Why Top Gun: Maverick Should Win Best Picture at the Oscars

The Academy Award nominations have just been announced with the Best Picture category once again dominating the headlines.

War films, biopics and arthouse films are here as expected but the Academy, in fairness, has selected some truly deserving featues this year with the likes of, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Banshees of Inisherin, and Tar among the nominees.

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However, the one film that truly deserves that golden statuette is not the indie darling that no one has seen, but one of the biggest films of 2022 – Top Gun: Maverick. 

Here's why...

A testament to true blockbuster filmmaking 

Over the last decade or so, it feels as though blockbuster cinema has become increasingly lazy. Superhero and franchise films have reigned for years now, relying heavily on their visual effects to provide the spectacle and wow factor. However, with Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise and director, joseph Kosinski have demonstrated the true meaning of spectacle with the use of real jets and practical filmmaking.

While it is nice to see Indie and arthouse films receive recognition every year, Maverick proves to the rest of Hollywood that with true effort and care their blockbusters could receive the same level of prestige. A blockbuster of this quality has become rare, and perhaps it is about time the Academy reward one that actually delivered on that ever-elusive WOW factor. 

It is timeless

If you were to ask someone which film earned Best Picture last year, would they be able to tell you that CODA was crowned the winner? While CODA itself was perhaps one of the least well-known films going into the awards season last year, you would think its surprise win would raise more discussion and viewings of the film itself. Instead, it faded into obscurity, with very little discourse arising over its victory, unlike, say, Parasite’s win.

While this may be more of a comment on the Oscar’s relevancy itself, it does also highlight that some winners just lack any lasting impact. Top Gun: Maverick, would not have this issue. It became North America’s fifth highest-grossing film of all time and garnered near universal acclaim from audiences and critics alike – an achievement in itself. In its very DNA, Maverick feels like an old-school blockbuster, something from days passed that no other modern film even set in the 80s can capture. In a sense, it already feels timeless and perhaps no other nominee will be remembered quite so fondly as Top Gun: Maverick. 

An ode to the big screen experience 

One thing the Academy loves more than anything is a film about filmmaking itself. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Mank, La La Land, and even this year’s The Fablemans all garnered numerous nominations due to their status as sentimental love letters to cinema. However, if the Academy truly wanted to award a film that exudes cinema and the big screen experience, then look no further than Top Gun: Maverick

Top Gun’s story may not specifically be about an actor or director, but what it does display is the true meaning  of collaborative filmmaking. From its sharp editing, stunning cinematography, heart pounding score and committed performers, Maverick is the embodiment of divine cinematic spectacle, one that shows the magic of moviemaking more than any other self-indulgent exercise into Hollywood’s golden era.

Indeed, Maverick is not a film that is solely reflective on one filmmaker, but all aspects of filmmaking. Top Gun: Maverick is, in itself, a film that celebrates cinema through spectacle and the wonders that can be achieved on screen with a true vision and commitment to entertain.

Tom Cruise is fantastic

All of the aspects of Maverick mentioned above are sensational, but the true heart of the movie lies, of course, with Cruise.

The superstar actor is at his charming, witty and heroic best in Maverick, and it is an oversight from the Academy that he was not granted a nomination for Best Actor. Co-star Jennifer Connelly previously said Cruise was actually a deserving winner of that accolade, never mind just a nominee.

“He’s extraordinary He does an amazing job in the movie," she told Variety.

"He’s extraordinary as a person and fantastic as an actor, and I think that he is just perfect. He embodies that character so beautifully, and I think he absolutely deserves it."

There are some film fans that believe Cruise is perhaps the last proper movie star, and when he is still churning out hits like this, you can see their point.