The second trailer for Top Gun: Maverick dropped this past week and it gave us plenty of things to look forward to. After the impressive Misson Impossible: Fallout, the anticipation for the next Tom Cruise film is high. Top Gun: Maverick serves as a sequel to Top Gun (1986) and it has Jerry Bruckheimer returning as Executive Producer. Despite not having a vast body of work, Oblivion and Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski is at the helm.

Some key observations could be made from watching the latest trailer. Of course Maverick is a little older but he seems to have the same energy he had over thirty years ago (of course it’s Tom Cruise). The trailer doesn’t give the plot away at all but here are several things that are evident from it.

Maverick Is Teaching Now

At the end of the 1986 film, Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) was ordered to go back to training as punishment and also to improve his skills. This happened after he defied orders and pulled his own stunts. Over thirty years later, he is now training younger fighter pilots.

In the trailer, an unknown voice is heard describing Maverick perfectly: “Your instructor is one of the finest pilots this program has ever produced. His exploits are legendary. What he has to teach you may very well mean the difference between life and death.”

The Theme Song Has Been Slightly Edited

The instrumental playing in the latest Top Gun: Maverick trailer is “Top Gun Anthem." The theme which was composed by Harold Faltermeyer and Steve Stevens is a slightly altered version of the one that was used in the first film. It’s still unclear whether this is the version that will be used in the final film.

When it came out in the 80s, “Top Gun Anthem” was a huge hit. It went on to win the award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance at the 1987 Grammys. It thus makes sense that the producers have stuck with it. Let’s hope that they won’t end up altering it too much in a manner that’ll create controversy like the theme song of Starz original series Power.

An F-14 Tomcat Jet Is Still In Use

The question is why? The Iconic fighter jet was one of Maverick’s rides in the original Top Gun film. However, the US military retired all Navy Tomcats from service in 2006. So why is it being used in the lastest Top Gun installment?

It’s like using Windows 98 in the computers of a modern hacker film. However, when it comes to machines with engines, vintage versions always look better in cinema. This was recently proved in Ford V Ferrari. So, maybe there’s a good reason why unlike the US government, Kosinski chose to retain the F-14 Tomcat.

The Guys Are Having Plenty Of Fun

Cruise’s character is seen riding a motorcycle again with much glee like he’s a character in Mayans MC or Sons Of Anarchy. But he isn’t wearing a crash helmet. Be careful Mr. Maverick. However, he has never been known as someone who cares about safety. Let’s hope he doesn’t kill himself this time.

Maverick is also seen riding while wearing a leather jacket and cool sunglasses as his love interest (Jennifer Connely) holds him tightly. This is always mandatory for all macho men riding backs in movies. There’s a bar scene as well and to add to that, the pilots go to the beach too to have some sporty time. However, this time they are seen playing American football instead of volleyball like in the first movie.

Conflict With Unmanned Drones

Ed Harris who plays one of Maverick’s superiors is heard saying that Maverick’s kind is “headed for extinction.” With this statement, he implies that unmanned drones will soon take over the jobs of military pilots. The future is really bleak. Or is it? It feels like Maverick will prove him wrong.

However, this has been an issue of concern in real life. With drones being able to carry explosives and fire bullets on their own, there has been the fear that pilots will no longer be needed. A classic case of man’s job being taken over by machines.

In Top Gun: Maverick, Whiplash star Miles Teller plays Lieutenant Bradley Bradshaw. Bradley happens to be the son of former radar intercept officer Lieutenant Nick Bradshaw, who was known as Goose. Maverick and Nick were great friends in the first film.

Nick ended up dying during a training session after ejecting from a plane and hitting his head on the canopy. Maverick who had started the stunts that killed Nick was initially blamed for the death but the board of inquiry cleared him. But what does Nick’s son think? A good guess is that he still feels Maverick is responsible for his father’s death.

Val Kilmer Is Back

Tom Cruise won’t be the only actor from the original film to reprise his role in the sequel. Van Kilmer—best known for his role as the dark knight in Batman Forever—is back too as Luitenant Tom “Iceman” Kazansky.

In the first film, Iceman was Maverick’s main rival. Like Maverick, he was a skilled student but he preferred to fly safely. He strongly felt that Maverick was reckless and as a result, the two never got along. It’ll be interesting to see whether the two will be on the same page this time around.

Training Room Burst up

Are feelings getting out of hand? That’s pretty normal in movies about servicemen. Maverick is more of a hothead so seeing a training room burst up in the trailer wasn’t surprising. It would have been more surprised if there was no brawl at all.

From the trailer, we can conclude that Maverick has either disagreed with a trainee or he’s trying to stop a fight between trainees. We hope he gets along with more people this time. Be a good buy Maverick. YOu are older and wiser now.

 

The Aerial Scenes Are Still Spectacular

Top Gun is nothing without the fighter jets drawing wavy smoke patterns in the skies. The misses, the near-crashes, and the impressive stunts are what make it great. Luckily, it looks like Joseph Kosinski has already done some great work on this part.

Luitenant Maverick is as good as usual and the trainees appear to be quick learners. The cameras also capture the pilots both from afar and in close view quite magnificently. We’ll have to wait for the final film to see how better it gets but so far so good.

Maverick And His Team Go On An Actual Mission

It appears that Top Gun: Maverick is not just about training. The trailer shows another fighter jet shooting at Maverick’s team, implying that they are on a real mission. A Super Hornet jet can also be seen flying very low, making maneuvers and letting out flares in order to dodge an infra-red guided missile.

The jet is also flying close to a mountain range. A calculated guess would put the place of battle in North Korea or Russia. In addition to that, Maverick is seen wearing a pressurized suit that’s normally used by pilots that are flying high altitude spy planes such as SR-71 and the U-2. So yes, they are definitely in enemy territory.