'Top Gun: Maverick' is a crowd-pleasing summer blockbuster

Bob Garver

Special to the Village News

I watched the original “Top Gun” from 1986 to prepare for “Top Gun: Maverick.” The aerial stunt work and action sequences were impressive, but like many 80’s movies, it fell into the trap of having a smarmy protagonist in Tom Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.

I was particularly skeezed out by a scene where he blatantly overstepped a boundary by following prospective love interest Charlie (Kelly McGillis) into a ladies’ room to hit on her. Fortunately, Maverick is much better-behaved in the new movie, at least around women. He still gives his superiors he...