Thirty-six years after its release in 1986, “Top Gun” is still a lasting piece of popular culture, with its memorable catchphrases (“Talk to me, Goose”), cool-guy aviator glasses and sing-along soundtrack (“Great Balls of Fire”).

So, it says something that its sequel — “Top Gun: Maverick” — improves on the original. It’s deeper, it’s not corny, and it has thrilling effects.

Is it a great movie? No. But “Top Gun: Maverick” is as good as good gets.

Originally slated to be released in 2019, it was delayed once for production reasons, rescheduled for June 2020 and then delayed a half-dozen times more because of the coronavirus. Yet, at just about any point over the past two years, “Maverick” could have been released to streaming on some home video service—but that would have been an absolute waste.

This movie needs the big screen, preferably as big as you can find. I saw it in an Imax theater, and now I have some idea of what it would feel like to take off in a fighter plane from an aircraft carrier. That’s a visceral rush, worth experiencing. But here, it also provides insight into character. “Maverick” is about people who do this, love this and have become addicted to it. We get to feel some of what they feel, and so we understand how they think.

几十年后，尽管他出色的服兵役和多种装饰，但皮特·“小牛”米切尔（汤姆·克鲁斯）仍然只是队长。为什么？他只是对权威不好。唯一的职业生涯支持是他与他的老竞争对手汤姆·“冰人”·卡赞斯基（Val Kilmer）的联系 - 冰病很重。

In one of the most poignant scenes, Maverick visits Ice, who — like Kilmer himself, due to his battle with throat cancer — can only communicate by typing his responses on a keyboard. It’s rare, in films, to see onscreen a man who is as physically compromised as Kilmer, but his presence is more than a sentimental nod to someone who appeared in the earlier film. His presence in “Maverick” merely highlights the movie’s overall undertone of loss and acceptance.

这种感觉只是使“ Top Gun：Maverick”优于1986年原件的一种元素。它具有我们期望的自大，友善和自信，以及宏伟，令人振奋的飞机。但这也有时间的流逝。

克鲁斯（Cruise）在56岁时拍摄了这部电影（他现在在7月的60岁生日接近他的60岁生日），但他看起来很棒，以至于他可以轻松播放45岁的年轻人，没人会质疑它。取而代之的是，他们选择使小牛成为50多岁的男人，并以遗憾和错误的通常分配，并具有适合年龄的爱情兴趣（酒吧老板，由51岁的詹妮弗·康纳利（Jennifer Connelly）饰演）。

Appointed to train young pilots for a dangerous mission, he can’t help but be aware of the new fliers already replacing his generation. Among his trainees is Rooster (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s best friend and RIO (radar intercept officer) Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards) who — spoiler alert from 1986! — was killed in the first “Top Gun.”

Cruise did some of his own flying in “Maverick” — he’s just that kind of guy — and when we see his face reacting to g-forces, that’s not a computer effect. From the first minutes, in which we see him test-piloting a fighter plane up to a speed of Mach 10 (more than 7,000 miles per hour!), the aerial sequences are breathtaking.

But Cruise is at least equally present when he’s on the ground, embodying a character whose every interaction is weighted with emotion and past history. In terms of performance, this is one of Cruise’s best pictures.

如果您已经有一段时间没有去过电影，那么“ Top Gun：Maverick”是一种重新进入的方式。这几乎是“去电影去看电影”的全部内容。

M“Top Gun: Maverick”:Action. Starring Tom Cruise, Miles Teller and Jennifer Connelly. Directed by Joseph Kosinski. (PG-13. 131 minutes.) In theaters May 27.