Top Gun: Maverick
Justin Kurzel: “The scene in Top Gun: Maverick where Maverick has to prove that the mission is possible was one of the most exhilarating things I’ve seen for a very, very long time in the cinema. It reminded me of being 14 again, and that feeling of coming out of a cinema and wanting to go and be a jet pilot. It was just old-school, awesome action cinema.”
INT. BRIEFING ROOM — DAY
It is the morning after Maverick (Tom Cruise) has been grounded, and is no longer instructor of the squad of Top Gun pilots assembled to attempt a forthcoming suicide-run mission. The mission has to be flown in two minutes and 30 seconds. Nobody has come close. Cyclone (Jon Hamm) is addressing the pilots.
Suddenly, the screen behind Cyclone starts bleeping, indicating that a plane has entered the vicinity of the training run.
CYCLONE: Who the hell is that?
EXT. TRAINING RUN — DAY
An F-18 tears through the sky. We hear the pilot before we see him.
MAVERICK: Maverick to Range Control. Entering Point Alpha. Confirm Green Range.
RANGE CONTROL: Uh, Maverick, Range Control... Uh, Green Range is confirmed. I don’t see an event scheduled for you, sir.
All the pilots are now sitting up, or leaning forward in excitement.
MAVERICK: Well, I’m going anyway.
PHOENIX (Monica Barbaro): Nice.
MAVERICK: Setting time to target... two minutes, 15 seconds.
COYOTE (Jay Ellis): Twofifteen? That’s impossible.
Hangman (Glen Powell) smirks in admiration. Cyclone watches Maverick tackle the training run, a scowl on his face.
MAVERICK: Final attack point. Maverick’s inbound.
Maverick clicks off his intercom and cuts loose. He flips the jet fighter over, and throttles it. We now intercut between him, the computer screen showing his progress, and the awed pilots willing him on, while Cyclone watches with steadily mounting horror and anger. Maverick dips the plane from wing to wing to simulate going through the impossibly tight contours of the canyon in enemy terrain. Maverick groans and grunts, clearly feeling the strain. With 40 seconds to go, the watching pilots stare as Maverick speeds along the desert plains.
MAVERICK: Popping in three, two, one...
Suddenly he jerks back on the control stick and lifts the plane into the air at a near-impossible angle, simulating the infamous Coffin Corner. He goes over the top of the ‘mountain’ and twists the jet round, dives down at speed and releases his bombs.
MAVERICK: Bombs away!
He yanks the control stick and does a steep climb. As he hits a pulverising 9.5Gs, we see the pilots get to their feet behind an increasingly irked Cyclone. Maverick, now on the verge of losing consciousness, tries to aim for the second, and most vital, bomb. He fires just as his vision begins to fade.
And it hits.
FANBOY: Bullseye! Holy shit!
Warlock (Charles Parnell) pumps his fist quietly. There’s an awed hush in the air.
HANGMAN: Damn.