While Top Gun: Maverick surpasses the original Top Gun in many ways, the sequel does fall down in one crucial area. Top Gun: Maverick is a rare sequel that not only equals but arguably outdoes its predecessor. While 1986’s original Top Gun is a fun action movie, Top Gun: Maverick is a more poignant, sharper character study. Tom Cruise’s cocksure Maverick is charming in Top Gun, but in he is a fascinating, contradictory mixture of guilt, ego, and charisma Top Gun: Maverick. Top Gun: Maverick’s action sequences are clearer and, as a result, more intense than the original movie’s flying scenes thanks to technological advances.
However, not everything about Top Gun: Maverick beats the original movie. Top Gun’s Viper doesn’t return in Top Gun: Maverick which was dispiriting after his pivotal role in the original movie. Not only that but Top Gun: Maverick also fails to recreate the cultural impact of the original movie in one important way. With a record-breaking box office haul, there is no denying that Top Gun: Maverick outdid the financial success of its franchise predecessor. However, Top Gun: Maverick could not match one contribution to popular culture that Top Gun made in 1986.
Top Gun: Maverick Failed To Live Up To The Original’s Music
Top Gun’s soundtrack is arguably as famous as the movie itself. While director Tony Scott’s slick direction made Top Gun a cult classic, its soundtrack made the movie an unavoidable phenomenon. Even for those who never saw Top Gun, the sound of Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” and Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” defined 1986. In contrast, Top Gun: Maverick’s Lady Gaga ballad “Hold My Hand” didn’t make anywhere near as much of a cultural impact. While the sequel itself is superior, Top Gun: Maverick’s songs were completely forgotten whereas Top Gun’s soundtrack was epochal.
Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” even won an Oscar for Best Original Song, while Lady Gaga lost to “Naatu Naatu” from RRR. While “Hold My Hand” peaked at #49 on the Billboard 100, “Take My Breath Away” reached number one. Top Gun’s soundtrack went platinum nine times in America alone. Top Gun: Maverick couldn’t hold a candle to this, with the sequel providing only one song that gained any traction on the charts. Moreover, Top Gun’s soundtrack earned its outsized reputation in pop culture. In contrast, Top Gun: Maverick’s soundtrack sounded like a relic from the late ’90s and didn’t do the dynamic movie justice.
Great Music Saved The Top Gun Franchise
The song choices that the creators of Top Gun’s soundtrack made undoubtedly cemented its status as an iconic movie. Without them, Top Gun may well have been forgotten. While it might be a while before viewers see Cruise return in Top Gun 3, crowds were willing to wait 36 years for Top Gun: Maverick. Top Gun’s soundtrack played a big part in that popularity. If it weren’t for the phenomenal success of Top Gun’s soundtrack, the movie may never have even received a sequel. Instead, Top Gun’s stellar soundtrack ensured that Top Gun: Maverick was able to improve on (almost) every aspect of the original movie.