It very likely won’t win Best Picture at the Oscars, but when it comes to cultural and box-office impact – nothing in 2022 topped “Top Gun: Maverick”.
The film was a massive hit with audiences and critics worldwide, earning almost $1.5 billion at the box office, and more importantly, pulling in people for multiple viewings at the cinema with many going back to see it several times.
The film was marketed on its thrilling action and stunts operating at the kind of level you would expect to see from the film’s star and producer Tom Cruise. Yet what makes it work is its storytelling – a structurally sound script with colorful and interesting characters and true emotional stakes.
Recently speaking with Vulture, the film’s director Joseph Kosinski says he surprisingly never saw “Top Gun: Maverick” as an action movie saying he put emotion first. He believes that helped the film connect with everyone around the world:
“I still stand by the original intent of the film, which was to tell an emotional, relatable story about a guy going through a rite of passage at a later point in his life.
The first film, I always said, was a drama wrapped in an action film. And that’s why when I heard we’d won Best Action Film, Best Stunts, I thought, ‘Would I ever describe it that way?’ Did I ever think of it as an action film when I was making it? I didn’t. The drama was always at the forefront. The execution of the flying sequences was in support of that.
Every action sequence, we’re always telling a story, pushing the narrative forward, and learning something about the character’s state of mind. We tried to do that not only in every sequence but every shot of every sequence. So, sure, it’s the action that got people in to see it the first time, but it was the emotion that brought them back for viewings two, three, four.
Some guy came up to me the other night, and said he had seen it 32 times! It’s the emotion that brings people back. And that’s, I think, the key to giant hits. I don’t know if you saw Avatar 2, but I felt like that with that film, the spectacle was one part of it, but there was a real emotional throughline that got me. So emotion is key, but you need to make something that the audience knows they have to see on the big screen to get the full experience.”
Along with all the high-flying and heavily practical action, the film offered strong emotional moments from the reunion with Val Kilmer’s Iceman, to the playful yet warm relationship building between Maverick and Jennifer Connelly’s Penny, to the Maverick and Rooster settling their differences elements.
The talk comes as it was confirmed earlier this week that Lady Gaga won’t perform the “Hold My Hand” song from the film at this Sunday’s Oscars ceremony. Gaga’s filming schedule with “Joker: Folie à Deux” reportedly does not allow her sufficient time to prepare a performance up to the ‘calibre’ of what’s expected, but there is enough flexibility for her to still attend the ceremony.
