Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Tom Cruise is back. Top Gun is back. And it's a blockbuster, like you haven't seen in a long time.

Wholesome. Quality. Feelgood. Tension. So great. So great. Patriotic yes. Some cliché yes. But I love it all, it feels like it's almost a movie outside the movie. Like Tom's dedication makes it real. Like they break the fourth wall with the authenticity - and not just with his two sideway glances at the initial bar scene.

Authenticity really does take a movie to the next level, but some of these scenes are so authentic that the set seems to slip up at the seams. Like with that guard booth. You see through the cracks.

Some might consider that a flaw in filming but... it's just so cool to see.
To know they hadn't actually planned on that roof blowing off, but that the force of that plane was just that strong. Couldn't help it.

And the major (played by Ed Harris) comes across all the more a bad-ass for legitimately standing his ground.

The flight scenes, and the fight scenes... god damn man. Sometimes feels like this isn't long enough, like they skipped some things they could've added in... but it's so wholesome. Best movie 2022? Just might be.

I need to watch this one again soon... on the big screen preferably. Oughta be all the more special there.

 rated 5/5: friggin awesome