The film that even Steven Spielberg has called ‘the saviour of cinema’ deserves credit for reviving the industry – but more than that, it’s a genuinely great blockbuster that truly hits deep. \
When it comes to picking a best picture winner, there are many factors that may sway Oscar voters. Great performances, gorgeous cinematography, cultural relevance – all significant, sure. But if I had a ballot, I would go with the film Steven Spielberg reckons saved the entire industry: Top Gun: Maverick.
Spielberg’s breathless aside to Tom Cruise at the Oscar nominees luncheon in February – “You saved Hollywood’s ass and you might have saved theatrical distribution” – was notable for who was saying it, but wasn’t exactly an original observation. After all, people have been calling Top Gun Maverick cinema’s saviour ever since it roared into multiplexes last summer, and quickly grossed $1.5 billion. What’s more, they’re right. Maverick’s success, according to Forbes, “made the difference between a halfway decent summer season and a product-starved catastrophe” in 2022, when cinemas were otherwise starved of releases. This was a period when Cineworld filed for bankruptcy protection, so it doesn’t seem a stretch to suggest that quite a few cinema chains, not to mention independents, would have been staring into the abyss were it not for an ageless A-lister and his battered F-14.
But Top Gun: Maverick’s “saviour of cinema” status isn’t just down to the financials. If it were, then Avatar: the Way of Water, which grossed even more, would arguably hold an even stronger claim to the title. No, Maverick did something more than just make an aircraft hangar’s worth of dosh: it reminded viewers of the purpose of cinemas – of why, even in an age of near-simultaneous home streaming releases and TVs the size of squash courts, nothing can match that rush of colour and sound coming at you in darkened room with a load of other people.
Top Gun: Maverick revels in that cinematic rush from its very first scene, a gasp-inducing set piece that sees Cruise’s speed-needing airman Pete “Maverick” Mitchell attempt to reach the previously unreached by humans (and, in reality, almost certainly unreachable) velocity of Mach 10. A big clue as to why the film chimed so much with audiences is right there on Cruise’s face as he sweats and grimaces through the G-force. As much as possible of what we’re seeing on screen is real: the actors really did fly in fighter jets (albeit as passengers rather than pilots), and Cruise dragged the cast on to a brutal three-month training programme to prepare them for the intensity of flying at such speeds. The results can be seen on the screen in those thrilling time trials and dogfights: action scenes that genuinely pop, a rarity in a sea of muddy superhero CGI.
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