Quentin Tarantino Praises 'Fantastic' Top Gun: Maverick as 'A True Cinematic Spectacle'
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Rocco Spaziani/Archivio Spaziani/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images; Paramount Pictures Quentin Tarantino (L); Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Tom Cruise has quenched Quentin Tarantino's need for speed!
The Pulp Fiction director, 59, praised Cruise's recently released sequel to 1986's Top Gun during an interview for CinemaBlend's ReelBlend podcast that aired this week, saying he "f---ing loved" Top Gun: Maverick and saw it in the theater.
"Normally I don't talk about new movies that much because then I'm only forced to say good things, or else I'm slamming someone. And I don't want to do that. But in this case, I f---ing love Top Gun: Maverick. I thought it was fantastic," said Tarantino.
"That and [Steven] Spielberg's West Side Story both provided a true cinematic spectacle, the kind that I'd almost thought that I wasn't going to see anymore," he added.
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Getty Images Tom Cruise and Quentin Tarantino in 2011
The longtime filmmaker also noted "the respect and the love of" the original film's director, the late Tony Scott, "in every frame" of the sequel, which was directed by Joseph Kosinski.
"I love both 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," Tarantino said. "[Koskinski, 48] did a great job."
He went on to say that he could see nods to Scott, who died in 2012 at age 68, "almost in every decision" throughout Maverick, explaining, "It was consciously right there, but in this really cool way that was really respectful."
"And I think it was in every decision [Cruise, 60] made in the film," Tarantino said.
RELATED VIDEO: Top Gun: Maverick Stars Tom Cruise, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller and More on Filming the "Love Letter to Aviation"
A long-awaited sequel to the 1986 original, Maverick chronicles Cruise's Pete "Maverick" Mitchell's return to the TOPGUN Naval aviation program 30 years after his graduation.
He is tasked with becoming an instructor for the elite fliers. Among his young charges is Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, played by Miles Teller, the son of his late best friend Goose (Anthony Edwards in the first movie).
Teller, 35, is joined by a new class of pilots, which includes Glen Powell, Greg Tarzan Davis, Jay Ellis, Monica Barbaro and Lewis Pullman. Jennifer Connelly and Jon Hamm also star, while Val Kilmer reprises his role from the original.
The movie has amassed more than $1.3 billion at theaters worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, and Cruise stands to make a $100 million-plus paycheck.
Top Gun: Maverick is now in theaters.
