Beloved for its soundtrack, characters and quotable dialogue, “Top Gun” will be getting a sequel May 27. “Top Gun: Maverick” does not have anything else to compare to besides the original, which means the sequel will have high expectations regarding the soundtrack and especially the flying.

“Top Gun: Maverick” is being released 36 years later because Tom Cruise said that it was irresponsible to present war as an amusement park ride like in the first one. Tom Cruise coming back to make the sequel suggests that he’s got a story in mind for the characters rather than a cash grab.

The original “Top Gun” stars Tom Cruise as a hot shot trying to become the best pilot but after his co-pilot dies he blames himself and has to overcome that guilt. In “Top Gun: Maverick” he has to confront his mistakes again when he has to mentor his co-pilot’s son Bradley Brashaw, played by Miles Teller. The movies are not based on a true story, but they are accurate to aerial combat.The films use real-life physics to move its story along, part of what made the original so popular during the 80s.

“I think [using accurate jet physics] will help the movie be more authentic and anyone in the audience who has experience with flying will get more out of the movie, as well as educate the general public about flying because most people do not know much about it.” junior Clare Yee said.

“Top Gun: Maverick” involves Iceman, played by Val Kilmer, selecting Maverick, played by Tom Cruise, to train a new group of recruits in the Top Gun academy. It continues the legacy of previous films by having the actors fly actual jets. 

Although they were not permitted to fly the F-18s seen in the film, all the actors spent months learning how to fly like they did in the original movie, where the actors from the original film vomited after filming their scenes because of their lack of experience. The training allowed actors, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Jay Ellis, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, and Monica Barbaro, to fly much more than the original, with the director, Joseph Kosinski, estimating a total of 800 hours of footage of them flying.

“I think anytime an actor or actors do their own stunts it adds to the realism and makes the audience maybe more invested in the movie,” history teacher Christopher Hathaway said. “They’ll give the audience a better sense of what it’s like to be in the cockpit and what they are doing.”

Despite the cast and crew’s effort in making this movie, the film is expected to have low box office revenue because of the gap between films. Although the film might not do great in terms of revenue, the technological advancements since then have allowed the crew to make a film that can be better than the original.

“There’s no real better time for this movie,” sophomore Andrew Reynolds said. “The world is becoming so more dangerous, I think a somewhat less lighthearted, definitely more realistic, interpretation of war and actual combat could be frightening. Instead of pilots laughing with each other and just shooting blindly.”