We all know Top Gun 2 is absolutely brilliant, and legendary director Quentin Tarantino clearly agrees, after dishing out some incredibly high praise for the action movie. No release has come close to the Tom Cruise movie this year, with the legacy sequel heralded as the saviour of cinema thanks to its immense box-office takings.
Picking up more than 30 years after the events of the original ‘80s movie, Top Gun: Maverick sees Tom Cruise train a fleet of elite fighter pilots for their most dangerous mission ever. We loved it, and our Top Gun 2 review described the flick as “an electrifying swansong.” But hey, don’t just take our word for it.
Not only has the thriller movie raked in over $1.3 billion worldwide during its theatrical run, but it now has Quentin Tarantino publicly declaring himself a massive fan. Speaking on the ReelBlend Podcast recently, Tarantino was effusive in his praise for the high-octane film, and revealed he even spoke to Tom Cruise himself about his approach to the movie.
“Normally I don’t talk about new movies that much because I’m forced to say only good things, but in this case I fucking love Top Gun, the Maverick movie. I thought it was fantastic,” Tarantino shared.
“I saw it at the theatres. It was, as our good mutual friend Brett Easton Ellis says, that and Steven Spielberg‘s West Side Story both provided a true cinematic spectacle, the kind that I’d almost thought I wasn’t going to see anymore. It was fantastic,” he added.
Tarantino was apprehensive about how Tom Cruise and the team were going to pull off a sequel to Tony Scott’s beloved original Top Gun. After a conversation with Cruise though, those doubts were alleviated, and Tarantino knew the drama movie was in good hands.
“I said, ‘How do you do Top Gun without Tony Scott?’ And he goes, ‘I know. Look, I know. You’re right. It’s why I’ve said no all these years [but] we figured out a way. We came up with a good story,'” Tarantino continued.
To be fair, when Tom Cruise says he’s got it all under control, you’re best to just trust the man. Cruise is supremely dedicated to his craft, and you only have to look at his work on the spy movie franchise Mission Impossible to realise that.
“The respect and the love of Tony was in every frame. It was almost in every decision. It was consciously right there, but in this really cool way that was really respectful. It’s the closest we’re ever going get to seeing one more Tony Scott movie,” Tarantino concluded.