After 36 years, Tom Cruise is back writing checks his body can definitely cash in Top Gun: Maverick – and he's barely aged a day, it seems.
It's easy to forget Cruise's relatively humble beginnings. Sure, he drives off cliffs, clings onto planes and risks his life for his craft, but his appeal in Tony Scott's original blockbuster wasn't his daredevilry – he was a cheeky, primed movie star.
It was that youthful charisma that shot him to fame in the likes of Risky Business, The Color of Money, Cocktail and A Few Good Men, and that's before we even get to the 1986 behemoth: Top Gun.
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Feel the need for speed in the Top Gun: Maverick trailer below:
Top Gun: Maverick, directed by Tron: Legacy's Joseph Kosinski, sees Cruise return to his iconic role to train a whole new group of cocky aviators, including the late Goose's son, Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw (Miles Teller). Val Kilmer has also returned as Iceman.
While demand for a sequel was immediate, development really took off in 2010. In 2017, the title was finally revealed, with the news Cruise would definitely be coming back, alongside Harold Faltermeyer composing with Hans Zimmer.
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Ahead of the film's release later this month, fans have been struck by how good Cruise looks at 59 years old.
One user tweeted: "Why does Tom Cruise look younger now than he did in the original?"
Another wrote: "Tom Cruise hardly ages, even the guys younger than him in the 1986 movie are already looking like his father/uncles at present age... he has vampire genes."
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A third tweeted: "Whats weird is that Tom Cruise look younger in Top Gun 2 now then he did when he was actually young in the 1st one."
A fourth wrote: "I’m going at this like it’s Tom Cruise’s Hustler/Color of Money... he’s only like two years younger than Newman was."
In a promotional video ahead of the sequel's release, Cruise said it was his 'responsibility' to deliver the best movie possible.
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He said: "I wasn’t ready to make a sequel until we had a special story worthy of a sequel and technology evolved so that we could delve deeper into the experience of a fighter pilot.
"We worked with the Navy and the Top Gun school to formulate how to shoot it practically. Because if we’re going to do it, we’re flying the F-18s.”
Initial critics' reactions have been incredibly positive, with some describing it as the 'perfect blockbuster' and 'easily the best film of the year'.
Top Gun: Maverick hits the big screen on 25 May.
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Topics: Tom Cruise, Film and TV, Entertainment
Cameron Frew