The people have spoken, and Top Gun: Maverick is officially 2022's freshest cinematic entry.
Per Deadline, a new Rotten Tomatoes list declares Tom Cruise's long-awaited Top Gun sequel -- the second highest grossing film of last year after Avatar: The Way of Water -- 2022's best film. The second to 10th place runner ups on the website's list are The Banshees of Inisherin, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, Turning Red, Happening, The Batman, Fire of Love, Marcel the Shell With Shoes On and Till, in that order.
Highway to the Oscar Zone
Most of the films on Rotten Tomatoes' list have been nominated for the honors at upcoming 95th Academy Awards, which airs on March 12. Top Gun: Maverick is among the nominees, having been selected for Best Picture alongside Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Banshees of Inisherin, as well as Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Song, Best Sound, Best Film Editing and Best Visual Effects. However, Everything Everywhere All at Once still holds the record for most nominations at 11, with The Banshees of Inisherin and Netflix's All Quiet on the Western Front remake tying for second at nine each.
Set over thirty years after the original Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick sees Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Cruise) return to the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (i.e. Top Gun) to train a team of new graduates for a seemingly impossible mission. Among them is Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Mitchell's former co-pilot "Goose," whom Maverick does not wish to see meet his dad's fate. While Cruise was originally reluctant to make a Top Gun sequel, director Joseph Kosinski -- who worked with the actor on 2013's Oblivion -- revealed last month how he convinced Cruise to return. "I started with the story of this reconciliation with his best friend's son and put that against this mission that would take them both deep into enemy territory where they'd have to work together to get back home alive. I could see the wheels in his head start to turn," Kosinski explained, noting that, while Cruise was intrigued by Maverick's technical side, "I think it was that emotional story that hooked him."
Despite Marverick's universal acclaim, producer Jerry Bruckheimer has yet to question Cruise about a potential third Top Gun movie, citing the actor's ongoing commitment to Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning. The first Dead Reckoning drops this year on July 14, while its sequel, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part Two, comes out June 28, 2024.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes, via Deadline