We all know Quentin Tarantino has a passion for all things film. Yet, it’s rare for him to dive into his feelings on a new movie in public. Well, that’s changed this week as he offered up his take on the smash hit that is Top Gun: Maverick.
The filmmaker was asked about the Top Gun sequel while appearing on the ReelBlend podcast. Instead of dodging, Tarantino actually dove into feelings on Maverick, original Top Gun director Tony Scott, and even Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story.
“Normally I don’t talk about new movies that much because then I’m only forced to say good things, or else I’m slamming someone. And I don’t want to do that,” said Tarantino. “But in this case, I fucking love Top Gun: Maverick. I thought it was fantastic. I saw it at the theaters… That and Spielberg’s West Side Story both provided a true cinematic spectacle, the kind that I’d almost thought that I wasn’t going to see anymore. It was fantastic. But also there was just this lovely, lovely aspect because I love both Tony Scott’s cinema so much, and I love Tony so much that that’s as close as we’re ever going to get to seeing one more Tony Scott movie.”
Tarantino goes on to praise filmmaker Joseph Koskinski for adding flairs of Tony Scott into the new film. “He did a great job. The respect and the love of Tony was in every frame. It was almost in every decision. It was consciously right there, but in this really cool way that was really respectful. And I think it was in every decision Tom (Cruise) made in the film. It’s the closest we’re ever going get to seeing one more Tony Scott movie, and it was a fucking terrific one.”
Tarantino did imply the reunion scene between Cruise and Val Kilmer almost didn’t work but ended up sticking the landing, stating that the scene between the pair “was almost too cheap, but it absolutely works. It’s a bit like Charlie Chaplin dying on stage for the last scene of Limelight… but it fucking works. You’re waiting for it and the fucking scene delivers.”
Top Gun Maverick isn’t only beloved by Tarantino. The film is currently sitting at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes for the critic score and an impressive 99% for the audience score. It’s also currently sitting at $1.325 billion at the worldwide box office.
After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose”.
Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.
Top Gun: Maverick features a cast including stars Tom Cruise (Maverick), Val Kilmer (Iceman), Jennifer Connolly (American Pastoral), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Ed Harris (Westworld), Lewis Pullman (Bad Times at the El Royale), Glen Powell (Hidden Figures), Charles Parnell (Transformers: Age of Extinction), Bashir Salahuddin (Glow), Monica Barbaro (The Good Cop), Danny Ramirez (The Gifted), Manny Jacinto (The Good Place), Jay Ellis (Insecure), Kara Wang (Good Trouble), Jack Schumacher (Empire), Greg Tarzan Davis (Chicago P.D.), Jake Picking (Blockers), Raymond Lee (Mozart in the Jungle), Jean Louisa Kelly (Ant-Man) and Lyliana Wray (Strange Angel).
