The new film, Top Gun: Maverick, which has just been released in cinemas, is far more time-consuming than the original Top Gun. This is the reason why it has a longer overall running time than the original.
CAUTION: The following contains spoilers for Top Gun: Maverick!
The dissimilar plots and time periods of the two films result in the new summer blockbuster starring Tom Cruise, Top Gun: Maverick, having a running time that is slightly longer than that of its original, Top Gun, which was released in 1986.
The opening of Top Gun: Maverick in cinemas has been met with overwhelmingly enthusiastic reviews, which bodes well for the film’s prospects as a box office smash during the Memorial Day weekend.
In the new film, Maverick, Tom Cruise reprises his role as the daring Navy pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. In this film, Mitchell leads a team of younger TOPGUN grads on a dangerous mission to prevent an unidentified hostile country from deploying a lethal weapon.
Since the release of Top Gun, the average length of a summer movie has expanded to an appreciable degree, as can be seen in Maverick.
Even before Tom Cruise’s comeback in Top Gun: Maverick, this trend was already apparent in his career as a whole, notably in the Mission: Impossible films, where the length of the films continued to increase.
When compared to the length of the original Mission: Impossible film, which clocked in at 110 minutes, the latest installment, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, clocked in at 147 minutes.
Although this does not necessarily mean that summer movies released in the 21st century invariably go over the two-hour mark, studios have tended to tilt progressively in that direction in recent years. Maverick is only the most recent illustration of that pattern.
The entire running length of Top Gun: Maverick is 131 minutes, which places it in a zone that is quite typical for modern summer tentpoles in definitions of their total running time.
As a result, the running time of Maverick is more than that of the original Top Gun film, which was measured at 110 minutes.
However, in addition to the external developments in the business, there are additional storytelling causes that contribute to the lengthier run period of Maverick.
Another significant aspect is that during Top Gun: Maverick, Maverick undergoes a transformation that sees him take on the role of a teacher while also contending with personal demons he has never had to face before.
Maverick’s well-known passion for aerial acrobatics, his relationships with his squad mates such as Mr. Goose (Anthony Edwards) and Iceman (Val Kilmer), along with his budding romance with Charlie, were the primary focuses of the film Top Gun (Kelly McGillis).
In “Top Gun,” Maverick confronted a number of personal and professional obstacles, one of which being the untimely passing of Goose, yet the film was of a sufficient enough scope that it is run duration of 110 minutes was appropriate.
Maverick, the iconic pilot played by Tom Cruise, has so much on his plate in the sequel Top Gun: Maverick, including having his recruits ready for the mission, trying to make friends with Goose’s angry son, Rooster (played by Miles Teller), and the fact that the primary mission on its own has a very low likelihood of being successful.
Maverick receives some much-needed support from Iceman before the latter’s demise, which also marks the loss of a longtime friend. Iceman is also suffering from throat cancer which is incurable.
When you consider that Top Gun was released 36 years before Maverick, you’ll see that giving Maverick more space to breathe in its running length was a really astute move.
The film features intense battles between fighter jets and pays poignant homage to cancer sufferer Val Kilmer.
Top Gun: Maverick, much like its hero, hasn’t missed its thirst for speed, and it far exceeds provides on Tom Cruise’s propensity for excitement and acrobatic performance in the film’s airborne location, despite the fact that it runs for 21 extra minutes than its predecessor, Top Gun.
With a running time of 131 minutes, Top Gun: Maverick delivers a tale that is just as condensed as the one told in the first Top Gun. The reception that Top Gun: Maverick has gotten indicates that the film’s duration of 131 minutes is just about appropriate for Maverick’s return to the cockpit.
