TOP GUN: MAVERICK (Cert 12, 131 mins, Paramount Home Entertainment, available now on Amazon/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from October 31 on DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99/4K Ultra HD Blu-ray £39.99, Action/Thriller/Romance)
Starring: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Val Kilmer, Ed Harris.
MORE than 30 years after the death of best friend Goose during their secondment to the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor programme, aka Top Gun, Captain Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is summoned to a mission briefing by Admiral Kazansky (Val Kilmer).
A subterranean uranium enrichment plant on enemy soil, guarded by surface-to-air missiles, poses a grave threat to US national security.
Maverick must train the navy's brightest young pilots, including Goose's son 'Rooster' (Miles Teller,) to fly beneath radar and deliver an explosive payload.
"This will be your last post. You fly for Top Gun or you don't fly for the navy ever again," coldly explains Vice Admiral Simpson (Jon Hamm).
As Maverick pushes trainees to the limits of their physical and mental endurance, he rekindles romance with bar owner Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly) and confronts deep-rooted guilt over Goose's death.
Top Gun: Maverick is ridiculous crowd-pleasing fare of the highest calibre that places obvious plot discrepancies in the ejector seat and blasts Cruise back into the box office stratosphere.
Director Joseph Kosinski shares his daredevil leading man's need for speed, orchestrating edge-of-seat thrills on land and in the air to disprove the theory that sequels linger in the slipstream of the original.
Cruise is at the controls of almost every flight sequence and co-stars trained extensively in F/A-18 Super Hornets to perform convincingly in cockpits.
A heavy reliance on physical action sequences rather than digital effects delivers a pure, unadulterated adrenaline rush of nostalgic pleasure.
Rating: 4/5
THE WHITE LOTUS – SEASON 2 (7 episodes, starts streaming from October 31 exclusively on Now, Comedy/Drama/Romance)
NEW guests check into a dreamy Mediterranean getaway when Mike White's Emmy Award-winning comedy of modern manners returns to Sky Atlantic and streams exclusively on Now.
Shifting focus from Hawaii to the White Lotus resort in Sicily, the second series introduces complex manager Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore) and her team, who have the unenviable task of fulfilling visitors' desires.
Tanya McQuoid-Hunt (Jennifer Coolidge), her husband Greg (Jon Gries) and assistant Portia (Haley Lu Richardson) are among the wealthy clientele in search of sun and relaxation.
Bert Di Grasso (F Murray Abraham), his Hollywood producer son Dominic (Michael Imperioli) and college graduate grandson Albie (Adam DiMarco) are also hoping for family unity.
Meanwhile, English expat Quentin (Tom Hollander) looks forward to quality time with his friends and nephew Jack (Leo Woodall).
Over the course of an eventful week, staff and guests collide and Valentina seeks nothing less than perfection from her team.
