Staying Fit

At 59, Tom Cruise stars in the aerial-combat epic Top Gun: Maverick, his biggest premiere ever and the biggest Memorial Day debut in history — thanks to grownups flocking to theaters at last. “Older audiences are finally returning to the movies,” wrote Indiewire pundit Tom Brueggemann, noting that most Maverick viewers — 55 percent — were over 35, 38 percent were over 45, and 18 percent were over 55. That’s astounding, since action films usually attract a youthful audience, grownups often avoid opening weekend crowds, preferring to attend later, and COVID made many quit going to theaters altogether.
But the reviews are as ecstatic as Cruise has ever earned, the consensus is this film’s better than the 1986 original Top Gun, and Cruise pushing 60 is a bigger star than younger Cruise — or maybe younger anybody. “If anything, he’s more chiseled and iconic than he was in 1986,” said critic Ty Burr. A non-superhero film featuring actual action, not just CGI, and starring the last traditional movie star may have revived the age of the true summer blockbuster movie.

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Don’t miss this: The Best Tom Cruise Movies of All Time, Ranked
All of which is very good news for Jerry Bruckheimer (78), the producer of both Top Gun films as well as Black Hawk Down and the CSI and Pirates of the Caribbean franchises. Bruckheimer shares his insights with AARP about Top Gun’s coming of age.
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