At this point, it’s truly a wonder if there’s anything Tom Cruise can’t do. After falling, jumping and flying through the air in ways that make mere mortals tremble, he can now check his way into IMDb’s top 250 from his bucket list. With a filmography consisting of some iconic level entries that defined certain eras and raised the bar in their respective genres, it was only logical that his work would also be something alongside some of the greatest films ever made would experience love. What’s surprising is which film made it.

Even before his great series of Mission: Impossible films (all of which featured his truly great performances), Cruise had appeared in films such as A Few Good Men, Jerry Maguire, Collateral and Risky Business. But none of them could compare to the time he got back in the cockpit as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in “Top Gun: Maverick.” Cruise’s box office-saving sequel (Spielberg’s words, not ours) even surpassed the late, great director Tony Scott’s original film, which introduced us to the best of the best, grossing over a billion at the box office and becoming one of the defining hits of the year 2022. But what sets this return to danger apart from all his previous films and why does it deserve to be placed above the rest? Perhaps the point is to acknowledge what has come before while giving us the most Tom Cruise movie ever.

Every Legacy sequel is steeped in nostalgia, but Top Gun: Maverick moves at a different pace because it relies on the sheer charm, charisma and creative mindset of Tom Cruise doing what he does best : entertain. Director Joseph Kosinski (who should have earned at least one Oscar nomination) makes sure to check all the necessary boxes to captivate fans. The bike, the glasses, the unnecessary ball game on the beach with muscles gleaming in every frame…everything that took the world by storm in the first Top Gun movie is here again, but now decades later and with a more experienced Tom Cruise, whose dozens of incredible stunts since the first film have allowed him to take the flying sequences to new levels.

For a star who’s determined to do everything himself whenever he can, it’s that extra element that sets Top Gun: Maverick apart from so many other action films and earns it a spot in the top 250 of all time. This is the film he wanted to make, and knowing that he’s really in the cockpit like the rest of his cast gives it that extra boost and might even make it a better film than its predecessor, which should be the goal of any sequel . That’s what takes our breath away with Top Gun: Maverick, proving that returning to an old franchise can be worth it if you do it right and with a pinch of luck.