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It’s happening… in “2020.”
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Tom Cruise is back as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, and this many years later, he’s apparently still just a captain in the Navy. But, uh, what’s with this outfit?
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Take a closer look here. Does the plot revolve around Cruise stealing and piloting an enemy aircraft?
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Ed Harris lets Cruise know that “your kind is headed to extinction.”
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A brief look at Jon Hamm as a cast member. We don’t know what his role in this film will be.
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The same lack of information goes for Jennifer Connelly, who also stars.
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The trailer includes Cruise apparently taking off from a Navy aircraft carrier. As in, 100% flying the freaking thing.
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The resulting maneuvers, even in teaser-trailer form, are breathtaking.
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Pull those Gs, Cruise. (Though how are you doing that with a pair of JDAMs hanging off the wings?)
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It’s not a Tom Cruise film without a gratuitous motorcycle sequence.
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How fast is he driving?
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Keeping pace with an F-18, that’s how fast.
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The trailer ends with this apparent F-14 fly-by… but who’s flying it?
San Diego Comic Con’s tentpole Thursday morning panel, dedicated to the Paramount and Skydance film Terminator: Dark Fate, saw an interruption from another big face at that combined film company: Tom Cruise. Tom, apparently, couldn’t let Arnold Schwarzenegger have all the fun, as he used the opportunity to reveal the first public footage of next year’s Top Gun: Maverick.
The two-minute trailer is at its most impressive when we see Cruise continuing his streak for performing his own stunts, as he’s established in so many Mission: Impossible films up until now. Unless Cruise and company have figured out a whole new level of CGI and green-screen trickery, that sure looks like the actor himself piloting an F-18 as it takes off from a Naval aircraft carrier at sea—and then pulling some serious Gs while flying over a snowy mountainside in formation.
In terms of plot, we see a face-off with a rear admiral played by actor Ed Harris. Harris is angry about Cruise’s unwillingness to retire after “30-plus years of service” and his continued status as a Navy captain. “You should at least be a two-star admiral by now,” Harris says. Eventually, Harris insists that “your kind is headed for extinction,” which might hint to the Navy’s increased emphasis on automation or remotely controlled crafts.
“Maybe so, sir,” Cruise replies. “But not today.”
The most tantalizing plot hint in the trailer comes from Cruise’s choice of attire in two snippets: a pressure suit, which isn’t standard-issue attire for sitting in an F-18. Sure enough, at one point, Cruise is seen sitting in something other than the iconic Navy aircraft. We may very well be missing a good angle on an otherwise standard-issue Navy aircraft option, but knowing Cruise’s flair for the dramatic, Occam’s razor likely does not apply.
Everything else notable in the trailer, including our first look at Jon Hamm and Jennifer Connelly as new Top Gun characters, can be seen in the above gallery. Or you can watch the dramatic trailer below.
Listing image by Paramount / Skydance
https://arstechnica.com/?p=1538675