institutions have to walk a fine line between capturing experiences the average moviegoer will never have and delivering a cohesive narrative. Top Gun: Maverick proves that it’s possible to do this successfully and that these two elements don’t have to be incongruous.
Top Gun: Maverick’s Realism Justifies The Sequel’s Groundbreaking Shoot
Top Gun: Maverick had to get creative to keep up with the increases in aviation technology over the past three decades. The sequel used groundbreaking filming tactics to achieve a realism surpassing that of the first film. The production crew created shoots aboard F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornets while they were being flown by real pilots. One of the latter crafts was even rigged with a special camera to film the actor in the back seat of the plane. The actors even needed to undergo special training to withstand the aerobatics and force of flying while performing. These techniques allowed Top Gun: Maverick to more accurately capture the everyday experiences of pilots.
All of this extra effort led to realistic shots in Top Gun: Maverick that actual military personnel respected. In a 60 Minutes interview shared on CBS News, Admiral Samuel Paparo, the commander of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet and a TOPGUN graduate, said, “I saw a couple of maneuvers, and I turned to my kids and described what they were. And there were numerous maneuvers that are completely applicable in air combat maneuvering…I thought that the flying scenes on the first one were incredible. But there was even more realism in Top Gun: Maverick.”
Top Gun: Maverick’s Flight Realism Makes It Better Than The 1980s Original
The preparation and attention to detail in Top Gun: Maverick explain why the movie was so successful. While 1986’s Top Gun was also shot on aircraft carriers and in planes, it did not have the same resources as Top Gun: Maverick. As such, the sequel’s shooting techniques and practical stunts proved well worth the effort. They ramped up the action sequences from the first installment while delivering a more authentic depiction of its fighter pilots. Hopefully, similar tactics will be employed when ending Maverick’s story in Top Gun 3.