Rotten Tomatoes has named Top Gun: Maverick the Best Film Of 2022, Deadline reports. The Tom Cruise-led feature holds a special place in fans’ hearts for so many reasons. It brought back their favorite character thirty years after the first movie came out, it hits the right emotional note with its emotional core and chemistry between Maverick (Tom Cruise) and Goose’s son Rooster (played by Miles Teller). The dogfights, assembling of the crew, and high stake action only add to the overall story.

The movie is also commended by the industry for bringing the audience back to the theaters after the pandemic ravaged the business. Top Gun: Maverick had an initial release date of July 12, 2019, but was delayed as the world shut down. Many streamers tried to purchase the streaming rights to the film, however, Paramount and Cruise held back and insisted the film will be released exclusively in theaters. And their decision was for good as upon its May 2022 release the movie dominated the box office with $1.489 billion worldwide gross.

The feature is directed by Joseph Kosinski with a screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie from stories by Peter Craig and Justin Marks. The movie has bagged six Oscar nominations at the 95th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and has been named one of the top ten films of 2022 by the American Film Institute. The movie has a 96 percent certified fresh grade from critics and a 99 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes audience meter.

The movie brings Maverick back to Top Gun 30 years after the events of the original feature. He’s tasked with training a detachment of graduates for a special assignment while he must confront the ghosts of his past and his deepest fears which culminates in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from him and his students.

Along with Cruise and Teller, the movie casts Val Kilmer as Iceman, Jennifer Connelly as Penny, Jon Hamm as Vice Admiral Beau “Cyclone” Simpson, Glen Powell as LT Jake “Hangman” Seresin, Lewis Pullman as LT Robert “Bob” Floyd, Ed Harris as Rear Admiral Chester “Hammer” Cain, Monica Barbaro as LT Natasha “Phoenix” Trace, Jay Ellis as LT Reuben “Payback” Fitch and more. The feature is produced by Cruise, McQuarrie, Jerry Bruckheimer and David Ellison.

Other movies in Rotten Tomatoes‘ top ten include The Banshees of Inisherin, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Turning Red, Happening, The Batman, Fire of Love, Marcel the Shell With Shoes On and Till.

via Collider