Quentin Tarantino shares thoughts on Top Gun Maverick: ‘I f***ing love it’

Filmmaker said he doesn’t usually like to talk about new films ‘because then I’m only forced to say good things’

Quentin Tarantino has offered this thoughts on Top Gun: Maverick.

The Tom Cruise-led sequel – which released in cinemas on 27 May – sees the 60-year-old actor reprise his role as Navy aviator Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, more than 30 years after the original movie.

Following its premiere, critics called it the “best film of the year”. Nearly a month after its release, it became only the third Hollywood movie to surpass $900m (£737m) since the pandemic began.

Now, on a recent appearance on the ReelBlend podcast, Tarantino has entered the conversation, offering his opinions on the action blockbuster.

The movie mogul began with the stipulation that he doesn’t often like to discuss new films “because then I’m only forced to say good things, or else I’m ‘slamming’ someone, I don’t want to do that.”

“But in this case, I f***ing love Top Gun: Maverick. I thought it was fantastic. I saw it at the theatres,” he raved.

“That and [Steven] Spielberg’s West Side Story both provided a true cinematic spectacle,” he added. “The kind that I’d almost thought that I wasn’t going to see anymore. It was fantastic.”

Glen Powell plays Hangman in Top Gun: ‘Maverick’ (Scott Garfield/Paramount Pictures)

Tarantino continued: “But also there was just this lovely, lovely aspect because I love both [original Top Gun director] Tony Scott’s cinema so much, and I love Tony so much that that’s as close as we’re ever going to get to seeing one more Tony Scott movie.” Scott died in 2012.

He further praised director Joseph Kosinski for having “the respect and the love of Tony” in “every frame”.

“It was almost in every decision. It was consciously right there, but in this really cool way that was really respectful.”

The Kill Bill director said: “And I think it was in every decision Tom [Cruise] made on the film. It’s the closest we’re ever going to get to seeing one more Tony Scott movie, and it was a f***ing terrific one.”

Last month, Tarantino revealed his unlikely love for the children’s animated series Peppa Pig, calling it the “greatest British import of this decade”.

Read The Independent’s four-star review of Top Gun: Maverick here.