akashdefonsekaman

This was the most exhilarating theatrical experience I'd ever had the pleasure of being a part of. Top Gun: Maverick outdoes Top Gun in every conceivable way, and is the single best legacy sequel of all time, bar none.

The premise revolves around an aging Maverick, who is called yet again to instruct new recruits at Top Gun.

Joseph Kosinski does a masterful job of directing this movie. He puts in just enough elements of the original to retain adequate nostalgia, but not too much so as to overpower the potence of the sequel. A lot of legacy sequels like Ghostbusters: Afterlife and The Matrix Resurrections make the deplorable mistake of adding way too much callbacks and references to the previous movies; so much so that the sequel itself feels more like a lazy rehash than a worthy continuation and/or conclusion. The movie corrects many of the original's problems, with a more grounded premise and graver performances. Fighter Weapons School finally feels like an actual military academy rather than a mere high school for adrenaline junkies.

Tom Cruise is quite literally the greatest movie star of all time. He's starred in classics since he was in his 20s and is STILL pumping out his best stuff, as proven by this movie alone. I love how his character of Pete Mitchell has expectedly grown more nuanced and complex over the last 30+ years. He appears tortured by events from the first movie, and his dynamic with Bradley Bradshaw (cast and played excellently by Miles Teller) is undoubtedly the film's most riveting aspect.

Jennifer Connelly has an astonishing amount of chemistry with Cruise, and I don't think people give their on-screen relationship enough credit. Once again, the childish romance from the original was greatly improved upon, with a moderately approached but genuinely heartfelt new relationship. I love the way Val Kilmer reprised his role as Iceman, and the few short scenes he was in did the actor justice and gave his character a truly beautiful role to play.

The filmmakers somehow succeeded in making the new recruits to Top Gun interesting characters by themselves, instead of just cloning the original movie's cast. Monica Barbaro, Lewis Pullman and Jay Ellis all give distinguished performances, and so does Glen Powell (even though he's technically this sequel's version of a young Iceman). Other pedigreed actors like Jon Hamm and Ed Harris, and lesser known ones like Charles Parnell all play their characters in memorable fashion.

Maverick is also absolutely hilarious, and I can probably remember about 15 times when the audience around me burst into hysterical laughter (including myself, no doubt). The dialogue is unexpectedly smart, the jokes feel anything but forced, and the scenes of humour are so well set-up that they never feel manufactured or out of place.

But of course, what really sets this movie apart from and above other legacy sequels is its brilliant writing. The screenplay packs so much emotional punch and payoff that it's virtually impossible to unpack all of it even in a single spoiler review. The callbacks and moments of nostalgia are never in there for the sake of it, and strictly serve the plot. Every single narrative decision made for this film was perfect, with a believable and realistic story that is unexpectedly mature and thus way more engaging.

With all that out of the way, it wouldn't be a proper Top Gun review if you didn't talk about the action. And Jesus Christ does this film have some of the most astoundingly intense and mind-bogglingly entertaining action sequences in film history. Seriously, the final act alone is on par with any of the recent Mission: Impossible movies (also starrimg Cruise), and even Mad Max: Fury Road.

Maverick veritably dethrones the original movie's all time greatest aerial fight scenes with even better ones. The cinematography, visual effects, editing and soul-shattering sound design during the training and dogfight sequences is so incredible it can barely be put into words. Some segments of this film were so edge-of-your-seat thrilling that I'm surprised no one (especially me) got a heart attack or at the very least, passed out.

The end product is so well presented, it's rather difficult to pinpoint where the CGI ends and Tom Cruise's stuntwork begins (although, knowing him, I'm willing to bet he played his part in some of the stunning aircraft-mounted shots).

On top of that, the production of the non-action scenes was done well too, just like in the original. I certainly enjoyed the restrained use of the first films music and score, incorporating some pretty good original songs like "I Ain't Worried" by OneRepublic and Lady Gaga's spectacular "Hold My Hand".

Top Gun: Maverick exceeded all expectations by a light year and a half. It is the type of legacy sequel every classic blockbuster deserves, and the monumental sendoff all legacy sequels aspire to become.

And if it isn't also one of the century's best action movies, then I have no idea what is.

Edit: So apparently none of the flight sequences used green screen, and the actors went through flight training to film all those insane shots practically. Can I love this movie any more?!

Massively entertaining and technically impressive, A New Hope perfected the Hollywood blockbuster formula which Spielberg's Jaws introduced.

Mandatory viewing for everyone.

Lots of great interactions between Walt and Jesse. Anna Gunn gives a great performance. Gorgeous cinematography. Pretty tense episode overall.

Walt and Jesse continue with their great chemistry, and Skylar shines. Not the episode with the strongest ending, but good enough to make me want more.

Bryan Cranston and the others give brilliant performances, and the cinematography is striking. Episode is still slow but more character-driven.

...but a more character-driven episode. Terrific performance from Anna Gunn. Definitely an underrated episode with a hilariously awesome ending.

The final minutes of this episode are quite engrossing. Superb interactions between Walter and Jesse. Excellent character work and great performance from Cranston.

Not as riveting as the pilot, but definitely better-paced. Love the banter between Walter and Jesse.

The story grips you from the very beginning and Bryan Cranston's performance is incredibly nuanced. The supporting cast is great and Walter White's chemistry with Jesse Pinkman is infectious. The episode is also strong from a technical standpoint, with great cinematography, sound design and editing. Looking forward to the rest of the season.

This episode was the perfect set-up for the entire series.

At first we get introduced to the eponymous Mandalorian, a yet-unnamed bounty hunter (who goes by the nickname "Mando") on the search for his current target. He is played by GOT star Pedro Pascal, who does so much but talks so little. We get an impressive show of his fighting skills, gadgets and badass reflexes in the opening bar scene (he's basically a cross between Batman and John Wick).

Soon enough we meet Greef Karga (played by Carl Weathers), the leader of the Guild. Yet another perfectly-cast role. He sets Mando on a one-off mission to recover a valuable living asset for a man simply known as The Client. This anonymous client (played to perfection by Werner Herzog) gives Mando the necessary instructions and down-payment for the mission.

Mando then goes to The Armorer, the leader of the planet's Mandalorian tribe, and we get a better understanding of Beskar Steel along with a flashback to Mando's childhood.

The rest of the episode is spent with Mando trying to reach his bounty, meeting a helpful alien named Kuiil, who teaches him to ride a Blurrg and points him in the direction of the valuable asset.

When he finally gets there, he teams up with a fellow bounty droid (IG-11) to engage in a shootout with the area's inhabitants. There is some incredible sound design and editing during this action sequence, and Taika Waititi gives an underrated voice-over as the blunt IG-11 unit. Mando and IG-11 finally reach the anonymous "asset" only to discover that it is an infant of unknown alien origin (Yoda's species!).

This yet-unnamed infant (which fans have come to call "Baby Yoda"), melts the heart of both the audience and our titular Mandalorian, who destroys the IG-11 unit in an attempt to keep the baby alive.

This Pilot does an incredible job of having enough callbacks to other Star Wars movies to excite super-fans, while staying wholly original at the same time. The world-building is flawlessly done, and the storytelling and lore is riveting.

Ludwig Göransson does a remarkable job of scoring this episode, with a musical aesthetic that is unique and intriguing. We also have some brilliant technical achievements regarding visual effects, art direction, costume design and cinematography most of all. Another thing I really enjoyed was the stunning illustrated end-credits sequence, which enhanced the episode's unique feel.

This has to be like the Game of Thrones of sci-fi shows. The producers of The Mandalorian had a clear objective of giving fans something new without derailing the franchise, and I'd say they've succeeded. Never has Star Wars material felt so fresh and yet so familiar since Rogue One.

Kudos to Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, Colin Wilson and everyone who worked in front of or behind the camera. They may yet make Star Wars great again.

This motion picture is epic in scale, visually stunning, entertaining from start to finish and is the definition of why we love superhero movies.

I really don't know what rating to give this film. Some people say this film is beautiful, artistic and meaningful, others say it is horrifying, disturbing and hard to watch, and I honestly agree with the latter even though i must admit there were a few "artistic" moments throughout. All I can say is, this film isn't for everyone.

I find this movie infinitely rewatchable and can see why it is so iconic. The cast is wonderful, the soundtracks are great and the aerial action sequences are just AWESOME.

I like this movie a lot. It has striking cinematography and art direction, along with great performances and a beautiful story.

This is such an entertaining film. The action in The Killer was superb but in Hard Boiled, John Woo took it to a whole new level. And of course, the one take hospital shootout is not something to be missed.