There was plenty of hot takes during the buildup to this year’s Academy Awards, when fans and film industry veterans alike relentlessly debated whether or not Spider-Man: No Way Home was worthy of a Best Picture nomination. It didn’t end up getting one, leading to calls of bias towards big budget blockbusters and the superhero genre, but Top Gun: Maverick has emerged as an early contender to become the next crowd-pleaser shortlisted for the industry’s most prestigious trophy.
Arriving 36 years after Tony Scott’s popcorn classic, and a full three years after the original July 2019 release date was first announced, nobody seems to have expected Maverick to turn out quite as phenomenally as it has. Sure, the promise of an exhilarating aerial thrill ride anchored by another daredevil Tom Cruise performance was virtually guaranteed, but we’re now talking about one of 2022’s finest features.
With over 200 reviews and counting in the bag, Cruise’s return as Pete Mitchell holds a Rotten Tomatoes score of 97 percent, with the user rating even higher at 98. With that in mind, fans and critics alike are already touting Maverick as a potential awards season front-runner, and not just in the technical categories.
There will definitely be nominations coming the way of Top Gun: Maverick, but it remains to be seen whether or not it’ll manage to make it all the way to the Best Picture field. It should, but we all know the Academy isn’t exactly guaranteed to recognize titles that drum up vociferous support from all corners.