More than 30 years after the first film, Maverick is still a Navy test pilot. He's sent back to Top Gun to train young pilots for a near-impossible strike mission, and one of them is Rooster, the son of his late best friend Goose. Watch the flying closely: the actors are in real fighter jets.
Top Gun: Maverick is a 2022 action and drama film directed by Joseph Kosinski. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (1 cinematography, 1 editing, 2 narrative and 1 sound), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Back to the Future uses several of the same techniques.
Creating effects physically on set with makeup, prosthetics, built props and camera tricks, with no computer graphics added later. The results look solid and real.
How this film uses it
The actors went through a 3-month flight training program and then flew in real F/A-18 fighter jets with Navy pilots. Each cockpit was fitted with 6 cameras, 4 facing the actor and 2 facing out. The strain on their faces from the g-forces, the force that crushes you into your seat in a hard turn, is real.
Where to see it
The training dogfights. Maverick takes on the young pilots in the air and beats them, and the shots inside their cockpits show real faces under real strain.
Bringing back an earlier image, line, location or piece of staging later in the film, often with the situation reversed. You enjoy recognizing it, and the comparison adds meaning.
How this film uses it
The film opens almost exactly like the 1986 original. Crew members ready jets on a carrier deck in silhouette, and 'Danger Zone' kicks in over the takeoffs. The editor called it almost a mirror of the first film. Fans get to recognize it, and it tells you the sequel takes the original seriously.
Where to see it
The opening on the aircraft carrier. Silhouetted crew launch fighter jets as 'Danger Zone' plays, the same way the 1986 film begins.
Building the story around a clear deadline the hero must beat. The time pressure and the obstacles grow with each scene until the climax.
How this film uses it
The mission has to be flown fast and low through a canyon to hit the target before enemy defenses react. Maverick sets the time to target at 2 minutes 15 seconds, and the young pilots keep missing it in training. Every practice run is measured against that number, so you feel the deadline long before the real mission.
Where to see it
Maverick's unauthorized run. After he is removed as instructor, he flies the training course himself and hits the target inside 2 minutes 15 seconds.
Repeating one piece of music until it is tied to a memory or feeling. Each time it returns, it brings back everything you and the characters have been through.
How this film uses it
In the first film, Goose sang 'Great Balls of Fire' at a bar piano. Here, his son Rooster plays the same song while Maverick watches. The film cuts to a short flashback of Goose. In a few seconds, the song brings back Maverick's guilt over Goose's death.
Where to see it
Rooster at the piano in the Hard Deck bar. The pilots sing along, and Maverick remembers Goose through footage from the 1986 film.
Building up to a big emotional release slowly, by investing in the characters and giving small bits of hope. When the release comes, it feels deserved after all the suffering.
How this film uses it
The film spends 2 hours on the tension between Maverick and Rooster over Goose. Rooster blames him and Maverick can't explain himself. When Rooster turns back during the mission to save him, all that built-up tension finally releases.
Where to see it
The F-14 escape. Maverick and Rooster steal an old F-14 from the enemy base and fight their way out, until Hangman arrives and shoots down the last attacker.
Questions
Top Gun: Maverick: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Top Gun: Maverick use?
CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in Top Gun: Maverick (2022): Practical In-Camera Effects, Callback Editing, Ticking Clock Structure, Musical Memory Trigger and Earned Catharsis.
Who directed Top Gun: Maverick?
Joseph Kosinski directed Top Gun: Maverick, released in 2022. CineCode also covers Oblivion (2013).
What films are similar to Top Gun: Maverick?
Films that share techniques with Top Gun: Maverick include Back to the Future (1985), The African Queen (1951), Frankenstein (2025), The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
