The nostalgia-obsessed sequel reunites Kilmer and Tom Cruise for one impactful, tear-jerking scene.
When Maverick and Iceman egress from their respective aircrafts at the death ofTop Gun , theatre director Tony Scott ’s 1986 ode to shiny plane and the shiny man who fly them , they partake a rare moment of philia . Iceman , the blond pretty - boy villain played by Val Kilmer , aim atTom Cruise’sMaverick and bellow , " You ! " Maverick removes his aviators to attend his former enemy right in the eyes . " You are still dangerous , " says the Iceman . " But you may be my wingman any time . " Maverick grins : " Bullshit . you may be mine . "
After all these years , they ’re still each other ’s wingman . release in theaters this weekend after a rocky road to production and a lengthy pandemic - related delay , Top Gun : Maverickunderstands the grandness of the Maverick and Iceman rivalry to theTop Gunexperience . In the same way that Harold Faltermeyer ’s score , Kenny Loggins ’s " Danger Zone , " and beach volleyball are essential to the movie ’s ridiculous MTV - epoch head - rush effect , the moral force between these two hotshots forms the true excited nub of the film . No offense to Kelly McGillis , who work Maverick ’s love interest ( and instructor ) Charlie in the original , or Oscar - winner Jennifer Connelly , tasked with playing an former fire of Maverick ’s in the sequel . There ’s just no competing with the smoldering power of Mav and Ice .
In the subsequence , director Joseph Kosinski ( Oblivion ) and the movie ’s five credit writers make the wise decision to keep Iceman off - screen door for a good deal of the running time . They tease his presence : You catch a glimpse of his pic hanging at the flight school , he ’s name - discipline by other authorization figure in Maverick ’s life , and you see Maverick air him text message . ( Of naturally , Maverick has him in his phone as " Ice . " ) As Maverick darts through the legacy - sequel plot points , getting called back to teach at Top Gun and civilize a grouping of novel recruit that includes Rooster ( Miles Teller ) , the Word of his dead friend Goose , the idea of Iceman hang over the moving-picture show . He ’s not on the dot tag Maverick ; he ’s patiently wait in the cloud .
Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer in ‘Top Gun’|Paramount Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
Then , he strikes . In the movie ’s most moving vista , Maverick makes the pilgrim’s journey to Iceman ’s home , where the admiral ’s wife informs Maverick that his friend ’s genus Cancer has returned . For viewers who have follow Kilmer ’s health struggles in late years , this crinkle will not be a surprise . The actor has discussed his condition in interview withThe New York Times MagazineandMen ’s Healthand chronicled his battle with cancer in his memoirI’m Your Huckleberry . Last yr , A24 releasedVal , a feature - length documentary exploring Kilmer ’s career using versed home - video footage shot by the star himself . In the cinema , you see him mouth through a articulation box after completing two tracheotomies .
During theTop Gun : Maverickscene , Iceman mostly speaks to Maverick with the help of his computer , tease him and offering sage advice . The actual bet of what they talk about is a little punch-drunk : Can rebel make peace with Rooster ? Will he nail the mission ? Can he lay aside America and himself ? If you ’ve see a movie , you know the response to these questions . rebel will reckon all this out , and we will get our catharsis . What ’s more compelling is the soft meta interplay between Cruise and Kilmer , which lends the motion-picture show a startling pathos .
The reality of the moment and the apportion chronicle of the two stars , who have both battle individual demons on a very public stage , gives the scene a gravitas and almost documentary - like texture that transcends the moving picture ’s now and again bum , nostalgic feel . Here ’s a 62 - year - erstwhile man ( Kilmer ) and a 59 - year - honest-to-goodness Isle of Man ( Cruise ) getting together on screen to recreate a dynamic they had over 30 years ago when they were both young man start up out in the clientele . As portray inVal , Kilmer did n’t even need to makeTop Gun . " I thought the script was silly , and I dislike warmongering in films , " he say . " But I was under contract with the studio apartment , so I did n’t really have a pick . ”
Val Kilmer in ‘Top Gun’|Paramount Pictures / Photo by CBS via Getty Images
As the script consistently underline with lines about Maverick being a " dinosaur " who will soon be replaced with a computer , Top Gun : Maverickis a movie about fighting the handing over of time . ( The enticement to view the motion-picture show as an lament for the twentieth - century blockbuster and for the American empire is strong . ) In the 1994 romantic comedySleep With Me , Quentin Tarantino made a memorable cameo appearance as an excitable guy at a party who analyzesTop Gun’shomoerotic undertones andends his monologueby facetiously misquoting final line as " you’re able to ride my tail anytime . " WhatTop Gun : Mavericksuggests is that the job of a wingman is never truly over . Even in expiry , these two ride together .
